Music has had myriad purposes in my life, but only one song has ever turned me onto a clothing line. In the summer of 1999, the boys of LFO taught me — and countless other pre-teens — about Abercrombie & Fitch. As an awkward first-time sleepaway camper, I was able to bond with my bunkmates over the band’s adorable white-boy raps (“Chinese food makes me sick," too!) We enthusiastically hit up A&F during our field trip to a local mall, scooping up obnoxious logo tees in the hopes that Boys’ Side had gotten the memo about girls that wear the brand. Years later I can’t help but smile at the infectious guitar melody and thank LFO for providing me an access point to the most impenetrable of camp cliques. With the recent passing of lead singer Rich Cronin “Summer Girls” has, for many, become a warm-weather opus — but for me it always was.

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