During my down time at The State News, I often get the opportunity to peruse multiple news, entertainment and popular Web sites for anything from who Mary-Kate Olson is dating and what she is or isn't eating, to the latest developing details on devastating hurricane Ivan.

So, while filling my head with Iraq death tolls and possible North Korean nuclear blasts, I found a story on both CNN.com and ABCNEWS.com that actually related to my field. Imagine, entertainment on news sites!

Well, the media moguls are in search of the hottest summer song, or anthem if you must, of 2004, and are including popular artists such as Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Beyoncé, Beastie Boys, Lil' Flip, Terror Squad and Juvenile.

My question is, "doesn't it seem like if they're searching so dang hard for the one song to capture the essence of sunny days and Oberon drinking, that maybe, just maybe, they shouldn't be searching at all?"

This summer has been the dud for musical memories.

Last steamy summer hailed the stomping, couldn't-get-it-off-of-the-airwaves "In Da Club" by 50 Cent and the Jay-Z infused "Crazy In Love" by Beyoncé.

But when you think about this year, a big blank, "Screw You" comes to mind. Not only were there no songs taking over the airwaves 24 hours aday, there was nothing to capture the essence of summer or the freedom of a break from school that we all love and cherish.

So what? Who gives a flying V?

It's a good thing, a really good thing, that we didn't have to hear one song played everyday, all day long until the hype of the song became flatter than the Midwest.

We should be jumping up and down with joy that we didn't have to witness a track lose its luster and be hated so much that a month later no one wants to listen to it, let alone admit they once liked it.

While it may not be a gift to the record companies, who all fight and rip each other's heads off for radio play, it was a welcome present to us, the listeners.

I guess media giants just need to knock the crap off and be thankful for no "summer song." I bet, in the long run, that the 40-year-olds who write for CNN.com and ABCNEWS.com don't even have to listen to the radio in their CD player equipped cars, so what's it matter to them?

For me, my 1995 beater has only a radio, so I'm forced to listen to whatever will come in clear, and usually, it's something I've heard an hour before.

Chill out, people. I mean, what about a fall song? Or a winter medley? A spring jam?

Lindsey K. Anderson is The State News music reporter and can be reached at ander848@msu.edu.