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"'Cruel Summer'", a song by British girl group Bananarama, was a U.K. number eight hit in 1983 and a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number nine hit in 1984.
The music video features a take on the American TV show ''The Dukes of Hazzard'', with a bumbling cop duo who chase the girls as they make their escape in a truck (at one point, Bananarama members throw bananas at a trailing police cruiser). When Bananarama were still struggling to make money in their early years, they even performed the song at a beauty contest in Hawaii.
Since its success, the group recorded another two versions of the song. "Cruel Summer '89" was recorded with new member Jacquie O'Sullivan in 1989, and given a New jack swing make-over. It reached number nineteen in the UK singles chart in June. This version was not included on a Bananarama album until 2005's ''.
Another version of the song was recorded and featured on their 2001 album ''Exotica''. This version featured Latin instrumentation and additional lyrics, but it was not released as a single.
"Cruel Summer" was a top ten hit in Britain in 1983, but wasn't an international success until its inclusion in the 1984 movie ''The Karate Kid'', a year after its original release. The group didn't allow the record to go to the film soundtrack and was their first top ten hit in the USA. The song has since been revived in various forms. It appeared in several television commercials, was included on the soundtrack to the movie ''Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'', and was covered by other acts, such as Ace of Base, who scored an international hit with it (their version even reached gold in the US), and Blestenation on the ''Blue Crush'' soundtrack. In 2003, Swedish electronica female artist Sophie Rimheden sampled the beat and bassline from the song on the track "In Your Mind" from the album ''HiFi''.
The song was also featured as the theme tune to the first series of Trouble's reality show of the same name, where a group of young adults were sent off to a holiday camp, only to be tortured and humiliated in an attempt to win a large sum of money.