Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp doesn't have an official soundtrack, but it should, since creators Michael Showalter and David Wain are clearly dedicated to music. Rock & Roll World reporter Lindsay would be disappointed that there is no Wet Hot American Summer soundtrack due to so many of the songs in the Netflix series being original creations, but I'm here to remedy that with a list of just some of the songs that were featured in the show. As they did for the film, Showalter and Wain tapped into the musical talents of singer-songwriter Craig Wedren for the series and most of the show contains his 1981-inspired music, though there are some classic jams featured in the series too.
With the Camp Firewood musical Electro/City, a recluse rock god living at the camp, and the musical stylings of Paul Rudd, Wedren had a lot to work with when creating music for the show. And his music blended seamlessly with the non-original songs. As director Wain told Newsweek, "There's a lot of songs in the series that you can swear are from the period, but most of them are not." He added that Wedren has "just incredible talent for writing these songs that I think, if they had come out at the time, would be hits."
So though it's disappointing that you can't download the epic First Day of Camp soundtrack, here are 10 songs that would be on it if you could.
"Jane"
The song by Jefferson Starship was the introduction song for the movie Wet Hot American Summer and true fans like myself were thrilled to hear it again for the opening of the Netflix series.
"Ah! Leah!"
Arty "The Beekeeper," Camp Firewood's resident disc jockey, pumped up this jam by Donnie Iris as rock 'n' roll lover Lindsay rolled into camp — a fitting rock tribute indeed.
"Until Summer"
An original song by Baby and Wedren closed out the second episode as the series revealed how the talking can of vegetables from the movie came to be.
"Fox On the Run"
Sweet's song has been in films like Dazed and Confused and Detroit Rock City and was used for a promotional featurette for First Day of Camp .
"Keep On Loving You"
REO Speedwagon's classic "Keep on Loving You" and Wet Hot American Summer are a match made in early '80s music heaven.
"Heart-Attack Love"
Katie's audition song for the camp musical Electro/City was written for the series, but it's a dead ringer for a Pat Benatar song.
"Corner Of The Sky"
This song from the musical Pippin was audition gold for Logan — until Rudd's Andy replaced him as the lead for Electro/City.
"Zoot Suit"
Although Electro/City was full of memorable moments and songs, my personal favorite was the McKinley and Ben duet to "Zoot Suit," which brought the lovable pair together.
"I Am A Wolf, You Are The Moon"
Rudd led the counselors in a group sing-along with this original Wet Hot song during the staff party.
"Higher & Higher"
"Higher & Higher" was a song written for the Wet Hot movie by Wedren and Theodore Shapiro (who was not involved in the series) that played during the iconic montage scene. So it's appearance toward the end of the series performed by Chris Pine's tormented musician character Eric was the perfect tie-in. And the original version played over the last episode's end credits as fans were forced to say goodbye to Camp Firewood once more.
Image: Gemma La Manna/Netflix
