Bryan Adams shuts down TV hosts when asked about ‘Summer of ’69’ in awkward interview

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Bryan Adams is not up for talking about his classic hit “Summer of ’69” any more.

During an interview on Australian TV on Thursday morning (24 March), the Canadian singer, 62, swerved a question about the 1985 rock song.

Today Extra hosts David Campbell and Belinda Russell were interviewing Adams about his new album Happy it Hurts, when Russell said: “1969 though, it was a pretty big year in history – the moon landing, Woodstock – but you were just a kid back then so what is the story behind ‘Summer of ’69’?”

Without hesitation, Adams replied: “I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about the new album. That’s why I’m here.”

Russell obliged and quickly moved the conversation on. “Sure, well let’s talk about it,” she said.

Adams did discuss “Summer of ’69” in a recent interview with The Independent. “I only ever wrote that title because it made me laugh,” he said, adding that it was not a big hit in Europe when it was released as a single but, the best part of a decade later, he got a call from his label.

“They said, ‘Did you know “Summer of ’69” has just gone to No 1 in Holland?’ Even though the song had a little bit of a life in North America, it took 10 years for it to become well known. It never even hit the charts in the UK. And so perhaps there’s something about the songs that we write that just don’t necessarily have that instant appeal. But in the long term, they climb out of the wreckage.”

The track now has more than 735 million streams on Spotify.

Happy it Hurts, which came out on 11 March, peaked at number 29 in Canada.