Aerosmith, ‘Permanent Vacation’ vs. Bob Seger, ‘Night Moves': Greatest Summer Song Battle

This first round contest of Ultimate Classic Rock's Greatest Summer Song tournament matches two songs that served as title tracks to their respective career-saving albums: Aerosmith's "Permanent Vacation" and Bob Seger's "Night Moves."

We’ve selected 32 of classic rock’s best summertime songs, and paired them off in 16 first-round duels. Over the next five weeks the field will be repeatedly cut in half by your votes, until we arrive at the greatest summer song ever made.

1987's "Permanent Vacation" doesn't mention summer in its lyrics, but it does reference the need to get away to beach-strewn paradises like Montego Bay, St. Tropez and Cayman Brac. The album of the same name revived Aerosmith as a musical force after lineup changes and substance abuse issues threatened to derail the band in the early '80s, and has gone on to sell more than 5 million copies.

"Night Moves," a nostalgic look-back at a pair of young lovers spending the summer of 1962 "tryin' to lose those awkward teenage blues," was Seger's 1976 commercial breakthrough after spending nearly a decade as a cult favorite. The song reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts, and Seger would spend the next 15 years as one of the most reliable hit-makers in rock.

Which song will escape the first round and move on? That's entirely up to you. We've embedded both songs below so that you can listen and make your decision. You can vote once per hour in each of the 16 first-round Greatest Summer Song battles until voting closes on July 27 at 11:59PM ET. Your choice for the Greatest Summer Song of all time will be revealed on Aug. 25, 2015.

Listen to Aerosmith Perform 'Permanent Vacation'

Listen to Bob Seger Perform 'Night Moves'

See Aerosmith and Other Rockers in the Top 100 Albums of the '80s