Hands up: how many of you guys and girls reading this have a radio in their car? Good, that’s just about everyone. Now, how many have a favorite tune or genre of music they crank to eleven when hitting the road? That’s what I thought.
Rock ‘n’ roll and fast cars have been intertwined since the ‘50s, and if one had to count the number of car references in rap music, well, we’d be here all day. So here’s today’s question: on what do you hit “Play” when it’s time to drive?
For this guy, there are a couple of answers to the question (you can give multiple answers, too). If I’m on a long drive – say, anything exceeding six hours – I’ll gradually start to gravitate to soft music, which inexplicably keeps me alert despite the dulcet tones of the singers in that genre. Traipsing over the Trans-Canada Highway through a place like desolate northern New Brunswick requires the attention span of an FBI G-Man on guard duty, and I find that soft music allows me to focus my attention on the region’s moose population rather than perfecting my solo air drumming.
Blasting down the highway on a sunny Friday in a good car, though? It’s gotta be classic rock. Sure, that’s a hackneyed response, more predictable than yesterday’s late race wreck at Talladega, but the combination of wild drums, savage guitars, and loud vocals always pair well with a bit of spirited driving.
What’s your go-to tune or genre of music when you hit the road? Do you have different preferences given the situation? No matter what you’ve got pounding out of your speakers, cars and music will always have an unbreakable link.
[Image: ermess/Bigstock]
Yacht Rock
Deal with it.
Yacht Rock is amazing cruising music
Trifecta tunes will get your there faster. ..
It’s the Pablum of privileged.
;-)
Audio Books
Nothing to me seems like a better use of a commute…
I’m with cgjeep.
Bring on Hoopla and Audible
Yep. Of course, you might accidentally veer into podcasts, in which case you wind up spending hours in front of a computer organizing, sorting, grooming, and adding to your collection. Most of this collection never gets listened to. Drat.
The Who – Live at Leeds
Deep Purple – Machine Head
CCR
Rush, specifically Red Barchetta
x1000 for Red Barchetta and most anything else by Rush
And for those who may not be familiar with said Red Barchetta, behold…
https://youtu.be/PjjNvjURS-s
+1
Red Barchetta
For the cut and thrust, CQB that is driving around the LA Basin, the Metropolitan Opera channel on satellite radio keeps me detached from the drama unfolding around me. What is potentially a blood-pressure spiking activity allows me to remain detached and in a cinematic environment. On the open road, I gravitate somewhere between the Margaritaville channel and Classic Rock (and lots of talk radio in between).
Metal: All That Remains
Symphonic Metal: Nightwish
songs about driving/cars:
Feel the Adrenaline – Five Finger Death Punch
Drive – Lana Del Rey
Just Drive – In This Moment
80s Mercedes – Marin Morris
Thumbs up for Nightwish !
what best keeps my attention when driving miles and miles on the highway is a good ball game. if the game is half way competitive there is no chance of me getting sleepy.
I used to time my 12-14 hour drives for Sundays so I could listen to Football games the whole drive for this reason!
I’m very monogamous with music. When I hear a song that resonates with me, it becomes my whole world until I get bored with it.
I once drove from Waterbury, CT to Pittsburgh to visit family and listened to Def Leppard’s “Animal” on repeat all the way from Scranton till I rolled into Mom & Dad’s driveway.
It’s standard procedure for me to do that. People hate riding in the car with me.
Vivaldi, excellent music for relaxed wafting.
“My Favorites” on iHeart kicks out a wide variety for me – I heard things as diverse as “Blackhole Sun”, “Silver Wings” (Merle Haggard), and “Bad Leroy Brown” on my morning commute.
Honestly up tempo Western Swing in the vein of Asleep at the Wheel tends to make me forget how many miles have passed.
But the opinions on this one will be like bellybuttons, everybody’s got one.
Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows.
… Everything that’s wonderful is what I feel …
Channel 25…. Sirius XM Classic Vinyl…
Radar Love!!!!!!!!!!!
Twilight Zone.
Followed by Magic Carpet Ride
That’s a good 1-2. Throw in twilight zone and born to be wild and it’s a good (cliche, sure) road trip sing-along with the windows down and the sun roof open.
Blitzkrieg Bop – The Ramones
Complete Control – The Clash
Where Eagles Dare – The Misfits
….and a little bit of Mean Machine by Sugar Ray for some Road Rash nostalgia.
Angry Again by Megadeath.
My music has always been about whatever mood I’m in, not some special driving mix.
My last couple road trips were dominated by: The Shins, Red October, Death Cab for Cutie, John Coltrane, Beck, and Michael Kiwanuka. No classic rock.
AC/DC – Back in Black (album)
Barenaked Ladies – Gordon, live albums
RUSH – various
The Police – Every Breath You Take – The Classics
Various comedy albums
…and my own mixes, of course.
That’s just for longer trips. For shorter jaunts, good ol’ terrestrial FM works fine.
The Bubblegum Crisis soundtrack, particularly “Ikari o Komete Hashire,” aka “Burning Highway.”
Yes! This!
Or, “Route California” and the English versions of “Larger than Life” and “Rock Me.”
Haha, I started the soundtrack after I typed that. Route California was playing when I read your comment.
Definitely that song.
Three that come to mind, right off the top…
Steve McQueen -Sheryl Crow
Mr Blue Sky -ELO
Velcro Fly- ZZ top
Anything by Sam “Lightning” Hopkins.
*That moment where I realize my musical tastes are so far off of anyone else in TTAC*
“japanese funk, give it a chance everyone loves it in the future”
I figured this had to be a quote from somewhere… I haven’t watched that show in years, but I’m happy always happy to hear Perfume. I’ve apparently a fan of Japanese funk for years.
Nothing. I’m not an audiophile, I don’t hear much when the windows are down, and half of my beaters don’t even have a radio/working speakers.
No radio here either. I’m perfectly happy to drive hundreds of miles in silence.
National Public Radio. When it existed on Sirius/XM, Blue Color Comedy as well. Yes, I know, strange combination, but I am what I am.
I rarely listen to music in the car anymore.
Blue Collar comedy was just renamed “Jeff & Larry’s Comedy Round-up.” AFAICT the programming is pretty much the same.
Lord, I ‘pologize for that joke…
Hello Internet, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, 99% invisible, Freakonomics, Planet Money… all engaging, and at times humourous, podcasts to queue up.
(How I miss Car Talk.)
…and even though King Kong says, “you know, I swear I tore down those radio towers last time I was in town” every time he hear us say it, this is NPR.
Podcasts (listening to Revolutions, Freakanomics, Malcolm Gladwell, and How I Built This currently) for the work commutes. Sirius Country, Bluegrass, and the 60-90’s Decade stations for the weekend where the wife is in the car.
“Oh oh oh oh Mister Kot-ter! Pick me!”
It’s almost Halloween, so I have to recommend Lore. Before the coming television version destroys it (why does success ruin all our heroes?)
Seriously though, the episode about the Danvers mental asylum (the model for Arkham in Batman) is just…skin crawling. A quiet sedan and a deserted night drive could just take the creep factor to 11.
Episode 6: Echoes
For more teasing, Google “10-great-episodes-of-lore”
Long road trips: Gotta add in a comedian or two (Brian Regan, Jim Gaffigan) who are kid-friendly (11 and 15).
Other times with family: New Wave, Electronic, etc.. (Can’t not listen to Blue Monday by New Order when it comes on XM)
In the car without kids? De La Soul and The Roots
Lately, Torche for melodic-ish metal to drive fast to or Lucero for alternative country to chill and cruise to.
Whipping Post.
Yes
This is a case where there can be an objectively correct answer to a seemingly subjective personal opinion question.
Yes, Whipping Post.
Petty – Runnin’ down a Dream specifically but all his stuff is great to pass message.on a long drive
Mileage
The Doobie’s running down the highway.
That’s What a Fool Believes!
CLICKBAIT
and it worked……Kenny Loggins Danger Zone
My musical tastes are probably exactly what one would expect: I never stray far from straight up hard rock, metal, and psychobilly. Out on the road it’s hard to beat 80’s thrash/ speed metal and the harder butt rock as the default choice: AC/DC, G n R, Def Leppard, Dio, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Accept. Just none of that wussy Warrant, Poison, Winger stuff. ’90’s grunge is always a solid move also.
Reverend Horton Heat, Clutch and Fu Manchu are all loaded with car/driving references to really get your gearhead on
Clutch. A must. Do you dabble in lionize at all?
I’ve got virtually any genre you can name on my USB stick. Music — any music — amps me up. Even more so if I have it on shuffle all so the next song is always a surprise.
I actually saw Lionize opening for one of many Clutch shows some years back. I picked up the album they were peddling, it wasn’t bad..at the time, Tim Sult was semi in that band. I have to be in the mood for reggae but it’s definitely got its place.
Hmmm specific eh ? Any cut from “Dark Side of the Moon” “Led Zeppelin IV”or “Who’s Next “. For some reason Bob Dylan “Tangled up in Blue” has me pushing the volume button…Early Jefferson Airplane..I had a Gracie Slick poster on my wall right beside the 69 Charger. How can I forget ? The Gratefull Dead “American Beauty album” .
Not hard to guess what generation I came from !
I have a regular 8 hour drive. I stop and fill up at the 4 hour mark. The first four hours I fill with free podcasts: BBC World Service, Ray Harris’ The History of WWII podcast, McArthur Memorial foundation WW I podcast, The Foreign Desk, The Dead Prussian Podcast, US Army heritage and Education Center, The road to war, and ancient warfare.
For the second four hours, heavy metal: Nightwish, Black Sabbath, BOC, The Clash, Epica, Led Zeppelin, and Nirvana.
Well, to answer the ‘genre’ question: a lot of classic rock and metal. Starting with the 60’s with The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Band etc. all the way up to relatively newer bands like Kill Devil Hill, Hellyeah, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, etc.
But in terms of songs?
– any Iron Maiden up tempo rocker from their 4 albums between 1982 and 1986. So many choices: “The Trooper”, “Run To The Hills”, “Flight Of Icarus”, “Die With Your Boots On”, 2 Minutes To Midnight”, almost the entire ‘Somewhere In Time’ album….
– Judas Priest: “Riding On The Wind”, “Desert Plains”, “Electric Eye”, “Heading Out To The Highway”, “Painkiller”, “One Shot at Glory”
AC/DC – “Shoot To Thrill”
UFO – “Rock Bottom”
Deep Purple – “Highway Star”, “Space Truckin\'”
Rainbow – “Long Live Rock and Roll”, “Death Alley Driver”
Dio – “We Rock”
Otherwise, lots of KISS, pre-1981 REO Speedwagon, Rush, Queensryche, Goo Goo Dolls, Def Leppard’s first 3 albums, Twisted Sister, Matthew Sweet, some of the early Journey stuff, some early Scorpions, Tesla, Doobie Brothers, Aerosmith, Bad Religion, Descendents/ALL, Stone Temple Pilots, some of the more frenetic stuff from Barenaked Ladies in their early days, King’s X….
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a hoot to drive to as well.
– Audio bible and Christian music
– Sports talk radio
– Once in a great while political talk if there is a major event in the news
“…Political Talk”
DaFuq?
I don’t like shorten my drives. After all I drive either Mazda3 or ‘6. But I guess Rammstein will do it. Since after 5 minutes of it you start driving like crazy. This is why I listen to Jazz this week
Cruising music has everything to do with the vehicle and the driving environment.
If you’re driving a pickup through Texas:
Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson – Luckenbach Texas
Waylon Jennings – Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line
Waylon Jennings – Ramblin’ Man
Waylon Jennings – Can’t You See (Marshall Tucker Band)
Willie Nelson – Me & Paul
Buck Owens – Streets Of Bakersville
George Strait – Amarillo By Morning
George Strait – Easy Come Easy Go
Bonnie Raitt – Angel From Montgomery
Charlie Pride – Is Anybody Going To San Antone
Merle Haggard – Branded Man
If you’re tearing up the Appalachian backroads in a muscle car:
AC/DC – Spellbound
AC/DC – Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution
Funkadelic – Super Stoopid
Funkadelic – Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On
Mountain – Mississippi Queen
Lynryd Skynyrd – Free Bird
Harry Nilsson – Jump Into The Fire
Rolling Stones – Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
ZZ Top – Just Got Paid
Deep Purple – Lazy
The Allman Brother – Whipping Post
Led Zeppelin – Ramble On
Jimi Hendrix – Fire
Montrose – Rock Candy
If you’re wasting away on the back roads near your fishing cabin in the Keys or Laguna Madre:
Jimmy Buffet – Margaritaville
Bellamy Brothers – Lovers Live Longer
Eagles – Tequila Sunrise
Peter Frampton – Baby, I Love Your Way
Rupert Holmes – Escape (Pina Colada)
Bob Marley – Jammin’
Bob Marley – Stir It Up
Anyway, this could go on forever………
Situation does make a difference. I had to make a drive in a rental through Arkansas and MS to Memphis, and my rental at the time was a 3.6 Impala LTZ with XM. (If only I’d thought about it and acquired a Caddy.)
While not a fan normally, I put on the Elvis station. It made the trip like a pilgrimage. It was so much fun I stopped in Tupelo at the birthplace museum. Less kitschy and the people were great. You can walk around mostly alone and sit on the porch of the house he was born in.
The next year I did the blues and Beale street.
Sounds like good vibes. Delta blues always work well in that part of the country, too. Can’t really go wrong with Elvis, though, that’s for sure.
80s Hair Metal.
Makes me want to slam the throttle wide open and go for it.
Someone said it above, but wow, my music tastes look like nothing I just scrolled though.
Either nothing, because drive time is some of the only quiet calm time I get with a three-year-old and a ten-month-old in the house, or whatever Groove Salad is playing if I want to hear some proper bass through the Mark Levinson system.
Quite often, I don’t turn the radio on. When I do, I keep seeking through stations until I like something. Lots of times, its classic rock, oldies or maybe smooth jazz back when I heard it on the radio.
My song list on my phone contains a wide variety. From Adele to Tom Petty to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. I like a lot of Motown, but very little current music. I used to keep the Hip Hop/Rap stations on my presets, but no longer.
I just deleted about 3 paragraphs where I was complaining about music I don’t like. LOL, what’s the point? We’re all diffeent, and I accept that. No sense in being negative because what I hate, others are bound to love.
Why are there midrange and tweeter speakers in the trunk lid? You’d never hear them in the cabin of the car and it would sound like complete @$$ with the trunk open.
An honest 1,000 watt system, electronic X-over, 3 amps, 3 sets of speakers. Nothing crazy or spendy, but more than enough to make every trip seem shorter.
I definitely don’t mind a song that’ll put every amp near overload. Like Beck’s “Dreams” (subsonic!). Or the whole album “Aliens Ate My Buick”.
Podcasts…
This American Life
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/
BBC History of the world in 100 objects
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads
BBC 50 things that made the modern economy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b1g3c/episodes/downloads
BBC History Podcasts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/category/history
StoryCorps
https://storycorps.org/podcast/
That is just a slice of the amazing depth of content for free that you can listen to.
B’z, Devo, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Lindsey Stirling, Mojo Nixon, Two Brothers on the Fourth Floor, Epic Rap Battles of History… For starters. I could go on forever, but I won’t.
I’ve found that KNBR’s midnight replay of that day’s baseball game will devour miles out of a drive.
Neko Case or the Watson Twins help make my occasional long drives shorter.
There’s a New Zealand band called The Feelers, I had their album ” Communicate” on repeat for two maybe three years.
I’ll second Neko Case
It really depends on my mood (anything from classical to jazz to Rush to Tool to the local “classic hip-hop” station), but I could have Tame Impala’s Currents on repeat and never find it repetitive. It’s just that good of an album.
Wow. All I can say is y’all have some weird music tastes! /jk.
My current car has an SD card slot so that’s what I use mostly. Anything from classical to country. Please no rock or rap tho. I just cannot abide the stuff.
St. Olaf, Concordia, and Kansas City college choirs each sing some fantastic pieces of music, e.g. “Tenting on the Old Campground” and “Prayer of the Children”.
My SiriusXM presets:
1.) Lithium
2.) BPM
3.) Turbo
4.) POTUS
5.) Octane
It really depends on my mood and not the drive. But here are some pieces that come to mind:
Beethoven’s Fifth and Ninth
AC/DC – “Jailbreak”, “Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)”, “Big Balls”, and “Bedlam in Belgium”
M|A|R|R|S – “Pump Up the Volume”
Coolio – “Gangster’s Paradise”
Sammy Hagar – “I Can’t Drive 55” and “There’s Only One Way to Rock”
Chuck Berry – “No Money Down” and “Maybellene”
Bill Haley and His Comets – “Rock Around the Clock”
Deep Purple – “Space Truckin’ ”
Megadeth – “Sweating Bullets”
Metallica – “Seek and Destroy” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
Black metal and death metal. A 120GB iPod classic is my primary source of car music. It’s full with ~20,000 songs, 80% black/death metal, 15% trip-hop or EDM, 5% rap.
Albums:
1349 – “Hellfire”
Behemoth – “Zos Kia Cultus”, “The Apostasy”, “The Satanist”
Krisiun – “Southern Storm”
Belphegor – “Pestapocalypse VI”
Keep of Kalessin – “Armada”
Anaal Nathrakh – “Hell Is Empty, and All the Devils Are Here”
The Crown – “Crowned Unholy”
Infernal War – “Redesekration”
Immortal – “Sons of Northern Darkness”
Gorgoroth – “Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam”
Dissection – “Live Legacy”
Cannibal Corpse – “The Wretched Spawn”
^These albums are heaviest in my rotation. 250bpm+ blast beats and screaming about Satan goes really well with a JZ engine and infuriatingly sluggish Okinawan traffic.
But if I’m on my way to meet a chick I usually play The Weekend Youtube vids instead, to set the mood.
I’d always have a mix of genres – pop, power pop, hard/soft rock, R&B, prog, country rock, folk rock, jazz (and jazz fusion), etc. I remember always trying to time it right when going to the Twin Cities to have Jeff Beck’s “Freeway Jam” running (in quad no less) while driving I35 through the cities. The music would sync with the visuals in an uncanny fashion. Great fun!
I also enjoy driving with the Peter Gunn theme (Mancini’s version) blasting – or APP’s “Where’s the Walrus?” – or “Absolutely Sweet Marie” as done by Jason and the Scorchers. Again, great driving tunes for me.
What? Does no one love rockabilly?
I’ll take that as a “no”.
:-(
If anyone needs me, I’ll be cruising by with the windows down, in a blizzard, with the heater at full blast, singing “Please don’t take the baby to the liquor store” at the top of my lungs.
:-)
Rockabilly is amazing, and having just listened to it, so is that song!
Neighbors start to gossip when our children start to play
Crown Royal bags aren’t mittens on a cold winter’s day
:-)
I listen to BR-549 (does that count?)
I’ve enjoyed the “Derailers” but that music is more like “What if somebody spliced the genetic material of Buck Owns and The Bottle Rockets?
Agree with others that say it depends on the location, and lately these are among the ones I’ve been blasting on some long drives through Utah and Nevada:
Runnin’ Down a Dream- Tom Petty
Highway Queen- Nikki Lane
Battle Born- The Killers
The Promised Land & All The Way Home- Bruce Springsteen
Story of My Life- Social Distortion
Spirit Moves- Langhorne Slim