Let’s face it: although we’d all love to be driving down that two lane mountain road, navigating our CC through exciting twists and turns while sucking in the “natural” sounds that such an activity entails, the vast majority of our driving time is spent going to work or running errands. Therefore, we turn to music for entertainment while we cruise down the roads we’ve traveled thousands of times. Since we live in an era where we can bring literally every song we own into our vehicles, I thought it would be prudent to share some of the sounds I enjoy with the rest of you.
Being primarily interested in the rock genre, some of my most favorite bands are fresh acts that channel their predecessors in a new way. Haim is one such group, three sisters that have distilled a very Fleetwood Mac vibe into a modern indie-rock package.
This next group, Arcade Fire, have been on ipod playlists for over a decade now, but it wasn’t their 2010 album The Suburbs that they found mainstream recognition. “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” is the apotheosis of their ruminations on modern society. Its not at all ironic that they have a picture of a car in front of what looks to be some sort of tropical getaway on the album cover. Its not total isolation from everything they want, just a place they can go without the trappings of everyday life. This song asks one of the most pressing questions of contemporary times: can we really ever get away from it all?
Aside from being one of the best songs to play while highway driving at night, its also a surprise justification for Yoko Ono’s style of singing. Listen to “We’re All Water” from Sometime in New York City to see what I mean. Band member Regine Chassagne really does a fantastic job here at channeling what made Ono’s work good while creating her own sound.
I’ll finish off this post by sharing a favorite classic of mine. Weezer’s debut album was seminal in the development of my musical tastes. It was the first time I understood the concept of an album as more than just a collection of songs, and it enlightened me as to how broad the rock genre could be. Most of all, it was just a really good album that blew me away upon listening to it for the first time. “In the Garage” drew me to its celebration of geekiness; Rivers Cuomo wasn’t lashing out at bullies or meekly saying he liked being nerdy, but instead confidently declaring his love for the lifestyle he lives without pretension.
I imagine I’ll share more of the music I like in the future, and I hope other contributors do too, since music listening and driving enhance both activities. Is there a particular song, album, or artist that tickles your fancy when you’re behind the wheel? Feel free to divulge below, or to declare that you only listen to NPR while driving.
This is the one thing I’m actually more interested in than cars, but I’m really drawing a blank as to one song in particular that I really associate with driving. These days, I’m stuck listening to the radio anyway – no iPod or CD player, and only a broken cassette deck in the car. Usually I listen to WFUV, which is good, but I do miss having my own soundtrack.
When I drive into work and I get out late at night, I like to listen to jazz while I weave through the city up to the 59th Street Bridge. Especially in the winter when everything’s lit up and the traffic’s a little easier. I’m not really a jazz connoisseur, but I know a little and I love this shit out of this album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rARGPAkIcw4
I think old surf rock generally makes for good driving songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rARGPAkIcw4
And I used to have this as the first song on an awesome road trip CD. Wish I still had it, I can’t really remember what the other songs were – but they were good! Rod Stewart was great with Faces and his first few solo albums are awesome, too. Not sure what happened later on:
Messed up and can’t seem to edit… second one was supposed to be this:
In my ’74 Peugeot 504 I’m trying to stay period correct so its all albums from ’71-’74 which is not hard- Stones “Exile on Main Street” and “Sticky Fingers”, Jackson Brown debut, Springsteen “Greetings from Asbury Park” and “The Wild, the innocent…”, Gram Parsons.
Other days in the Xb I let it fly – Weezer’s “Pinkerton”, Old 97s “Train Songs”, The Hold Steady’s “Separation Sunday” , early Son Volt, and the new one from John Fullbright have all been stuck in the CD player from time to time.
Totally agree with Rod Stewart who was an absolute ass kicker with Faces and “Every Picture Tells a Story” then just pathetic until the present day.
The song “Across the Sea” on Pinkerton makes me think not of driving, but of older Japanese cars – the lyric “they don’t make stationary like this where I’m from / so fragile, so refined”. Like the kitty kat key in the Nissan Micra article from yesterday, there was a time when Japanese automakers were concerned with some very, VERY different things than the western makes. They were delicate, and somewhat fragile since they rusted so badly, but very refined!
Springsteen almost goes without saying, but I don’t think anyone else mentioned him yet. So many good car songs. Thunder Road and Born to Run are cliched as hell I’m sure, but two of my alltime favorites. I like the earlier albums a lot too!
Straggling in late, it is fun to see the wide variety, and an awful lot of it sounds appealing.
Am I the only jazz fan at CC? My solo road time over the weekend (getting a kid moved back to school) was heavy with Lester Young, which morphed me over to Billie Holiday.
The stretch of road with my middle son had us enjoying some Lake Street Dive, a modern group I like quite a lot.
I dabble in older jazz a bit, too. I have an album of Hoagy tunes performed by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band that makes for excellent driving music as well.
Sounds fun. It is a little known fact that Hoagy Carmichael spent a short time practicing law at an Indianapolis law firm before he decided that he was better at writing music.
Nope. Big fan of classic jazz, with Miles Davis being at the top, along with a few others.
Stephanie is a Dead Head, and I’ve come to appreciate them, especially some of their jazzier improvisations. When they’re really on, it’s right up there.
On Saturday morning, when we drive out into the country for dog obedience school, I like to listen to old-time and classic country. I learned to love that living in Iowa in the early 70s. Bluegrass too.
I grew up with classical music, and played the violin for a few years. And I kept listening for a long time, but eventually I got satiated, and classic jazz took its place. But I still have a soft spot for it, due to all the early exposure.
I like jazz too…Art Blakey’s one of my heroes! I also like Horace Silver, Stan Getz (especially the bossa nova stuff), and Mingus.
Of course, I have to be in the right mood. It’s like listening to Dylan; I’m not always in the right frame of mind.
Good call on Stan Getz–Getz/Gilberto is a masterpiece. Personally I’m very partial to Dave Brubeck also.
Brubeck is good, as is his partner in crime Paul Desmond…
I actually like Getz’s “Jazz Samba” with Charlie Byrd a little more than “Getz/Gilberto,” although they’re both great!
I like to throw Tom Jobim into the mix…”Wave” is some of the coolest elevator music you’ll ever hear! 🙂
You join a list of others who remind me that I need to seek out more bluegrass and classic country.
Try Western Swing – it’s essentially Western Jazz. For example (don’t know if the preview will include it, but the end of the song – performed by three fiddles, an archtop guitar and a bass fiddle – sounds just like a jazz band in the finish with everyone taking their own line): “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” – https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/its-a-sin-to-tell-a-lie/id789455737?i=789455749
Ooh ooh…Bob Wills!
How about a little Tom T. Hall or Townes Van Zandt if we’re in a country mood?
“Remember the year that Clayton Delaney died?”
Am I the only jazz fan at CC?
I posted a Bill Evans song two comments up from this! But it didn’t come out embedded.
Always liked jazz but never knew anything about it and I’m only now really getting into specific artists and whatever. On my big jazz playlist on Spotify I’ve got Coltrane, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Brubeck, Joe Pass, Gerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond, McCoy Tyner, Oscar Peterson, a few Duke Ellington songs and Vince Guaraldi of Peanuts fame. Always looking for more – I usually just go through other people’s playlists and pick out whatever I like.
I had a long post ready (in my mind anyway) for this thread but then got busy over the weekend and just didn’t have time to deal with it. I have SiriusXM in my car and change among channels 26, 27, 32, a couple of the jazz channels and channel 60, which is Outlaw Country. Actually they play more than just country, they play a lot of Americana music and even quite a bit of Southern rock. I do make mix CD’s to use in my wife’s car as that is the one we use for vacation trips and it does not have Sirius. If I had to pick just one song that sums up driving on the open road it would be Bob Seger’s “Get Out of Denver”. Any time I hear that song in the car I have to make a conscious effort not to go 90 MPH.
My top #1 driving song would have to be Foo Fighters’ “Everlong”. Something about that track’s main riff and just makes me want to put the pedal down and GO. But beyond that, my tastes are varied. My primary taste is modern rock/indie rock, but I have favorites from jazz to country to even a little hip-hop. If it sounds good to me I listen to it.
Most of FM radio is terrible currently, so that’s pretty much useless (except for the occasions I’m in the mood for country). We have XM in one car, I usually stay on channels 36, 35, and 34 (Alt Nation, XMU, Lithium). In the other it’s music stored on my phone. Today on the way in on shuffle, heard Interpol, Sleeper Agent, and RAC; on Friday I was listening to Bruce Hornsby’s “Harbor Lights” album all the way through.
NPR listener here, except for warm summer nights when I tune in Washington Nationals games on my local AM station. If I want music, I’ll pop in a CD. Sarah Vaughan, Dave Brubeck, Frank Sinatra are all good. I especially like “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Gershwin Song Book, Volume 1”, as well as her Cole Porter compilation.
I use a memory stick or a iPod in my cars. I load them up and simply press shuffle. On my mem card or iPod Snoop Dogg exists with patsy Cline and Starship etc. I have not played a CD in my car in years.
I will give most songs a listen. But the main artists that tend to live on my devices all the time are the following:
Toto
Rush
Journey(All Journey, from the prog rock era to now)
Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship
Chicago
Gloria Estefan
Astrud Gillberto(Bossa Nova)
The Church
The Cars
The Pogues
Pointer Sisters
Christopher Cross
Boz Scaggs
Sandra (German Euro Disco singer)
Beatles
1980’s New wave
DeBarge
The Zombies
Glenn Miller
Benny Goodman
Paul Whiteman
Bing Crosby
Sorry for being a bit late for this topic, but the only radio that I listen to in my car are the classical station & the local oldies station which also broadcasts the Red Sox. Otherwise, it’s all CDs, all the time in my car. I mostly like pop/rock, w/classical & jazz & a bit of country (I had Johnny Cash & Tom T. Hall last week). This week I have Elvis on for the 37th anniversary of his passing. I swear that when I had his ’69 Memphis sessions, my 2005 Focus felt like a ’69 Cadillac convertible 😉
My contribution to the debate…
“Wheels Of Steel” by Saxon, “2112” and “Red Barchetta” by Rush, “Love Is The Drug” by Roxy Music, “Stylo” by the Gorillaz, “Devil’s Triangle” by GG Allin, “Gold” by John Stewart, “Time” (Clock Of The Heart) by Culture Club, “Lotta Love” by Nicolette Larson, “Unknown Legend” by Neil Young, “Casey Jones” by the Grateful Dead, “Love Hurts” by Nazareth, “Black Betty” by both Ram Jam and Spiderbait, “Hicktown” and “1994” by Jason Aldean, “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly, “Waterfalls” by TLC, “Whiskey In The Jar” by Thin Lizzy, “Cat Scratch Fever” by Ted Nugent, and “Suavecito” by both Malo and 4 Corners. Which is my iPod driving playlist
Every drive is different. When I’m not craving peace and quiet:
The Hold Steady – Springsteen and Replacements-inspired rock
Pre-1980 ZZ Top
Prong (speed metal)
Chet Baker
Thievery Corporation
Brazilian Girls
Art Blakey
Robert Earl Keen
Delbert McClinton
Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Blues Brothers – Briefcase Full of Blues
Muddy Waters
Roxy Music
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Mother’s Milk
Soundgarden (pre-1990)
The Reverend Horton Heat (a bodyshop guy from Dallas who is a phenomenal psychobilly guitarist and genuinely nice guy – lots of songs about old cars, strong drinks, and beautiful women)
Jack White and the Luminares – new music that’s creative, interesting, and almost popular
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
And thanks for the recommendations – horizons need to get broadened…