This is a thread I've been thinking about writing for years when I'm driving longer distances, but somehow I've never gotten around to it until now. I love listening to music while driving, and in my car is really the only place I get use of my extensive CD-collection. These are my favourite albums to listen to on the road, divided into 4 categories. Please feel free to list your own.
Highway, daytime:
Todd Snider - “The Devil You Know”
I always sing along to “Looking for a Job” and “Carla”. The third act of spoken-word track “You got away with it” never fails to put a smile on my face. The sad tale of poor Phil Ochs who slipped through the cracks while Judas went electric and never looked back, as told in “Thin Wild Mercury”, has just the right tempo to also serve as a great build-up for the titletrack "The Devil You Know". That's the point in the album where I crank it the fuck up and ROCK! OUT! while screaming along to the lyrics “There’s a war going on and the poor can’t win! Helicopters over my house again!”. The album the perfect length as well, when I'm driving home from the Big Town I pop this album in at the start of the trip and arrive at my home as the final notes of closing-track “Happy New Year” is coming through my speakers. Love love love this album.
Also good: Tom Waits - “Raindogs”, Hayes Carll - “KMAG YOYO”, Any album that mixes Country and Rock music well.
Highway, nighttime:
The xx - “xx”
When you’re driving along a dark highway in the country, nothing illuminating the winding road ahead of you except your headlights, there is nothing better than the last 2 minutes of “Infinity”. The track goes silent, and you almost think it's over, but then, quietly at first, it starts coming back, building and building until shivers are running up and down your spine.
Also good: Lynchian stuff. Listening to Marilyn Manson’s version of “I put a spell on you” on the Lost Highway soundtrack as the sun is going down makes me feel like it’s going down for good.
City, daytime:
Kanye West - “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”
For driving in the city during daytime I want phat beats and choruses I can sing along to.
Also good: Madvillain - "Madvillainy", Gorillaz - "Plastic Beach", M.I.A. - "MAYA"
City, nighttime:
Tom Waits - “Heart of Saturday Night”
You wanna feel like the coolest cat it town when you go for a late-night drive? Start your cruise off with a New Coat Of Paint.
Also good: Pretty much any 70's Tom Waits album
Not an album but I do have a horrible habit of driving along the motorway turning the wheel in time to Leonard Cohen's 'So Long Marianne'. Obviously this can be problematic if there's other traffic on the road.
But yes, driving to music is great. I don't generally listen to music at home anymore so in the car is where I do listen. And I don't have much of a voice anymore but the car doesn't mind. But I don't have a car now so no albums to list.
This is my current favorite playlist, it alternates between slower and faster tracks, it lets you focus on the music on the subliminal level and it fiills one blank CD nicely.
It's not strictly IDM even though the title suggests so, but I didn't come up with anything else, so there.
I just listen to whatever is on my phone, so occasionally tracks from the Spotify TTLG playlist.
I do have a playlist titled "Driving" but it's such a mix of stuff it could be titled anything.
I find what I listen to depends on my mood, the time of day, nature of the trip and how long I'm going to be driving for.
At night I prefer chillout stuff like Zero 7, Carbon Based Lifeforms, lofi dance like Adam Marshall or Swayzak. But if I'm in town at night I like 80s night time music; Phil Colins, Bronski Beat, Flock of Seagulls. You know.
Long day drives get a trance/dance or metal/guitar/industrial soundtrack. Infected Mushroom, Orbital, Hallucinogen, general psy/goa trance or NIN, Ministry, Soundgarden, Slayer, Sepultura, Cradle of Filth.
Occasionally I listen to the Kooks.
More often than not my driving gets a large dose of BBC Radio 4 though, and if there is one available a podcast of The Moral Maze or Infinite Monkey Cage or suchlike.
Always imagined this to be the perfect music for driving in very fast black cars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdEHBKDkBes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWo3-pTaI_o
Ridiculous drummer, RIP
That's pretty cool. Sadly I do not have a fast black car. Only a grey one that goes at a reasonable speed.
And Sulph make sure you give Dead Flowers a listen if you haven't already heard it. My fave Stones song to drive to.
Last edited by henke; 11th Apr 2012 at 14:48.
Eminence Front, by the Who. Epic Road Trip Track.
Thank you, Grand Theft Auto.
hehe Ulu i love you
A lesser-known Johnny Cash gem called "All I do is drive". Got this one on my "Keep on truckin'" MixCD, love singing along to it. Lines like "I got nothing in common with any man who's home every day at five/All I do is drive, drive, drive" really gets under the skin of the trucker-psyche and shows why Johnny was such a great songwriter.
Added to driving list. Wonderful.Originally Posted by Ulukai
It's hard to top Eminence Front. I love that song. Who Are You isn't a bad driving song either.
A classic is Tom Cochrane's Life is a Highway.
Also try Modest Mouse - Trucker's Atlas, off the indie classic The Lonesome Crowded West.
For more spirited driving, I like:
Metallica - the black album, particularly Enter Sandman and Don't Tread on Me
Ministry - Jesus Built My Hot Rod
Oysterhead - Mr. Oysterhead
Infected Mushroom - the Vicious Delicious album
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (among others)
Justice - Genisis & Let There be Light from Cross
Fatboy Slim - the whole You've Come a Long Way Baby album
Some other good driving songs that are on the more mellow side:
JJ Cale and Eric Claptop - Ride the River
Sheryl Crow - Every Day is a Winding Road
Shawn Colvin - Wichita Skyline
Talking Heads - lots of good ones: Lifetime Piling Up, Crosseyed and Painless, Popsicle, Burning Down the House, etc.
Phish - Contact, David Bowie
REM - South Central Rain, Rockville, Gardening at Night
Dave Matthews - Lie in Our Graves
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
I also tend to listen to more oldies when in the car, and here's some I get into for driving:
The Clash - Clampdown, Rock the Casbah
Doors - Riders on the Storm
George Thorogood - Who do You Love
Eagles - Take it Easy
Golden Earring - Radar Love
REO Speedwagon - Time to Fly
Gentle Giant - Playing the Game
Allman Brothers - Jessica
Journey - Separate Ways
ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin
Zeppelin - Nobody's Fault But Mine
Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin
EDIT: I forgot to mention the Pretenders. I don't listen to them much except when driving but they have several songs which are among my road trip favorites: Don't Get Me Wrong, Brass in Pocket, Middle of the Road, Back on the Chain Gang, even My City Was Gone (though Rush has kind of spoiled that one).
Last edited by heywood; 13th Apr 2012 at 01:07.
Hokay,
driving music is an interesting subject that is surprisingly vast area of music. Since I live in Finland, it's a completely different thing to drive during the summer or the winter. Driving during the day and the night creates completely different settings as well. A considerable variable is also the lenght of drive - listening to whole albums is great, when you're driving! I have been the designated driver of our festival crew for all the years I've had license and I've driven to gigs around the country quite a lot on my own as well.
Day&Summer:
FUNK! Forget metal and rock and all that shizzle, what you want during the summer is happy, ridiculous funk that makes the day shine even brighter. You can deduct the quality of music on how much your head bobs to it. The mellower tracks lend to themselves perfectly for slower cruising as well. Examples:
This is the shit.
Winter&Night:
I can honestly say that one of my most magical and lovely experiences has been driving long distances in the middle of the night in a snowstorm. Losing all sense of place and movement, because you can't see shit, is amazing. This also creates and ideal setting for something more profound:
This just short of an hour worth of music composed of segments that flow seamlessly together. It is basically the best modern piece of classical music and lends itself amazingly to nightly drives. When it ends, you'll feel amazing.
All kind of post-rock lends itself nicely for nightly drives, but Mono takes the cake for it's superb dynamic differences. It is easy to create a sense of foreboding apocalypse with this kind of stuff.
heywood's post put a smacker of a smile on my face. Such a long time since I've listened to JJ Cale, or Allman Brothers or Doobies or any of your mellow and oldies list. Not that long since the Pretenders. But you sent me scurrying to a box where I've got a load of tapes - I know I've got a tape player somewhere dammit. (Although I'm sure some of you don't know what tapes are.
I'm told I might be getting a car next week so with that thought in mind, I'm now doing some serious listening.
And sometimes I do like belting out an aria or two - with the windows closed, obviously.
Slow to start, but I like the rhythm. Thanks. This reminded me of another suggestion: My Disco - Cancer (album)
My Disco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_-Rg9fIO8Y
"Change Your Mind" by Neil Young off his Sleeps With Angels album (1994). 13 minutes long with just the right mix of instrumental interludes and Young's thoughts on addiction, perfect for after a day's work. Great song!
This is the kind of music I like to drive to.
I just love to listen good music while driving (sometimes i even go for a spin just to listen music) and i've came up with quite good sets of music for difrent driving conditions.
all the music is basicly electronic.
-Highway, day
PrEmoEffect - Green Plums
Qemist - Speed Freak
Pendulum - Slam
F-777 - Viper 2
-Highway, night
DanceNation - Heavy rain
F-777 - Once More
MrMilkCarton - Deep blue
-City, day
F-777 - Viper
Dj Dela - Bleed
F-777 - New energy
-City, night
Skrillex - Rock'n'roll
DeadMau5 & Feed Me - Pixel cheese (skrillex remix)
AlBizzare - Rocking Style
-Dusty sand road, hot summer day
Awake - Extrasolar
Knifeparty - Ragevalley
Nk vs Ti - Amity
Dj Babokon - Take the Risk
Dj Triplestar - Summerbash
-Competitive situation with other driver?
Awake - Eternity
Dj Nate - Treat for Oscillators
Pendulum - Tarantula
Herve - Zombiedance
-chillout at parkinglot
Any of that "City, night"
-chillout alone (or with few friends) somewhere
MrMilkCarton - Discover
Etalo - Deep inside
Durn - Seasons
Soulero & F-777 - Last breath
Trancecrafter - Break free
-going to drive rally?
DaTweekaz - DNA (triplestar remix)
Gammer & Whizzkid - We Are the Vampires
Dougal & Gammer - Don't stop GO!
Infinite dimensions - Krater
ok, you should be fine with those, and remember, don't hesitate to turn volume to 100% ;D
I may alight on various things depending on my mood.
Perhaps Shaker Loops by John Adams.
Or more recently I seem to have been listening almost exclusively to death metal, more specifically Meshuggah and Opeth. Electric Red, Bleed, or The Leper Affinity will do quite nicely.
A little while ago I was listening to something like Intracity (Solar Stone) or Electroplasm (Shpongle).
Also was putting on Ott a lot - Rogue Bagel for example.
No BTO?
Their entire discography was made for cranking up the volume and just driving until you die.
Four Wheel Drive
My Wheel's Won't Turn
Roll On Down the Highway
Picked up a few new CDs recently to serve specifically as driving music.
True Blood Season 1 Soundtrack
The show itself is alright, but the soundtrack for season 1 is the best I've ever heard for a TV show. Wonderful mix of country, blues, 50's rock n roll, slow ballads, swamp rock, etc. It's as if it's been made to drive around at night to.
The Heavy - The Glorious Dead
One of my favourite albums of this year. Catchy hooks and singalong-friendly choruses on every track.
A "Best of CCR" collection
Because no driving music collection is complete without a bit of Creedence!
I had a friend that kept a CCR tape in his old truck, and every time we'd go to our friend's house he'd race to get there in the time of Lookin' Out My Backdoor.
Whilst pounding the roof with one fist, I hope. Heh.
Also awesome: Drive soundtrack favourites Nightcall and Tick of the Clock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYmbW3JT3Y8
Or was this supposed to be without homicidal road rage?
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