What's Your Favorite Driving Music?

Wes Craiglow

Wes Craiglow

Adventurist
Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" gets my vote for the best classic rock and driving song of all time. Follow me here...

1. It has a stellar, sing-along hook. (Don't lie, you know all the words by heart.)
2. It has a cat-call riff that all but forces your air-guitar-playing hand, drum fills that make you bang on your steering wheel, and a guitar solo that sounds like a child is trapped inside the amp.
3. It references each of the following at least once: sinning, tobacco, drugs, gangsters, and being on the run. This alone qualifies it a rock-and-roll.
4. It includes made-up words. (And I'll go out on a limb here and say that "pompatus" is a damn good made-up word.)
5. And finally, it expresses love for a woman with a mention of her "peaches," and more importantly, does so without coming across as sexist. Mr. Miller, that's skill. Bravo, sir.

It's songs like these that make long miles drift by without notice. They're the sort of songs that have us rolling down the windows and singing along.

So I'm interested in hearing from you on this topic… What's your favorite song or album or band to crank up loud and sing along to when you're behind the wheel? Everyone's got one!
 
I'm going through a transition musically. I grew up on country, I had to with my dad being a trucker. So I knew all the words to C.W. McCall songs, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, etc... Then as a teen I had to rebell against the grownups and got into heavy metal/punk, then growing into classic rock/acid rock.

My early offroading days, my favorite music the offroad/onroad drive to was Metallica and other "thrash" metal and punk.
As I slowed down and enjoyed the trails a bit more, Pink Floyd was the music of choice.

Now I've come full circle, and I'm back listening to country again, finding songs I can relate to by Jason Aldean, Aaron Lewis, Luke Bryan, so now this is my favorite driving music. The loud amplifiers and speaker boxes are gone in favor of storage space, but having all of the above still in my iTunes on my phone, with varying moods, I always have a soundtrack to go with it.

As for particular songs...
Pink Floyd's "Fearless" from Meddle ..."You say that hill's too steep to climb?....You pick the place and I'll choose the time...and I'll climb that hill in my own way..." Sounds like a trail challenge to me!

Alice in Chains "Don't Follow" (haha!) from Jar of Flies ..."Heeeyyyyy, I ain't never comin' home...." Inspires thoughts of being someplace so beautiful you don't want to leave!

Jason Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem" from My Kinda Party ..."Chillin' on a dirt road, laid back swervin' like I'm George Jones....I'm turning off the real life, drivin', that's right, I'm hittin' easy street on mud tires" Just flat out an awesome trail song!
 
It really depends on the time/circumstances. I'm not big on music, when off road, more often than not I won't have anything on, I would rather hear natural surroundings/my vehicles random noises (I have a Jeep, so I have a LOT of noises)
 
rangermatt said:
Radar Love.. golden earring..oh yeah!
Click to expand...
Classic ride music, without a doubt. I would also add...
Turn the Page by either Bob Seeger or Metallica.
Whiskey in a Jar... Metallica
Learning to Fly.... Pink Floyd
The Ride...David Allen Coe

I could add to this list all night....if the wine would last that long.

-Andy
 
x2
bob91yj said:
It really depends on the time/circumstances. I'm not big on music, when off road, more often than not I won't have anything on, I would rather hear natural surroundings/my vehicles random noises (I have a Jeep, so I have a LOT of noises)
Click to expand...
 
Met Steve when they played here at Pechanga. Big letdown, grade A arsehole.

My tastes are ecclectic. Much like Mitch, I was raised on country but living in the PNW I was also influenced early on by the rebellious tones of metal and later grunge. Now it's come nearly full circle and though I still enjoy all the rock and country the advent of Pandora has opened my ears and eyes to many other genres. Some of my favorite Pandora stations for the road are:

Jason Aldean
[video=youtube;Lb9q1ScC4cg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb9q1ScC4cg[/video]

Drive by Truckers
[video=youtube;ZXrrvdr-zeM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXrrvdr-zeM[/video]

Enter the Haggis
[video=youtube;MzBTUfiUHTY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzBTUfiUHTY[/video]

David Allen Coe
[video=youtube;vAOVRkSCWmg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAOVRkSCWmg[/video]

Zac Brown
[video=youtube;TZBR0yh3CO4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBR0yh3CO4&list=PL63B9CAD5B8A35E56[/video]

Tempest
[video=youtube;yDuJeoTMxh8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDuJeoTMxh8[/video]

The High Kings
[video=youtube;wY_H2KsR0eI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY_H2KsR0eI[/video]

Skynyrd
[video=youtube;wHx7vaa9Fwo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHx7vaa9Fwo[/video]
 
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I could make a whole list, but how about more of a what I am listening to now. Like many others on here my musical taste has evolved and is currently settled on bands that remind me that country and punk at their purest form are just three chords and words that mean something. That being the case my current favorites are (in no particular order):

Lucero (start with the Tennessee album)
Two Cow Garage (yes that is really a band name, and you will be surprised at the intelligence of the lyrics given the name)
Arliss Nancy (just good music)
Drag the River
There are many more, but that would be a good start
 
Whoa Tango, your kids listened to Welk. I figured you for more of a John Philip Sousa-phile.

Or maybe Chopin ;)
 
Pretty sure he just listens to the mental recordings from attending Mozart's last few concerts. Probably doesn't remember being there though.
 
I have a varied and esoteric taste.
But to get in the safari mood I like Zap Mama's Brrrlak:

Try it. Tell me you don't want to go on a trip to Africa afterward.

[video=youtube_share;VxkbipVwZv4]http://youtu.be/VxkbipVwZv4[/video]

Here's my all-time favorite song. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's version of The Battle of New Orleans:

[video=youtube_share;wf4MUIQYn1U]http://youtu.be/wf4MUIQYn1U[/video]

most of the time it's just Skynyrd or Hendrix though.
 
If i'm going to do anything outdoors then its "Simple Man" by Leh-nerd Skin-nerd.
 
Joker said:
If i'm going to do anything outdoors then its "Simple Man" by Leh-nerd Skin-nerd.
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I like Charlie Daniels' Simple Man more...

It's angry.


Here's another catchy one that I like:

[video=youtube_share;xRqI5R6L7ow]http://youtu.be/xRqI5R6L7ow[/video]
 
Been listening to the 10 hour loop of "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk.

[video=youtube_share;2X8h8OP7s7s]http://youtu.be/2X8h8OP7s7s[/video]

[video=youtube_share;5NV6Rdv1a3I]http://youtu.be/5NV6Rdv1a3I[/video]
 
I like the Shinedown version best

[video=youtube;HbN99f9esS4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbN99f9esS4[/video]
 
The music on our travels covers the whole gambit.

Traditionally we start each trip with a cranked up playing of Black Label Society's "Fire It Up." From there it will vary from Lemmy and Motorhead's "Born to Raise Hell", to Maggie Samone's scottish fiddle music. Along the way we'll listen to bluegrass, country, classic rock, power rock, gealic tunes and R&B especially if Cam's coming along. Other notabales would include...

*Special Ed and the Short Bus
*Enter the Haggis
*Bagpipes from Mars
*Amon Amarth
*The Sword
*Scottish Allstars
*Metallica...the older albums
*Judas Priest
*The Decemberists
*Johnny Cash

All in all we have a pretty eclectic playlist, but when we hit the woods the tunes get turned off and we listen to the sounds coming from the outside.
 
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Haggis said:
Traditionally we start each trip with a cranked up playing of Black Label Society's "Fire It Up."
Click to expand...

Nice. Love BLS.

[video=youtube;HayjUnLyB3Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HayjUnLyB3Y[/video]
 
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