BEST OF: Driving Music

From time to time, I’ll feature something that isn’t a review so much as a showcase. In general, these will be lists of what (in a totally biased, ego-centric and subjective way) I have determined to be the best of something.

With the holidays around the corner, a lot of folks will be heading off on road trips to visit family, so to send them on their merry way, this “best of” feature highlights driving music. Roll on, and enjoy my entirely arbitrary categories:

Best: Full Album for when the driver is susceptible to nodding off and hitting the buzz strips

Paul Simon, Graceland
Five Hour Energy not working anymore? Simon’s Rhythm of the Saints is also excellent, but when your eyes are drooping somewhere north of Alexandria, there is absolutely nothing like You Can Call Me Al to have you slapping the steering wheel and throwing on the cruise control so you can tap your feet to the music without accidentally braking.

Runner Up: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run
No explanation necessary.  Sheer awesomeness.


Best: Song for a traffic jam (avert your eyes, Grandpa)

Geto Boys, Damn it Feels Good to be Gangsta
So you’re parked on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. This was exciting for the first five minutes, because you get a clear view of the Sears Tower. Three hours later, the novelty of the Sears Tower has worn off, you’ve already admired every vanity license plate and tinted window within a visible sphere, and you’re ready to throw something – or someone – out the window. Throw on this classic, made famous by the movie “Office Space.” It’s impossible to be mad or in a hurry with this song on. You can buy me a Chicago Dog to thank me later.  Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for the lyrics on this one.  You've been warned.


Best: Full Album for when you cannot possibly conceive of how many hours it has taken you to cross Iowa

Tim McGraw’s Greatest Hits
Oh, you say you don’t like country music? I defy you to crank this one up and not feel at least marginally more upbeat about the cornfields passing you by. Play a little game of “Cow versus Graveyard” with your passengers, and by the time McGraw is singing about wanting to grow old and “watch my corn pop up in rows,” you’ll have fleeting ideas of scoping out rural Des Moines real estate.



Best: Song to sing along with (weather permitting, with the windows rolled [or electronically lowered] down)

Aerosmith, Crazy
If you haven’t sung along to this song at the top of your lungs while driving, you simply have not lived. In spite of what Tom Cruise may have you believe, “Free Fallin’” has nothing on this one. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t know all the words: “Mannnanananananana, nanana, headin’ out to, Hollywooooood!”

If you live in climate warmer than Minnesota, I encourage you to stick your hand out the window and play with the wind resistance (you know, the hand waving thing that makes sure other drivers know how much more fun you’re having than they are) whilst blaring this song. Just make sure that if you are the driver, you don’t get so into the chorus that you actually close your eyes a’la Steven Tyler. If you’re the passenger? Go nuts.