Road sounds vs home sounds

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I drive a lot. There are some songs that just seem to go with driving and travel. For the road, it needs to have some "swing", "rhythm", or "bop". My road CD's are Buddy Holly, George Thorogood, Roy Rogers (Chops not chaps), Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, The Go-Go's, Staple Singers, and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

At home, I can listen to anything. Does anybody else have special "road" sounds vrs "home" sounds?

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2001

Answers

CANNED HEAT! there "best of" album is the greatest thing to listen to on road trips....it's just wicked awesome....everyone should listen to it....but maybe that's just me. --amelia

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2001
I prefer strong women singers when I am driving - Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, k.d. lange, Ella Fitzgerald, Roseanne Cash, Phoebe Snow, Rickie Lee Jones. I know, not quite as contemporary as some, but such good, strong voices and you cannot help but to sing along at the top of your lungs (amusing other drivers, no doubt, who happen to glance your way). --- ----

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
Hmmmmm...for me, I need to listen to really upbeat stuff when I'm on the road, especially during road trips. I'm big on Aerosmith personally, but I can recall listening to Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Garth Brooks, Green Day, Liz Phair, Led Zeppelin...basically anything fast-paced that I can sing along to.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
I like to listen to LOUD music in the car. It's usually rock or techno, and it's turned up much louder than it would be in my apartment (darned neighbors!).

At home, I don't listen to music very often. If I'm studying I'll throw in a mellow CD, like Lauren Hill's. Also, any CD from college (Jane's Addiction and the Sundays) is great when I'm studying.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

I make an 8 hour drive about every 3-4 months and I *can't* do music on the road trip. It's gotta be a book tape, preferrably something like Harry Potter. I make mixes all the time for local driving and my running. But there's something about knowing that I'm going to have to listen to 8 or 9 different tapes to make it home (out of state) that just discourages me. I don't know if that answer fits your question.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
I've always said that one cannot truly appreciate The Dandy Warhols until one takes them along on a road trip. (Of course I mean the CDs, not the band, though taking the band on a road trip would certainly be entertaining as well.)

Glam rock (like T. Rex and Sweet) also perks you up on a long drive.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

When driving first thing in the morning, I like loud, head-bangin' and/or rockin' music (AC/DC, Tragically Hip). Any other time I prefer talk radio - either to make myself mad listening to "Dr." Laura or educate myself on the CBC (Canada's public radio), I think it's a sign of aging.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
Anything I can sing along with. Not necessarily on key, though. I will sing Styx like nobody's business and never hit a note.

Lots of Patsy Cline. Lots and lots of Loretta Lynn. And a little more Loretta, because you never get tired of singing "Coal Miner's Daughter". And a whole lotta Leonard Cohen.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Yeah Amelia, Canned Heat is the quintessential road band. But ya know, I can't "boogie all night long" no more. But I can "boogie for a little while."

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
Right on. Leonard Cohen is The Man.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
I can only Boogie Till I'm Out of Breath Or My Leg Cramps Up. I want someone to record that song. I'll write the lyrics.

I can recommend some road music to avoid, though. If you've been driving through mostly flat dull places and you're so exhausted you want to cry and you're still about eight hours from home and you finally get to a mountainous area, don't listen to The Cure's "Disintegration." You'll start to think about testing the strength of the guard rail, seriously.

Public radio or books on tape are good for those kinds of trips. If you ever drive through Lexington, KY, there's a college station that knocks my socks off, all KINDS of great music all mixed together. At least the times I've driven through Lexington.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Right ON, Erika, it has to be LOUD in the car. With bass so loud you actually have to turn it down before you get nauseous or cross-eyed. Pete Townsend once said that the secret to a great hit rock song is one that you can drive to. I go through phases where I'll pack my CD changer with Metallica, Joe Satriani and all my Shrapnel Records shred metal CDs for a week, then switch it all out to fast and light pop (Right on, Jospeh, Buddy Holly is The Man) for a week or so, then just mix it all up from even wider and wilder sources, and on and on. The common theme is it has to MOVE or it's just not right for the car.

At home, anything (and everything) goes.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Re: Pete Townshend: The Who (especially Tommy) IS good Road Music, actually!

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
A few years ago, *sign*, back in grad. school, I'd make the 3 hour trip home listening to The Cars' Candy 'O, Elton John, Blue Grass and anything else that moved and kept me awake to go with my Mountain Dew. Now, commuting back and forth to work I'm afraid it's PBS talk radio for me. But, Friday nights, PBS has the "World Cafe" which is great music. And thanks Milla, for thinking of me. The hardest part of all the media surrounding the school shootings has been protecting my eight year old from learning about it. She has enough stress in her life. If it comes up, I'd talk about it, but I've tried to keep it from coming up.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
BTW, "Dark Side of the Moon" is my favorite album of all time. Especially the solo female vocal. Man, I wish I could sing like that. To whomever, in your case, it's not "another brick in the wall", it's "another brick in the head".

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001
Thanks for your responses. It's an interesting mix.

I had no idea Leonard Cohen was still around. He was semi-popular in the Philly area in the late 1960's. His local hit was "Suzanne", not "Bird on a wire". My favorite was "Hey, that's no way to say goodbye".

Every time I hear Patsy Cline, "I fall to pieces".

FOOD FOR THOUGHT. Every popular hit of the last 50 years had 2 common elements. They are: (1) danceability and (2) lyrics about "foolish love". The only exception I can think of was Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel". It wasn't really danceable.

Thanks again folks.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

I agree with Milla. Tommy R-O-C-K-S. Sally Simpson has been one of my favorite songs since I was a little girl listening to "dad's music".

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001
It's ALL good. A local band (Kenny Howes & The Yeah!) covered Tommy in is entirety as a surprise after their latest CD release party. Now the name might not fill you with great hope that they are good, but they are VERY good (they do power pop). And they did a bang-on job of it.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001
I think listening to book tapes is the best thing I could have ever started doing, it has saved my peace of mind, and countless potential driving victims. When the tape is over, however, it's back to the Pixies, who are my ultimate driving buddies.

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2001
Contents of my car's CD changer two weeks ago:

Contents as of yesterday:

I am working on a new set. Looking at what I've had in there recently, I'm kinda all over the place so far as road sounds are concerned.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

Right now I have no music in my car (*misery*) because some scumbag tried to steal my stereo. After ripping out one speaker and destroying everything else in the car that wasn't nailed down (and some things that were), he took the faceplate, rendering the entire sound system unusable.

To add to the annoynace, I normally took my faceplate with me. The one time I forgot...

I'm pretty sure I know which 'neighbor' did it, actually. I'm glad I will be moving.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

I just got back from a mini-road trip vacation with another friend who doesn't own a car, so much of our time was spent enjoying CDs purchased especially for the rental. Among them: Bob Dylan's greatest hits, Monsters of Rap [featuring "Baby Got Back", "I Got a Man", and "Bust a Move"], a 3 CD set of Patsy Cline's greatest hits, and Moby's album _Play_ (which lent a meta-aspect to it all, since it's in lots of car ads.

I love driving and singing along at the top of my lungs, and it takes an understanding friend to deal with my lack of actual musical ability.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001

What a drag, Milla. Someone broke into my car to steal my stereo once, but because my girlfriend and I had installed it ourselves, we put a whole lot of extra hardware in back to prevent theft. The robbers didn't get it, but they seriously jacked up my dash in the attempt.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001
I just remembered my sister's all time favorite driving music (and essential beach music): anything by Jimmy Buffet. She and her friends were/are huge Buffet fans. My sister even works at Margaritaville in New Orleans now.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2001
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