Road Trip Music
Just got a very good question from faithful blog reader and cherished StumpTown friend Peggy in the comments to my post about movies. She asked for advice in selecting music for a road trip so I thought I would offer the following.
I try to follow these simple rules when preparing road trip music. I hope they help.
1. The Radio station rule – try to find as many songs or artists that grab your ear when you are surfing through the radio. There are always those songs that, no matter how many times you’ve heard them, just click with you to the point that it is physically impossible to change the radio station when you hear this song playing. Those songs are like 3 minutes of your musical soul mate. The more of those songs the better. I just compiled a CD of such songs which include:
a. I love Rock ‘n Roll – Joan Jett (that’s right, so what?)
b. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
c. Kodachrome (sp?) – Paul Simon
d. Me and Julio down by the school yard (not the real name) – Paul Simon
e. Whiter Shade of Pale
f. Bye Bye Miss American Pie
g. Hey Jude
h. Cecelia
I just never seem to tire of listening to those songs, so they make good road trip songs.
2. The new music rule – Don’t bring anything you are hearing for the very first time. You want music that gets you fired up and comforts you and that you can sing along with. This is no time to break in a new sound.
3. The sing along rule – If it doesn’t make you want to sing along, then it is not worth taking with you in the car. Riding in the car is for singing along to the radio. I will not argue about this.
4. The variety rule – Try not to bring too many albums where every song sounds the same and is played at the same tempo. Driving gets boring. You need to mix it up. If you only have albums where all the songs are at a certain level, then make sure you bring a wide variety of albums and then play them like you’re a DJ at a radio station trying to break the record for most genre’s played in a 4 hour time slot. I like to start off with some good up beat pop like Sheryl Crow or go old school with the Beatles or Huey Lewis and the News. Then move to something more thoughtful and mellow like Simon and Garfunkle (ultimate road trip music), then when I’m falling asleep, crank things up with some Jay Z or Kanye West or maybe some Prince or Blackstreet.
5. The head bob rule – You need music that makes you want to move. If listening to a song does not make you at very least want to bob your head, if not jump on top of the car and start thrashing around like you’re in a Guns ‘n Roses video, then it is just not good traveling music.
6. The repetition rule – Don’t bring songs that repeat the chorus more than 4 times. Don’t bring things that repeat the same hook or rhythm over and over and over. It will drive you nuts.
Ok, that should get you started. Just for fun, here are some of my very favorite road trip albums (before the days of cd burning)
Graceland – Paul Simon
Simon and Garfunkle’s Greatest Hits
Odelay – Beck
The Globe Sessions – Sheryl Crow
The Black Album – Jay Z
The Chronic – Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dog
Any album by the Zoe Christian singing group
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
Anything by Eric Clapton
The Future – Guy
Bringing Down the Horse – Wallflowers
Touchdown – Stephanie Schneiderman
Prince’s 2 disc set with the weird symbol on the front
Any of the first 3 Cranberries albums
Good luck!!!
I try to follow these simple rules when preparing road trip music. I hope they help.
1. The Radio station rule – try to find as many songs or artists that grab your ear when you are surfing through the radio. There are always those songs that, no matter how many times you’ve heard them, just click with you to the point that it is physically impossible to change the radio station when you hear this song playing. Those songs are like 3 minutes of your musical soul mate. The more of those songs the better. I just compiled a CD of such songs which include:
a. I love Rock ‘n Roll – Joan Jett (that’s right, so what?)
b. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
c. Kodachrome (sp?) – Paul Simon
d. Me and Julio down by the school yard (not the real name) – Paul Simon
e. Whiter Shade of Pale
f. Bye Bye Miss American Pie
g. Hey Jude
h. Cecelia
I just never seem to tire of listening to those songs, so they make good road trip songs.
2. The new music rule – Don’t bring anything you are hearing for the very first time. You want music that gets you fired up and comforts you and that you can sing along with. This is no time to break in a new sound.
3. The sing along rule – If it doesn’t make you want to sing along, then it is not worth taking with you in the car. Riding in the car is for singing along to the radio. I will not argue about this.
4. The variety rule – Try not to bring too many albums where every song sounds the same and is played at the same tempo. Driving gets boring. You need to mix it up. If you only have albums where all the songs are at a certain level, then make sure you bring a wide variety of albums and then play them like you’re a DJ at a radio station trying to break the record for most genre’s played in a 4 hour time slot. I like to start off with some good up beat pop like Sheryl Crow or go old school with the Beatles or Huey Lewis and the News. Then move to something more thoughtful and mellow like Simon and Garfunkle (ultimate road trip music), then when I’m falling asleep, crank things up with some Jay Z or Kanye West or maybe some Prince or Blackstreet.
5. The head bob rule – You need music that makes you want to move. If listening to a song does not make you at very least want to bob your head, if not jump on top of the car and start thrashing around like you’re in a Guns ‘n Roses video, then it is just not good traveling music.
6. The repetition rule – Don’t bring songs that repeat the chorus more than 4 times. Don’t bring things that repeat the same hook or rhythm over and over and over. It will drive you nuts.
Ok, that should get you started. Just for fun, here are some of my very favorite road trip albums (before the days of cd burning)
Graceland – Paul Simon
Simon and Garfunkle’s Greatest Hits
Odelay – Beck
The Globe Sessions – Sheryl Crow
The Black Album – Jay Z
The Chronic – Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dog
Any album by the Zoe Christian singing group
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
Anything by Eric Clapton
The Future – Guy
Bringing Down the Horse – Wallflowers
Touchdown – Stephanie Schneiderman
Prince’s 2 disc set with the weird symbol on the front
Any of the first 3 Cranberries albums
Good luck!!!
Comments
Yet, I cannot trust my own instincts.
good rules list.
I just need help in recovering from my last road trip Moby fiasco. You may think you want Moby, but you don't. Really, you just don't.
Leslie, thanks. Who knew there were so many Foo Fighter fans among the blog readers?
Tanyalee, not sure you can argue in the same breath that my music is corrupting our kids while encouraging them to listen to music from a play most famous for its nude orgy scene. I'm just saying...
Peggy, you are right I don't want Moby, but the fact that you travel everywhere with "Hair" does make me fret a little.
I once had the pleasure of listening to S&G's "America" while actually driving on the New Jersey Turnpike. And, yes, I was counting the cars.
And Bye, Bye American Pie is too long to listen to in the car.