Comments on: Greatest. Roadtrip Soundtrack. Ever.

By: Kim W.

Kim W. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:22:04 +0000

*pulls up chair and sits down*

I can beat this.

This is the music that accompanied me on an epic solo road trip from New York to Las Vegas in the summer of 2000.

* George Thorogood, “Who Do You Love.”
* Donna Summer, “Bad Girls.”
* Sister Hazel, “All For You.”
* the Police, “Synchronicity.” (The first cut off the album, NOT the better-known “Synchronicity 2″. This is important.)
* I concur with the above inclusion of Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild.”
* Dire Straits, “Skateaway.”
* the Go-Go’s, “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed.”
* the Guess who, “American Woman.”
* Sting, “Desert Rose.”
* Allman Brothers, “Jessica.”
* Moby, “Run On.”
* U2, “Desire.”
* Johnny Cash, “I’ve Been Everywhere.”
* The Who, “Baba O’Reilly.”
* Elton John, “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.”
* New Radicals, “You Get What You Give.”
* Ben Harper, “Steal My Kisses.”
* Bruce Springsteen, “Born To Run.”

The above was supplemented with the B-52’s greatest-hits double-CD set “Nude On the Moon,” and with a copy of “The Joshua Tree” (which was only played when I reached Utah and Nevada).

“Steal My Kisses” was something I actually discovered while ON the trip — I tried the radio somewhere in Ohio, and stumbled upon this song and it drove me into a Wal-Mart for the first time in my life ever to get a copy.

And I’m shocked that no one has mentioned “Jessica” before now. Seriously.

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By: Anton

Anton — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:35:48 +0000

These always get me into a wicked mood while driving:

Steppenwolf – Born to be Wild
Rolling Stones – Paint it Black
Derek and the Dominos – Layla

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By: Dogg

Dogg — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:09:24 +0000

“Early Morning Rain” and “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”- Gordon Lightfoot
“The Weight”- The Band
“If 6 Was 9″- Jimi Hendrix
“Me And Bobby Magee”- Chris Kristofferson
“Truckin’” and “Friend Of The Devil”- Grateful Dead
“Thunder Road”, “Born To Run”, and “The Rocker”- Bruce Springstein
“Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay”- Otis Redding
There’s probably a lot more where that came from i just can’t think of them right now!

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By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:46:54 +0000

Tiny Dancer by Elton John
(See the movie Almost Famous)

Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

America by Simon and Garfunkle
(Also in Almost Famous)

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By: has

has — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:31:47 +0000

I would like to add few poppy rock songs for the roadtrip.Kind of radio-tune songs but nice to have for roadtrip,IMHO.
1.1979- smashing pumpkins
2.have a nice day – stereophonics
3.my favourite game – cardigans
4.traveller’s tune – ocean colour scene

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By: pam

pam — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:54:01 +0000

I’m a big fan of, oh the shame, 70s anthem pop/rock for road trip sound tracks. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss… Met a little girl in a Hollywood bungalow… And I think it’s gonna be a long long time… Ack. Maybe it’s because when you’re traversing the big spaces of the US, it’s anthem rock, cowboy pop (I hate that stuff, though props to ScottMc for the alt country) and talk talk talk. You can always get old Boston songs,though, and that stuff sounds like road trips to me!

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By: tim

tim — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 14:43:34 +0000

If anyone is planning on taking this such a CD on a trip through Australia, there is one MUST HAVE that is missing.

Hunters and Collectors – Holy Grail

There is an AWESOME live version of it that was recorded in Sydney floating around the intertubes somewhere (the standard edit has nothing on the live version – Nothing I say!)

It posses all the requisite features for a great road-trip song and you will get extra credit and many nods of appreciation from any locals you meet along the way.

Ian, while it is not a folk song, it is practically a pub anthem down here, I sure hope this guy introduced you to it. Shame on him if he didn’t!

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By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:08:21 +0000

I was once asked to make one for a friend of mine who was going on a roadtrip to France with some friends. They loved it. None of them knew what came next.
I liked the idea when you’re travelling with people who all have a different music taste. Just ask somebody else with a broad music collection to make a roadtrip cd (in my case: mp3-cd).
I couldn’t resist the temptation to add “Ca Plane pour moi” after about an hour or 3. Guessing they would be in France by then.

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By: ianmack

ianmack — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 14:14:47 +0000

scott — i can’t believe i’d overlooked beastie boys and nirvana. my bad.

and stacy, thanks for the list. i’ll check it out for some more inspiration for v2.0.

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By: Stacy

Stacy — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:40:00 +0000

Hi Ian, I think most people would laugh at my taste in music (I go from country to classic rock like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin to late 60’s music like Traffic and Buffalo Springfield.)

In between, I have a soft spot for 70’s music from Sammy Johns, Three Dog Night and Paul Simon and you don’t even want to know what I like from the early 60’s. LOL.

My husband is the one for road trip music, and I I like of a lot of his picks, so it works out. Talking Heads is one of my favorite groups.

John Sandford, the author of the Prey books, has a good list on his site…
http://www.johnsandford.org/prey16.html

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