MUSIC TO DRIVE BY
Columnist John Sakamoto’s 6 rules for picking day-trip driving music,
“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do,” says John Cusack’s adulthood-challenged music geek in High Fidelity.
“You gotta kick it off with a killer to grab attention. Then you gotta take it up a notch . . . then you gotta cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.”
A compilation to sit and listen to? That’s easy. Try adding driving to the mix.
1. A day trip is no time for new music There’s a reason those perennial lists of “best driving songs” all seem to converge around AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” (bit.ly/achighway), Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” (bit.ly/steppenwild), Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” (bit.ly/pettyrunnin) and Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” (bit.ly/whitesnakehere): They’re so deeply ingrained in car culture, they feel as innate to driving as noisy air conditioning and barely suppressed road rage.
After all, the last thing you want to deal with while fighting traffic and the clock is deciding how you feel about a song you’ve never heard before.
2. Too much familiarity makes you feel like you’re stuck in traffic Familiarity is good on a drive but, once in a while, it’s good to inject an element of surprise into a song you’ve heard hundreds of times, especially while navigating some particularly mind-numbing stretch of the 401.
There are a couple of ways of going about this. First, look for a mashup that mixes together two often-incongruous songs, thereby making each seem a little unfamiliar (not to mention saving you valuable listening time). Take a song like the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm,” a song about a metaphorical journey (or a serial killer): the cascading electric piano, the droning vocal, the rain-and-thunder sound effects. You don’t even have to listen to it to feel like you’ve just heard it again. But layer that on top of, say, Blondie’s “Rapture,” and you’ve got something both recognizable and a little bizarre (bit.ly/ridersrapture).
The other tactic is to program a piece of music that has been pilfered by a famous hit. Cueing up Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father” (bit.ly/ horacefather), for instance, will impress any passengers who thought Steely Dan came up with the opening riff to “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” (bit.ly/steelyrikki) all on their own.
3. Listen to a celebrity “Best driving song ever?”
That’s what Rainn Wilson (he of The Office fame) tweeted about “Road Regrets” (bit.ly/danroad), the sardonic 2009 track by Vancouver’s Dan Mangan.
Here’s a sample lyric: “We’ll drive until the gas is gone/Then walk until our feet are torn/Crawl until we feed the soil/Film the whole thing.”
4. Don’t forget about the person to your right Driving songs tend to be all about the driver, so it’s only polite to musically acknowledge whoever’s sitting beside you once in awhile.
The choices may be limited, but there’s always Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger” (bit.ly/poppassenger), which works on a couple of levels.
One, its quietly twisted lyrics are good for a laugh while you’re agonizing over whether to ditch the DVP for Don Mills Rd. (We guarantee there’s no other driving song that refers to “the city’s ripped backsides.”) Two, if the only lyrics you know are “la la la la lala lala,” you’re still good.
5. Current songs acceptable if . . . The worst thing about the mainstream as far as artistry is concerned is also the best thing about it for driving: the new hits sound like stuff you already know.
Take “Cruise” (bit.ly/floridacruise) by Florida Georgia Line, a prime proponent of “bro-country,” a hybrid that Cuisinarts country, rock, pop and hip-hop.
In this case, that means electric guitars, banjoes and a remix (bit.ly/floridanelly) featuring a G-rated guest rap by Nelly.
Lyrically, meanwhile, it hits all the country/car high points: a Chevy, driving all night, blowin’ through stop signs and, as a bonus, customizing your ride with a lift kit (bit.ly/ cruiseliftkit).
6. It’s good to be reminded of where you are You don’t have to be driving to Bobcaygeon to be affected by the Tragically Hip song of the same name (bit.ly/hipbobcaygeone) or crossing at Sarnia and taking I-69 and I-94 on your way to Saskatchewan to feel a little more connected to your drive by The Guess Who’s “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” (bit.ly/guessrunning).
For that matter, even hearing Joel Plaskett sing about taking the Dartmouth ferry to go “Nowhere With You” (bit.ly/joelnowhere) can make you feel like you’re well on your way to somewhere and that you’ll be there before you know it. This is music writer John Sakamoto’s first contribution to Toronto Star Wheels. His work appears frequently elsewhere in the Star. To reach Wheels Editor Norris McDonald: nmcdonald@thestar.ca