The "Speeding Ticket Mix Tape"

[xiphias]

So, for a while now, especially on long car trips, Lis and I have been thinking about "songs that make you drive fast". We're still entirely in the concept stage, but, at some point, we will put together a mix CD of the kinds of songs that make you drive at 90 mph even when there's a statie in your rear-view mirror. The kind that drive you absolutely insane if they come on the radio when you're stuck in stop-and-go traffic.

We want to put together a mix tape that, if you put it on your CD player on repeat, you'll do a 26-hour drive in 18 hours.

At this point, Lis and I are spending most of our time attempting to dissect what makes a great driving song -- is it the beat? the energy? Volume? We've come up with a couple ideas that we're able to articulate to each other, but aren't really that easy to explain to people outside our shared brains.

"It's like, this one pushes you FORWARD. But THAT one doesn't push you forward, it pushes you up and down, which is why it's a great dancing song, but not a great driving song. And that one pushes you forward, but then pulls you back, so, again, it's fun to dance to. And that one goes around and around."

So, what are your thoughts? Both on what makes a great driving song, and on examples of Songs That Make The Car Go Fast Whether You Will It Or No?

Comments

[querldox.livejournal.com]

All I Want Is Everything by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes (and this is important) off the live album Reach Up And Touch The Sky.

It's also useful for keeping one up during an all night Rogue session where you become the first person at your then university to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor. I'm just sayin'.

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

CCR (creedance clearwater revival) Thems are great driving tunes. I can't think of anything that used to make me drive fast as I don't drive fast at all anymore once I worked out that whole mortality thing.

[marquisedea.livejournal.com]

I feel like the songs that make you go fast are the ones that stir up your blood with excitement and maybe a little bit of evil. They make you want to blast on into infinity and rock out even if you're all by yourself in the car.

(I'm tired and my spelling and grammar is crappy bt...)
Some songs in this vein for me personally include

Istanbul(Not Constantinople) as played by They Might Be Giants
Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater by The World/Inferno Friendship Society
Tank! from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack
Salty Dog by Flogging Molly
The 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky
Malagueña Salerosa as appears on the Kill Bill 2 soundtrack
Norra el Norra by Orphaned Land (Israeli metal...in Hebrew!)
This Picture by Placebo
Kalamazoo and Shake Hands with Beef by Primus
Three Doors by VAST
Supercharger Heaven and El Phantasmo and the Chicken Run Blast-o-Rama by White Zombie

There's my input. Listening sample available upon request!

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Mine are Fast Car (obvious), Fat-bottomed Girls (cannot help but turn the music WAY up and sing along, and my foot goes down, down, down), and Get Out the Map (Road-trip song).

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Get on your bikes and RIDE!

"Fast Car" doesn't do it for me. It's dreamy and downbeat -- it makes me dissatisfied with things that are stuck in my life (which is what it's good for) but doesn't make me want to drive fast.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Makes me feel melancholy and like driving away from wherever I'm coming from, even if I'm perfectly happy there.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

My good driving music doesn't necessarily make me want to speed, but it does make me want to maintain the maximum appropriate velocity so as to continue going forward, in I think pretty much the same way you mean, which is very frustrating in traffic. Good driving songs:

"Leaving Wallbrook / On the Road" from the Rainman soundtrack.
"Sandstorm" by Darude.

We also get a lot of mileage out of the Cruxshadows and VNV Nation when we're on road trips. I note that my best driving songs seem to be mainly instrumental. I like driving to songs I can sing along with, too, but they mostly don't have that sense of urgency. Pat Benatar and Tom Petty come pretty close, though.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

I will second the recommendation of Tom Petty. "You Wreck Me Baby" is a good one, for example.

[alandd.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with "Sandstorm".

Also, parts of the Miami Vice soundtrack (TV show) used to have that effect on me, but that was 18+ years ago and I haven't heard it yet. But those Jan Hammer beats are probably ingrained in my DNA by now. :-)

Also some Black Eyed Peas songs have that driving tempo (pun intended).

And as someone below stated, I'd like a copy. :-) Or at least for you to post the playlist...

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Miami Vice theme! Yes!

http://www.rumler.com/miami/vice/theme.htm

[quietann.livejournal.com]

If you are into alternative/harder rock, add "We Die Young," a 2 1/2 minute demo track on Alice in Chains' "Nothing Safe: Best of the Box" CD. This was made in 1989, before they had a record contract of any sort. It is the kind of thing that makes a person boogie.

For me, good driving songs are the ones where I can imagine that if I could just merge the song with myself, the car would fly away with me forever.

[kiya]

Rush's "Dreamline".

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

"Red Barchetta" is the classic fast-driving Rush song though.

Other favorites of mine:
"Temple of Love (1992)" by Sisters of Mercy. Come to think of it, lots of their material works well: "More", "Vision Thing", ...heck, their entire greatest hits album (A Slight Case of Overbombing) is probably good for a charge of Operating to Endanger.
"Ace of Spades" by Mötörhead
"I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar
"Panama" by Van Halen
"War of the Superbikes" by The Meatmen (works better if you're actually on a motorcycle, I'll admit....)
"Fire Woman" by The Cult
"Beloved" by VNV Nation
"Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode
"Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails
"Du Hast" by Rammstein
"Dragula" by Rob Zombie
"Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop

Maybe this is just because I grew up and learned to drive in NJ sniffin' all that toxic waste, but lots of early Bruce Springsteen works well for this. "Born to Run," "Thunder Road," "Racing in the Street" (made even better by the fact that it's a slow-paced piano solo), "Cadillac Ranch."

In the Classical Division:
"Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana
Ein Deutsches Requiem, second movement, by Johannes Brahms
Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven. Bonus points if you can do a credible voice impersonation of Alex from A Clockwork Orange while driving.
"Die Walküre" by Richard Wagner (*NO* bonus points for singing "Kill da wabbit"!)

[kiya]

I'm pretty sure "Carmina Burana" was among those things that my father would put on the speakers loud and go very fast in a convertible to when he was in college.

That and the Magnificat.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

Several Joan Jett pieces come to mind, but that dates me a bit... worse of course (and silly) is the Nash Rambler song (Beep Beep).


Others:

Bad To the Bone
The Saber Dance (Classical but what the hey)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with dating Joan Jett? I would.

I have heard, third-hand, that "Beep Beep" is a very, very bad song to be giving a backrub to.

[hotpoint.livejournal.com]

I think how I'd describe Songs That Pull You Forward is that they don't let up. They have a strong rhythm, not necessarily percussive but consistent throughout the song. They've got volume, not necessarily raucously or annoyingly loud but a loudness consistent throughout the song. The music doesn't fall back to a quiet verse after a loud chorus, the bridge doesn't feel like a pause, there isn't an acoustic interlude because the musicians feel like it. The song isn't easing up, so don't you ease off of that gas pedal! The singers can't be laid-back or ironic, either; if they're distancing themselves from the music, they can't push you forward with it.

It's easier to do that with highly orchestrated rock music, where there are enough instruments and enough layers of sound to let the musicians shift from one voice to another without slackening the pace of the music. Needless to say, this is often the loud sort of music as well, but not always.

Examples to support this theory: Queen, "Fat Bottomed Girls" or "Seven Seas of Rye" and not "Bohemian Rhapsody". Tears for Fears, "Sowing The Seeds Of Love" and not "Shout". The Clash, "Rock The Casbah" and not "Should I Stay Or Should I Go". Duran Duran, "The Reflex" and not "Hungry Like The Wolf". ELO, "Don't Bring Me Down" and not "Evil Woman". Sisters of Mercy, "This Corrosion" and not "More". The theme from "Peter Gunn" and not the theme from "James Bond".

More: KMFDM, "Juke Joint Jezebel". The Doobie Brothers, "Rockin' Down The Highway" and Ministry, "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (both thematic as well). Wall of Voodoo, "Mexican Radio". Rammstein, "Du Hast". The KLF, "Last Train To Transcentral". Kodo, "Lion". Perhaps R.E.M., "It's The End Of The World As We Know It", Kraftwerk's remix of "Radioactivity", maybe some Ramones (not known for their dynamic range or diverse rhythms). The more consistently loud pieces by Afro-Celt Sound System.

I'm conflicted about songs that continually ramp up their rhythm, like Madness, "One Step Beyond". That'll push you forward, but I'm afraid you'll get a drop off when the song ends and you might ease back on the speed.

Thoughts?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

"One Step Beyond" was among the songs that started getting us thinking about this concept, actually.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Tom Petty, definitely. Second CCR, too. Super Tramp, Fleetwood Mac (Don't Stop) and Three Dog Night (Joy to the World). The Nash Rambler Song, too, and Little Old Lady From Pasedena, for obvious reasons.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Billy Joel. LOTS of Billy Joel, especially We Didn't Light the Fire.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Mercury Blues. David Lindley.

Garanteed speeding ticket.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Most heavy rock used to get me, still remember soon after I passed my test and my dad was taking me out on motorway practice and there was a rock show on th radio and he had to gently point out I'd hit 85 without noticing ::giggle:: Um and its an old cliche, but Born to Be Wild really does the trick :)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Goa Trance.

Drop 5 bucks on the "World of Goa Trance" compilation from the cheap end of the techno bins at Newbury Comics. See if that doesn't get you going.

I also had to stop listening to Ministry when driving because it would make me drive not only very very fast but in a very angry fashion. And grit my teeth. Grar.

Goa, though. Yeah. 130bpm, complex synth arpeggiations (originally based on Indian religious music! except fast!), occasional trancey breakdowns so you can lean back and feel the wind in your hair and breathe in, in in, filling your lungs with air, and then BAM, off again, 130bpm four-on-the-floor big fat buzzy synth arps picking you up and slamming you forward like a shell from a gun. A TECHNO gun. Yeah.

I try not to do that any more either, actually.

So, for a good driving song, I'd say, beat and motion and evolution.

[navrins]

For a different genre than I think anyone else has mentioned,

from Star Wars, the Millennium Falcon's fight with the four TIE fighters as it escapes from the Death Star

from Empire Strikes Back, the Falcon being chased by the Empire

from Pirates of the Caribbean, the zombie pirates' theme

[sproutntad.livejournal.com]

How ever this album winds up, I want a copy :)

[lazy-boring-man.livejournal.com]

Tenacious D -- The Road
The Vines -- Ride
AC/DC -- Highway to Hell
AC/DC -- If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
CKY -- 96 Quite Bitter Beings

I'd list more, but I'm way tired right now. Make sure to post the completed tracklist!

More...

[(Anonymous)]

I'm surprised no one mentioned ZZ Top -- solid driving rhythms.
Definitely Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild.
Don't forget John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band (did the back music for Eddie & the Cruisers) really solid Jersey rock.
"Beep Beep" is cute, but Hot Rod Lincoln's for driving.

dod

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

REM "it's the end of the world (and we know it)"

this is a most excellent concept. i'm going to pitch it to shanon and see if we can come up with a similar mix. whee! roadtrips!

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

Soul Coughing. Particularly "Bus to Beelzebub" and the other one. You know, the one about the mango.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

I made a four-CD set of road trip music a couple of years back. Later today (ie when I have more time) I'll go through and pick out what I see as the "makes the feet heavy" tracks.

[arib.livejournal.com]

Miserlou as done by Dick Dale and the Deltones

U2: Elevation

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

That's the song I want to speed when I hear it on the radio.

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Miami Vice theme. I dunno, the car just spontaneously levitates.

[brooksmoses]

I was recently listening to a new CD, and I have a theory for what I suspect a large number of great driving songs have in common.

It's the "steam-engine beat". 4/4 time, sha-boom, sha-boom, sha-boom, sha-boom. It's the off-beats doing double-time to the music, incessantly, through the whole song.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that a lot of the songs with that beat are about trains going somewhere, or about driving, or that kind of thing. But I think a fair bit of it is just that the double-time off-beats push you forward, and it's the incessant nature of it that pushes you to keep driving faster and faster just to keep up with the music.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Second Sisters of Mercy, Bruce Springsteen and "It's the End of the World as we Know It."

Further suggestions that you've (probably)heard of: 2/3rds of everything by Meatloaf (particularly "Bat Out of Hell" and "Rock and Roll Dreams"), Paul Simon "Boy in the Bubble" and "Graceland," much *early* They Might Be Giants.

Further suggestions that you (probably) haven't heard of: half of everything by Great Big Sea (particularly Run Runaway), most things by Looters (particularly Proving Ground), Emerald Rose "Freya, Shackti," Heather Alexander "Uffington Horse," and everything Vanessa Mae does.

Yes, my musical tastes are odd. I'm curious if "Boy in the Bubble" particularly hits anyone else this way, or if it's associational.

-Nameseeker

music

[(Anonymous)]

Vanessa-Mae, "Storm", classical violin meets heavy metal, and wins.
Props up my eyelids late at night as well.
Duzzy
ps- got it from your sister