Best Road Trip Songs
22 hours in the car. 22 hours of sitting in the same chair, looking out of the same window at the quickly moving landscape. For many, road trips, regardless of the time duration, are things that are avoided at all costs. I get it. The constricting design of the car can be difficult to put up with, especially when there are other people in there with you. But, when dealt the right cards, a road trip can contain some of the best memories throughout the whole trip. There are many years that I look back on this long haul where the beach and the hotel are not the first memories to come to mind. Instead, it is me and my sister and in
the backseat being “forced” to listen to my parent’s music. Whether it was my mom playing Nathaniel Rateliff’s song S.O.B. as we drive through Tennessee with the windows down, or, my dad listening to listening to some rock n’ roll song, music has been central to every core memory I have made in the car. Because of this and being raised in a household where music was played quite often, I have fascinated myself with choosing the right songs for the right occasion. With my spring break trip coming up where my family is taking me and my 3 friends down the panhandle, I have taken it upon myself to make a playlist for this exact occasion (and any other when you are spending more than 2 hours in the car).
Of course, this playlist had to be named ROAD TRIP. I came up with this name on the road on a road trip with my mom taking a trip over to my future college on the road. While she was on the driving shift, I took around 2 hours to expertly craft the perfect collection of songs to be played when 
driving through the flat nothingness in southern Indiana, the hill-y/mountain-y roads west of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, even the highways of Atlanta as you are trying not to get hit by the crazy drivers down there. Because this playlist is 31 hours and 57 minutes- soon to be 32 hours long (song recommendations in the comments below)- I will not be listing every song out. Instead, I will just pick a few highlights and talk about why they are the best for road trips. Something to know about this playlist is that it is not the type to be played in order. Yes, some parts are my work of picking the order and the artist, but there are also full albums. Instead, as I have been testing it out, I have found it is best to shuffle it up.
Starting, the very first song is Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song). This song was my ANTHEM over the summer. It was actually within my top 20 most listened-to songs of 2022, which was surprising knowing that I listened to it over the summer when my other top 20 songs all resided within me starting to listen to it in early winter or the spring. This song is giving summer with the windows down on the way to the pool at 1 pm. I will try to postpone listening to this masterpiece until around lunchtime, that way we can enjoy the song at the time of day it was meant to be played. (If anyone else was curious, this song can be played anytime after 12, it is just not a morning song).
Next song. The Joker by Steve Miller Band. This song can be played any time of the day, best appreciated when the sun and the guns are out.
HOOKED ON A FEELING. I have been nonstop listening to this song as of late. Some may think that it is a “suns out, guns out” type of song, but it is perfectly appreciated at 7 am as you are driving to school with minimal warm weather. Not even going to lie, I got it straight off from the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. This and Surrender by Cheap Trick.
Nonetheless, the beginning segment (I am not sure what is officially called), the part when the deep voices are saying something along the lines of “ooga chocka ooga ooga ooga chocka ooga ooga” etc. hooks you immediately. Then, the cowbells and the trumpet reel you in until you are singing every word.
Next two songs: Beast of a Burden and Miss You by The Rolling Stones. I would say these are 6 pm songs, best played when the sun is setting blinding you so you can’t see.
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. This is something that should be played in its entirety, with no skips. But, if I was on a time crunch and the situation was extreme, I would have to play Time, The Great Gig In the Sky, and Money, in that order as it is on the album.
Because I am quickly filling up this world requirement, I am going to list off a few songs that are essential to this playlist.
Crimson and Clover- Tommy James and The Shondells
Since I’ve Been Loving You, What Is and What Should Never Be, and Going to California- Led Zepplin
Wrong Way, What I Got, and Santeria- Sublime
Any Zac Brown Band song (this is not an arguable opinion)
Life is a Highway- Rascal Flatts
All-Star and I’m a Believer- Smash Mouth
Paranoid- Black Sabbath (for when I get a little sleepy driving)
I could talk about this playlist for a lot more words. Typing this up now has allowed me to listen to a bit more of it before the trip which is coming up a lot sooner than I would have thought. This experience, while new, will be one that I will never forget. I hope that with this playlist, more prominent memories will occur.
Hello Alison, oddly enough my parents also had a SOB Nathaniel Rateliff era. My sister just saw him at Bonaroo last summer and interestingly she said it was one of her top 3 concerts. I really like the song You Worry Me by them. Anyway, good song choices. I just read Jack Predovic’s blog about music so it’s interesting to see how diverse of a music taste each person in our class has. Almost any Billy Joel song is a good choice for a road trip and, this might be a hot take, but I prefer the Acapella version of hooked on a feeling :D. I was just recently put in charge of playing music on a (much much shorter) road trip and it’s honestly a lot of pressure because at some point, I had to sacrifce my own musical interests and play things others will like. I know that I had the best music taste in the car ( i was playing a lot of inhaler that the other passengers might have not known) but they also wanted to hear music they could sing along to, not just me. That is when I pull out the throwback 2010’s songs. Recently I have been listening to a lot of Maroon 5, I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing.
Alison, I think every song you included is an absolute jam. The last road trip I went on was with my family over the summer when we drove to Boston to pick up my brother, New Hampshire for hiking, and back to Boston for a wedding. There were five people on the trip, including my parents, brother, grandma, and I, and our car was jam-packed with wedding clothes and hiking boots, so I was cramped in the backseat and, suffice to say, I didn’t have the greatest time on the 12 hour ride. However, music made it so much better. One of the other things I love about road tripping with music is how if I listen to a song later that I listened to when driving through a scenic area, I get a really weird sense of nostalgia about that specific trip. But back to the music – I think listening to classic rock on a road trip is the obvious way to go, and so many of the songs you listed I have really specific road trip memories of, like Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song), Beast of Burden, Miss You, Life is a Highway, Paranoid, and the Dark Side of the Moon album. If I had to recommend a song, I think it would be Maneater by Hall & Oates to listen to during the sunset or Come On Eileen when you’re driving into a city to make yourself feel like the main character in a coming-age-movie set in New York City.
Hi Alison! Like your family, mine is also a big fan of road trips! We have driven to Seattle, California, Texas, Boston and everywhere in-between! I definitely agree with you- sitting in the car, in the same seat, for hours on end can be oddly tiring and constrictive, but they are also full of some of the best memories. Music definitely plays a large role in this, and choosing the right songs is key to the mood and enjoyably of the trip. It really sets the tone! In my family, we often take turns on certain legs of the trips to have control of the aux cord. My mom and dad are fans of music I never listen to, and my brother puts on everything from early 2000s throwbacks to heavy metal. As for me and my sister, we typically tend to stick to the more “basic” artists and genres. I will have to give your playlist recommendations a try! Like you, my family (specifically my sister) is a HUGE fan of putting Life is a Highway on, especially in the desert as the sun is going down (she loves the movie Cars). I love how you attached descriptions, memories and nostalgia with each song- I can understand the vibe immediately! Thank you so much for sharing!