Project Petrolhead

Music make you lose contr-… Err… Maybe not.

The best drives are always paired with music. Whether it’s the music of a sonorous straight-six or baritone V8, or your favourite band or artist warbling sweet nothings from your stereo, music is the perfect way to underline a great day spent behind the wheel. For those who prefer to have their radio switched off while pounding the asphalt, I completely understand. Depending on the occasion, sometimes there’s nothing better that dropping your window and listening to the rise and fall of revs along a twisting section of tarmac, feeling the character of the sound change as you duck and dive through the landscape. Maybe with the occasional chirp of rubber as the rear tyres scrabble to claw whatever grip they can muster from the road beneath them. Bonus points if you find yourself in a tunnel, surrounding yourself with the cacophony of exploding cylinders reverberating off the walls.

For everyone else, there’s music. Radios have been a staple of cars since 1930, when the Galvin corporation introduced the first commercially available in-car radio (bonus fun fact, that radio got its name from “Motorised Victrola”, Victrola being a brand of phonograph. The name was latterly shortened to… you guessed it, Motorola!) and ever since, drivers have been happy to fill their cabins with the dulcet tones of the day.

Further down the line, we have the humble album. By the 1980s, the cassette tape had become commonplace. Even in the 90s and 00s when CDs became the preferred medium, the majority of people were happy to listen to a few tracks from their favourite artist. Personally, I get a huge amount of my music taste from my parents, as I’m sure many people do, so in my first car, where CDs were the only option for tune-age, I inherited some corkers. ELO’s Out of the Blue, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, as well as some of my own inclusions, namely AM by Arctic Monkeys and Demon Days and Plastic Beach by Gorillaz. To this day, no road trip is complete without at least a few tracks from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (the greatest album of all time – discuss) sprinkled in for good measure.

Choosing the perfect song, however, has only become more difficult.  As we have begun to move away from CD or cassette albums and radio broadcast, drivers now have the ability to select a single track to highlight a specific time or feeling, often curating playlists to suit a mood or journey. So how do you select the perfect road trip playlist? Tempo is very important. Do you want a slow and steady cruise, or would you prefer to drop a gear or two and let your car fly? For the former, I would suggest a slower tempo; try something like Smooth Operator by Sade or California Soul by Marlena Shaw. For the latter, you can choose whatever suits you, although I wouldn’t recommend going faster than… say… Overkill by Motörhead. Then, there’s a choice of lyrics. Namely, with or without. If you prefer some background ambiance, then an instrumental track is probably more up your street, maybe try The Darkness’ Bareback or Fanfare for The Common Man. Sometimes though, you just want to belt out some high notes, in which case, you can’t go wrong with an 80s power ballad (just with less hair and fewer shoulder pads).

In truth, the best song for a drive is probably the one you least expect. On a recent road trip, I found myself crossing the Buttertubs pass in the Yorkshire moors when a piece of classical music popped up on Spotify. The track was called Experience by Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi and it just fit so perfectly. Suddenly everything clicked into place. Just as the piece reached its crescendo, the sky cleared, the road opened up, the Jag let out a mighty roar and… I cried. Not a lot, and not for long, but I was so moved by the entire situation that I had to pull over and calm down for a few moments.

Music has the power to supercharge your soul. It’s no wonder it pairs so well with driving.