Episode 061 - Top 10 Road Trip Songs

In this episode, I share a high-energy playlist perfect for summer road trips. From classic hits like The Doobie Brothers' 'Rocking Down the Highway', to modern tracks like Bleecker's 'Highway', I share my top 10 rock songs that will keep you moving on the open road. With lively descriptions and personal anecdotes, this episode is the ultimate guide to crafting the perfect soundtrack for your summer adventures. Tune in, fill up your tank, and let's hit the highway together!

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Welcome to The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and this week I've got another top 10 list for you. Now that August is upon us, it's time for the Great American summer tradition. The road trip and I've compiled a high energy playlist that will keep you rocking as the miles keep rolling by. I have songs that are explicitly about driving and other songs that are just upbeat rockers that have kept me going on countless road trips in the past. So fill up your tank, throw a six pack and some snacks in the cooler, and stick around for my top 10 rock and roll songs for a summer road trip coming up right now. This week we're rolling down the windows, cranking up the stereo, and hitting the highway with a high octane top 10 list, it's summertime and that means road trip season. Maybe you're heading to the mountains or the beach or maybe just looking to outrun your responsibilities for a couple of days, wherever you're going, you're going to need a soundtrack, and today I've got you covered Now I know you can throw a rock and hit a summer playlist on the internet these days, but most of those lists feel like they were built by algorithms. I've got a real road trip playlist for you full of the kind of songs that sound better with the wind in your hair and the open road in front of you. These aren't songs you put on while packing your sunscreen. These are songs you blast to get yourself amped up for the drive when the caffeine kicks in and the sunlight starts bending around your rear view mirror. I started with a list of about 40 songs, and to whittle them down was really difficult. This isn't just about fast cars and dashboard drumming. This is about feel about that particular electricity that runs through your veins when you hear a great song right as you crest a hill or hit a long stretch of empty interstate. I wanted songs that carry you forward, that make the ride feel cinematic, like you're in your own rock and roll movie montage. So I focused on songs that had energy and movement in both the music and the lyrics. Ballads have their place, but. Not for a road trip, not for me. We need propulsion, even if it's a mid-tempo groove, it's gotta have that momentum, that top down, feet on the dash sunglasses on vibe. Ultimately I had to omit some great songs because that's the point of a top 10 list I had to choose. So there's no On the Road Again by Willie Nelson, no King of the Road by Roger Miller, no Road Tripping by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and no Interstate Love Song by Stone Temple Pilots.'cause those are just a little too mid tempo for my list. There's no Traveling Band or Up Around the Bend by Creedence Clearwater Revival because those two kind of canceled each other out, and they both just missed my top 10 the same thing with Highway Star by Deep Purple and Highway Song by Blackfoot. Both of those miss the Top 10, but they're great driving songs I even considered non-traditional rock songs like Rihanna, Shut Up and Drive, which is actually a great rock song, but that too, just missed my top 10, as did 21 other songs that aren't featured here. But they'll all be on the podcast playlist this week, and you can access that on both Spotify and Apple Music. I'll provide links to both in the episode description. In any event, whether you're going solo or sharing the ride with your family or some friends, this episode is for you. Grab your keys, queue up the playlist, and get ready to sing along because that's what we're here to do. I'll share my top 10 road trip songs with you, and then you'll tell me where I missed. Fair? Good. Starting off, our countdown at number 10 is Rocking Down the Highway by the Doobie Brothers. Now I'll be the first to admit I'm not a huge Doobie Brothers fan, but this song is the essence of a Road Trip rock song released in 1972 on their Toulouse Street album. This track is a full throttle celebration of the open road and the pure freedom of having nowhere to be but out. Driving from the jump, you get that signature Doobies guitar groove. It's tight, rhythmic, percussive, like the tires humming beneath you at 70 miles an hour. Then Tom Johnston jumps in with that high energy vocal and suddenly the windows are down, the volume's up and everything feels possible. This song doesn't just make you want to drive it makes you wanna move fast. Lyrically, it's as straightforward as they come, and that's what makes it great. No metaphors, no angst. Just a dude with a pedal down grinning like a maniac. He's got the rocking pneumonia. He needs a shot of rhythm and blues. He sings. And who among us hasn't felt that exact kind of fever when the weather turns warm and the road starts calling? There's something uniquely Californian about rocking down the highway. Also, something bright and golden and carefree, but it travels well. Play this one anywhere from coastal highways to desert interstates to winding backwards roads. It fits. It feels like summer. It feels like freedom, it's a reminder that road trips are sometimes the most fun when they're just about chasing the horizon with your friends, your favorite songs, and no obligations. Rocking Down the Highway isn't just a song, it's a mood. And on a summer road trip, sometimes that's what you need. Here are the Doobie Brothers from the Beacon Theater in New York City, and yeah, if you notice, that's Billy Payne from Little Feet Playing Keys with the band. Song nine is Joan Jett's cover of the Jonathan Richmond Classic Roadrunner. I chose the Joan Jett version because I thought the original Jonathan Richmond version was maybe too quirky for my playlist, but Joan Jett's got you covered. Joan takes that weird little cult anthem. Pluck Plugs it into a stack of marshal amps and turns it into a full-blown highway rocker. It's louder, faster, and sharper, and somehow still retains every ounce of the original's. restless, midnight driving soul released on her 1986 Good Music album. Joan's version of Roadrunner doesn't just cover the song. It really takes it on. It owns it. She doesn't sing it like she's awkwardly falling in love with the road. She sings it like. She already fell in love with the road years ago and she's never looked back. That signature gravel in her voice, the tight punchy rhythm section and the punk edge guitar tone all combined to give this track a no nonsense urgency that just rips down the road. Now lyrically, it's still Jonathan Richmond's suburban Rock poem with Route 1 28, stop and Shop Radio on. But coming outta Joan's mouth, those lines feel more defiant than wide-eyed. It's less about romanticizing neon signs and more about claiming the road is your own. There's this cool detachment in her delivery that gives the song a kind of sneer. You can almost picture her behind the wheel of a beat up muscle car, black leather jacket, one boot up on the dash, owning every mile of asphalt. What makes Joan Jett's Roadrunner such a killer road trip track. Is its mix of familiarity and edge. It's got the bones of a classic, but it growls instead of humming. It's not about gently cruising, it's about flooring it through your hometown. Like it never quite fit your right with the radio cranked and the window shaking, it's got heart, it's got attitude and it moves. So yeah, the original is a beautiful, strange piece of rock history. But Joan Jett, she made it road ready. Was my own. I went by so quick. Suburban trees were out there, and consequently it smelled like heaven. So I'm in love with modern world. Yeah. Coming in at number eight is highway by the Band Bleecker. If the name doesn't ring a bell, don't worry. You're not alone. These guys came out of Ontario with a bluesy alt rock swagger, and this track from their 2016 album, Erase You hits all the sweet spots of a great summer driving song, grit groove, and an unstoppable rhythm that makes your foot sink just a little heavier on the gas highway's. One of those songs that doesn't need to shout to get your attention. It just kicks in with this fuzzy distorted guitar riff and a strut in its step like it already knows it belongs on your car. Stereo Taylor Perkins's vocals have that curious smirking charm that makes the whole thing feel like a joy ride, maybe with some bad intentions. And that chorus big, wide open and tailor made for blasting out open windows at 75 miles an hour. I don't know, lyrically, it keeps it simple. It's not about trying to be poetic. It's just about freedom, about leaving it all behind, chasing the horizon, and living in that wide open moment where the only thing that matters is the road underneath you. In a way, it feels like the 21st century cousin to Radar Love or Running Down a Dream. Same spirit, different stage close. What I love most about Highway is how it sneaks up on people. You put it on a playlist between the heavy hitters like Tom Petty or AC DC, and it more than holds its own People ask, wait. Who's this? That's a sign of a great track. It's got that new blood swagger that roadtrip playlists need every once in a while to stay fresh. So, yeah, maybe Bleecker isn't a household name yet, but Highway sounds built for yours. Throw it on during that slow stretch when you've already been driving for a while and you still have a few hours to go, and you'll see exactly why this one made the cut. I feel starts. I. In the seven Spot is the one hit wonder Driver's Seat from British band. Sniff in the Tears. This one's not a track that hits you over the head with horsepower, but by the time you hear the acoustic guitar riff, then the drums, then the electric guitar line, the song's in your ear, and it's impossible to turn off or skip. It's cool, it's smooth and it just belongs on a road trip playlist. This one dropped in 1978 and made it to number 15 on the US charts. And it has that magic quality that all great road trip songs share. It's got movement, not with brute force or speed like some of the other songs on the list. But with a steady, confident glide, this groove is almost hypnotic. The mix of guitar and synths hums in an ethereal way, and Paul Robert's vocal is deadpan in the best way. It's not a love song, not a breakup song, not a party anthem. It's really just a driving song. Plain and simple. What makes this song a summer road trip essential that is, that it fits any mood. It works in the daytime. It works at dusk, and it really shines in those late night coffee-fueled stretches where you're not talking much just listening. It's not yelling for attention. It's riding with you. Driver's seat isn't the song that kicks off the trip maybe, but it's the one that finds you somewhere in the middle between gas stations when you're in the zone and the road starts to feel like a meditation. And once it's in your playlist, trust me, you won't skip it. You'll hit repeat and maybe hit repeat again. She. Thunder have its own way to guarantee you, what can I do? What can I do? That is no lane. Just take your drive a. Road Trip Song six is Golden Earrings. Radar Love. Golden Earring is a Dutch band that somehow wrote the definitive American driving song. I don't know how they did it, but this track from 1973 is right at home on any road trip. If you've ever driven late at night on a stretch of highway with no one else around, and this song has come on, you already know the deal. Following the intro, it kicks right into gear and never lets up the baseline. Syncs up with the drums, perfectly pulsing like a heartbeat, while the guitar is sharp and kind of restless, and the whole thing just feels like motion, but not motion in a sunny, top down, beach day kind of way. This is nighttime driving. This is headlights cutting through the dark. The white lines might be blurring a little bit. The radio might not be getting a full signal, and you've got that one person on your mind. That's how I feel when I hear Radar Love. Lyrically, it's perfect. I've been driving all night. My hands wet on the wheel. I mean, come on. That's not just vivid, that's visceral. It's like you're already in the car before the first chorus hits, and when it does. Forget it. That chorus belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Overall Radar Love is the sound of momentum of something pulling you forward. That unspoken magic of driving fast towards something you can't quite put your finger on. This isn't just one of the best road trips songs. This is a rock and roll song for the ages when you're driving late at night. Little wound up and a hundred percent alive. I've been driving all night. Man's went on wheel. The voice in my head that drives my Kia is I'm shifting gear. Playing some forgotten song. A brand Lees coming on Strong Road has got speaking to New Sunrise when. At number five is Bruce Springsteen with Stand On It. If you're looking for the perfect Bruce Springsteen track to throw on during a summer road trip, Stand On It might not be the obvious choice. You always have Born To Run to fall back on, but you should give Stand on it. Another listen, Forget the stadium anthems and the cinematic slow burners. This one's Bruce in full on Roadhouse mode. No introspection, no epic narratives, just a hot rod burning down a quarter mile track. In fact, Steven Spielberg, who's a close friend of Bruce's, used this song in a road race scene in his 2018 Film Ready Player One. If you've seen the movie, that's the scene where Val goes and gets the first key. The song was originally released as a B Side to Glory Days in 1985. And it's Springsteen at its most rollicking, it kicks off with a Jerry Lee Lewis style piano blast. It hits you like a green light at a drag strip, and from there it's full speed ahead. The band is locked in the tempos cooking. And Bruce sounds like he's having the time of his life channeling equal parts. Little Richard and uh, NASCAR pit crew, lyrically it's classic Springsteen, gearhead gospel, fast cars, fast women, and a narrator who's not afraid to bet at all and floor it. The lyrics are full of racing terms, which is poetry for anyone who's ever burned rubber and pushed their car on a back road at night. But here's the key. Unlike Born to Run, which is big and mythic, and searching for transcendence. Stand on it. It's just about go. It's a song for when the tops down sun's blazing, and you're halfway between towns with nothing on your mind, but the next bend in the road. It doesn't tug at your heartstrings, it grabs you by the collar and tells you to quit dragging your ass. This is the Bruce song you can race to. It's the one you crank when the day is young and the gas tank is full. Stand on. It might be short and sweet, but it's high octane. It belongs in the rotation. Every road trip needs a song that makes you inadvertently speed up just a little bit. And this track is that. So you think you're tough out here in California. So you think you can put the whammy on those New Jersey boys, huh? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Somebody shout. Song four is Running Down A Dream by Tom Petty. This song isn't just built for driving. It feels like it was born already on the highway. From the second that the snarling guitar riff kicks in, you're off, you're moving, and it's like the wheels under your car start spinning just a little faster to keep up. I could have picked other Tom Petty songs, American Girl, or You Wreck Me, both of which have the right tempo for a road trip song. But this track is the Tom Petty Road trip song for me, released in 1989 on his first solo record. Full moon fever. This track finds petty. It is most unfiltered, dream chasing, asphalt eating, locked into a rhythm with a road. I remember hearing it for the first time, driving home from college in Vermont on an early May day a few weeks after the album was released. It was the middle of the day, on a weekday, so I was pretty much alone on I 89 heading south from Burlington to White River Junction where the road connected with I 91 and brought me home to Connecticut. I must have replayed this song five times. Once I heard it, it was a perfect description of what I was actually experiencing in real time. It was a beautiful day. The sun was beating down. I had the radio on and I was driving. The lyrics are pure Americana mythology. Tom's not describing running away from anything he's singing about, running towards something, even if he doesn't know exactly what that something is. He knows it's out there. That spirit, that's the core of every great road trip and every great road trip song. It's not just about the destination, it's about the feeling of possibility stretching out in front of you, like the white lines in the center of the road, and musically. Mike Campbell absolutely tears it up. That main riff is so iconic, and his solo is like a nitro boost for your soul. It doesn't meander or a noodle. It accelerates chasing that dream. One exit sign at a time. Now there's a reason this one shows up in so many road trip scenes and movies and commercials. It's got the tempo, it's got the energy, and it's got that unmistakable, petty cool. But more than that, it appeals to our sense of the freedom of the open road. And when you're a couple hours into a summer drive, no schedule, no emails, no noise from the outside world, that's what you might be chasing too. I was. Unstoppable. Third on our list is Van Halen's Panama. This song was released in 1984 on Van Halen's 1984 album, and it's the sonic equivalent of gunning it out of the toll booth, sunglasses on with nothing but blue sky and maybe a few bad decisions ahead of you. It's loud, flashy, fast, and just a little bit over the top. In other words, it's a Van Halen song and it's perfect road trip material. Now, technically Panama isn't even. Only about a car, according to David Lee Roth. It was inspired by a race car that he saw while he was out on tour, but also partly inspired by a stripper. So yeah, that tracks, but despite that origin story, it's gone on to become one of the most iconic car songs in rock history. It just feels like driving the drums hit like tires on pavement. The guitar riff roars like an engine. And when Roth screams Panama in that over the top howl, it's like your speedometer just jumped 10 miles an hour out of sheer adrenaline. And let's talk about the breakdown in the bridge. The moment when the music drops out and all you hear is the actual sound of Eddie Van Halen's Lamborghini engine revving, that's not subtle. Again, that's Van Halen. They're not trying to sneak up on you into your playlist. They're rolling onto your lawn with a six pack and a tank full of gas calling out your name, telling you to hurry up. What makes Panama work so well on a road trip isn't just the speed or the swagger. It's the joy. It's unapologetic, wide grin, sunburn, big hair, joy. It's a song that makes the road feel like a runway, and it turns even the most boring stretch of highway into a scene from an eighties. Music video. If you're not singing along by the first chorus, pull over and check your pulse. Panama isn't just a driving song, it's a blast off, and every road trip deserves at least one of those. What's that? Machine got. Song number two is Highway to Hell by A CDC because let's be honest, what's a great road trip without at least one moment where you feel like you're barreling down the freeway with zero regard for the speed limit, the GPS or the Rules of Polite Society. This one's for that moment. The title track to the band's 1979 Breakthrough Album, and sadly, it was Bon Scot's last album with the band Highway to Hell is pure undiluted rock and roll rebellion. From the first note, it grabs you. Angus Young's riff is iconic, simple, and lethal. It's a musical equivalent of popping the clutch and tearing out onto the highway with gravel spitting behind your tires. And Bon Scott, man, he sounds like the devil's favorite drinking buddy. Laughing in the face of every warning sign on the road. And now here's the beautiful part. This song isn't actually about evil. It's not satanic or dark in any meaningful way. It's about the freedom of the road, the joy of living your life on your own terms. It's about saying no thanks to convention, and hell yes to one more mile, one more show, one more night, and on a summer road trip. That's exactly the kind of energy you need when you're four hours in and just hitting your second wind. There's no bridge. There's no middle eight, no ballady breakdown. It's pedal to the metal for the whole three and a half minutes, which frankly is all you need. It's a blast of hot air, sticky leather seats, sweat, laughter, and volume. It's the soundtrack to racing a thunderstorm across state lines, flipping off the rear view mirror and daring the world to keep up. Highway to hell makes the list. Not just because it rocks, which it does, but because it's got that glorious devil may care swagger that every great road trip needs, here's a great video of the song with Brian Johnson singing Lead Back in 2009. If YouTube won't let me share this video, go check it out. Come. Don't be right. Step down. Down wheel to spend that mess. And now the number one road trip song is Leonard Skynyrd version of Call Me the Breeze, the Ultimate Roll the windows down, breathe in the hot summer air. Nothing holding me back, Anthem. It's not about getting somewhere. It's all about the going. All about the moving. All about being untouchable and wide open and free as hell. It was originally written and recorded by JJ Kale and his laid back back porch Southern Shuffle style Skynyrd. Took the song and lit a fire under it, releasing it on their 1974 second album called Second Helping. Their version is faster, louder, tighter, and it absolutely tears it up. Billy Powell's piano pounds, like it's got a bus to catch. The guitars are thick and greasy in all the right ways, and and Ronnie Van Zant sings like he's staying just a few steps ahead of whatever trouble was chasing him. Call me. The breeze is road trip DNA. It's not about heartbreak or rebellion or even adventure. It's just about movement. You've heard me say that before. They call me the breeze. I keep blowing down the road. I ain't got me nobody and I ain't carrying me no load. That's it. That's the whole story. But in those few lines is everything we love about the highway. No attachments, no baggage, just a person. And the miles and musically, it's a machine. This song moves. There are no solos that overstay their welcome. No pretension, no drag. It's just tight southern boogie from the first note to the last. This is the track you throw on when you've cleared the city, shaken off the noise, and hit that stretch of open road where this pedometer creeps up and you're finally in the groove. And what sets call me the breeze, apart from other great road trip songs is its effortlessness. It doesn't sound like it's trying to be iconic. It just is. It's got an effortless cool, and it sounds just as good on a two-lane blacktop in Western Massachusetts as it does on a long stretch of I 94 in Eastern Montana. This is sound of a summer drive with no finish line. Just wind wheels in the sweet Southern sound of rock and roll freedom. And there you have it, my top 10 rock and roll songs for a summer road trip. 10 tracks that don't just sound good on the road, they belong there. Songs that turn a simple drive into a journey. Whether you're behind the wheel of a beat up hatchback, your old pickup, or that convertible you've been fixing up since high school. These are the tunes that make the miles melt away. Now I know there are plenty more I could have picked. Born to Be Wild, born to Run. Take it easy. Yeah, I hear you. And that's the beauty of a list like this. It's a starting point. It gets the conversation going. So if I left out your favorite road trip, anthems, hit me up and tell me what I missed. I'll probably agree with you. And then we'll both end up with a better playlist. So whether you're heading to the beach, the mountains, a dive bar, a few towns over, or going absolutely nowhere in particular, just remember to roll the windows down, turn the volume up, and let the music be your guide. And that's it for this week's episode. I hope you're having a great summer and driving carefully out there. Thank you for joining me. I'll be back next Tuesday, and if you like what you heard today. I'd appreciate it if you would both like then either subscribe or follow to make sure you get notified about each new episode, and please tell your friends. Also, one more reminder that I release a playlist for every episode. So look for The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast playlist on Spotify every week and this week on Apple Music also, we're featuring the songs that I mentioned here today and more. So check that out. Additionally, I want to know what you think. As I said, please leave me a comment. I'll try to respond to every one of them. The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast is a World Highway Media production. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and until next time, remember that life is short, so get those concert tickets.