American road trips highlight car tunes

Before passenger cars were equipped with on-board movie theatres and personalized entertainment devices that isolated passengers and drivers from their surroundings and one another, traveling included making one’s own entertainment.

As children, many of us remember family journeys that became learning experiences by reading billboards and calculating how long it would take to arrive at a destination based on the numbers of miles posted on a sign in comparison to the readings of a speedometer.

On occasion, Mom or Dad might turn on the AM radio, but selections were strictly limited by parental control, combined with stations that faded in and out over the course of miles.

That all changed when one became old enough to drive, or had friends that had access to vehicles. The rite of passage for many arriving to young adulthood either by going to college, entering military service or getting work that was far away from the region of one’s childhood, was highlighted by another great American automotive tradition, the road trip.

There was nothing like piling into the car with your buddies, engaging the 465-air conditioner (four windows down at 65 mph), cranking up your favorite car tunes and hitting the road for uncertain destinations.

Depending on when one passed through that stage of life, favorite music might have been heard either on AM or FM radio. If you were among the privileged you might have had an 8-Track or even cassette tape player.

What makes for an appropriate car tune, also known as road trip music? Opinions vary depending on individual tastes, but popular consensus holds certain elements to be essential.

“Everybody has their own definition of what is a good car song, or road tune, whatever you want to call it,” Sunburst Media Program Director Eric Gill said. “It’s generally something that is upbeat. Just kind of keeps your head bobbing instead of your toe tapping since your foot is on the accelerator and you don’t want the toe tapping thing going on at that time.”

The Houma-based radio professional said that for him a favorite would be Bruce Spingsteen’s “Born to Run.”

“To me that is the ultimate put the top down, crank it up and hit the highway song,” Gill said.

Not everybody can define a good car tune as easily as Gill. Gordon Murray is chart manager for Billboard, the standard music trade publication first published in 1894 and considered the official source of top music listings for generations of listeners. For Murray, identifying what makes a good car tune is not a simple task.

“I really have no idea how anyone would ‘objectively’ put that list together,” Murray said in an email conversation. “Me, I listen to Madonna, Tori Amos, Depeche Mode, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, The Police, Prince, random 80s, tons of jazz, sports talk radio, Nadia Ali, news talk, I’m all over the place. Who’s to say what ‘road trip’ music really is? Not us.”

Yet for many, the idea of what makes for good road trip music is real. A definitive list might not be conclusive, but for traveling and music lovers they know in their souls what it is.

Either starting out from or arriving in southeast Louisiana, some of those car tunes would have to include the likes of Houma native Waylon Thibodeaux singing about “Sweet Colinda” or Kermit Ruffins playing about his hometown with “Drop Me Off In New Orleans.”

Combining a playlist based off posting on Road Trip America, The Jet Packer and Planning-for-Road-Trips.com a selection of car tunes offers a starting point for one to get your motor running and dream about being on the road again. From these top 20 tunes, not given in any order of priority, anyone can put in their own personal favorites to make automotive travel a genuine and memorable experience.

What makes a good car tune? Gill said whatever one’s personal selection might be, appropriate road trip songs can definitely cross musical genres but always have movement involved. “It has a great sound,” he said. “[It is one of] those songs when you’re going down a stretch of road, you eat up some pavement before it is over and you’ve traveled thus far before you know it is done.”