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JJ's Bizarre Blog #64 - Drive in the Fast Lane
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Wassup, yall! Hope life's been treating you well this Spooktober. The Bizarre One is back and I have a special topic for you this time round, something to hopefully help you heat up the dreary autumn days. It's a more vague one, but a fun time that I hope you'll appreciate all the same, similar to the party blog I did a while back. I don't know about you, but I personally love cars, driving and all manner of things that go fast. Alas, for the safety of myself and others, my love for speed is something I must indulge vicariously. So one of those ways is of course with awesome music. Plus, we all know how some banger tracks can make a long drive so much more fun. So that's kind of what we're going to talk about. A collection of songs about cars and driving. Songs suitable for driving. Songs that just make you want to go fast! So strap yourselves in and let's get this show on the road. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!
When I think about fast music that convey a sense of speed, the first genre that comes to my mind is drum 'n' bass. These energetic tracks from all manner of artists always get the blood pumping and make you feel ready for action. The steady, hard-hitting beats, the rocking synth lines, the potent bass, it's all to turbocharge your soul. "Adrenaline in sonic form" I called it once upon a time! Makes you almost instinctively pick up the pace of whatever you're doing! When it comes to any manner of racing, motorsports or even just running, nothing matches the intensity of DnB. Video games and YouTube parkour videos learned this long ago. Drum 'n' Bass is the speed demon of the electronic world and nobody else can catch up!
A similar effect can be had with the mighty big beat movement. While technically not as fast as DnB tempo-wise, big beat often matches or even exceeds it in intensity and power. There's just some special sauce in these tracks that make them some of the most pumping, high energy tunes ever conjured. So it's no surprise that the unstoppable titans from the Prodigy and many other contemporaries of theirs have made huge names for themselves in the soundtracks of racing video games and automotive movies. None of those would feel complete if Crystal Method's "Busy Child" and "Name of the Game" weren't on them. While big beat quickly succeeded in shacking up the nightclubs it was originally intended for, it found a new home on the race track and in the playlists of every wannabe street racer.
When we're talking driving songs, we have to talk about eurobeat! Thanks to the massive success of Initial D, this genre has become intrinsically linked with racing and in particular drifting, especially in Japan. And how could it not, it's basically turbocharged disco with super fast beats, infectious synth melodies and epic singalong choruses. It invigorates you down to the core and you can't help but put your foot down on the gas just a little bit harder. Or maybe the handbrake is looking at you very temptingly. Whatever it is, we'll let it slide. Eurobeat is a ton of fun in any context and for me and many others, a few seconds of any song already transports us to the winding curves of a mountain pass ready to absorb the scent of burnt rubber.
More recently, a new contender has risen to be the soundtrack of choice for people that like driving sideways and that's phonk! Now personally, call me old fashioned, but I firmly believe drifting will always belong to eurobeat. But, I can't deny, phonk tracks go unbelievably hard and they're just a blast to listen to! Drift phonk has become a whole submovement within the genre and many artists have adopted an automotive aesthetic. Even if they hadn't, these songs make you feel like the true final boss, make you move like you own the place, so it would've been a natural fit for cruising and riding all the same. Plus those dirty, distorted bass lines and thunderous beats are the perfect fit for the new generation of drivers to blast out of their subwoofers.
Honestly, with broadened horizons, almost every electronic subgenre can become excellent driving music. As long as it's not ambient or downtempo. If it's fast, if it's intense, it works. Powerful mechanical techno beats to become one with your machine, catchy house beats for a steady pace, enchanting trance to journey off into another realm, merciless dubstep to push your speakers to the limit, mesmerizing synthwave to feel like a cyberpunk protagonist, etc. You name it, it's fun and it's exciting. So explore new paths and try something different, you'd be surprised how much a different soundtrack can make the same ride feel completely new and fresh!
Switching gears now, how about some pop? There's plenty of songs explicitly about cars, but those are far from the only ones that fit the bill. There's something about energetic, upbeat pop that makes any driving sesh come alive and feel like a party on wheels. Oldschool disco is an especially good fit and I don't know why, but especially girly pop tunes just hit different on the road. We all bless the radio when the right track comes on, so take control and be your own DJ! Every decade and a huge variety of artists have you covered. And speaking of radio, basically anything on the disco stations of GTA Vice City or the pop stations of GTA V are just a perfect fit. Turn that dial up and let loose!
On a similar note, we can't talk about car music and not mention hip-hop! I mean, flexing your ride is something rappers do like it's a contractual obligation, so even if you don't have a Mercedes, Bentley or Bugatti, you can sure feel like you're in one with these tracks. Not so much for going fast, hip-hop is just the perfect soundtrack for cruising down the road, feeling hard as nails, oversized subwoofer in the boot making your windows rattle and letting everybody in the neighborhood know what you're all about. So pimp your ride, crank it up and rule the streets!
For the next section, let's dive into the rock realm with what I'll refer to as "biker music". We don't just love cars around here of course, motorcycles are super cool too and biker culture is a massively influential part of the last few decades that has gone on to define the attitudes of many rebellious youths. Bikers also always have exquisite taste in music spanning a variety of genres like rock 'n' roll, hard rock, blues rock, classic heavy metal and more. I mean, a lot of the foundation of early metal culture - the leather jackets, the hair and beards, the nonconformist approach to life and love of freedom - there are are all things that stemmed from biker culture and would go on to influence it back in turn. Entire bands were even born out of this, where do you think the immortal Motorhead got their name from. Naturally, all these songs fit our theme perfectly. The life on the open road, the free spirited outlook on life, the feeling of the wind on your face, the roaring engine underneath you, it's all fun to indulge in no matter how many wheels you're on. And basically any fast paced and energetic classic rock or metal tune is worthy. Rockin' and rollin' these roads belong to us!
And since we're diving into rock and metal, it would be a shame to make a blog like this and not talk about speed metal! I mean, it's right there in the name. This genre was more or less a transitional thing, a phase of growth and experimentation to push the speed and heaviness of the genre further and further, a nexus point in the evolution of metal that allowed for many bigger and better things to come after. True to its speedy name, it came and went in a flash but it left a mark that still echoes to this day. And regardless of anything else, the songs from this genre remain fun and exciting to this day and are a natural fit for an intense trip down the road, on four wheels or two. I mean, some of the greatest bands of all time like Deep Purple, Accept and Helloween just to name a few have contributed to this genre, so it's only natural they've blessed us with incredible bangers that will live forever!
If the classics are not rebellious enough for you, then punk rock is what you're looking for. This whole genre was born out of the desire to strip away the excess from rock music, bring it back to basics and crank up the intensity to the max. The resulting fast paced, in-your-face music is not just the instigator of moshpits and hymn of the disenfranchised, it's a great tune to blast while barrelling down the road and it has also become strongly associated with extreme sports! You can go for the unfiltered emotion of hardcore punk or the fun loving bangers of skate punk, whatever tickles your fancy. If it works in the skate park's half-pipe, it works on the racetrack too.
It's thanks to punk that metal itself was revolutionized in countless ways and all of this was born from thrash metal. This genre's philosophy was built not only on bringing the unmatched intensity of punk into the metal realm, but also to push the limit of speed and heaviness to new heights. As a result, thrash metal changed the course of everything and even with the hindsight of the evolutions that came from it, its ruthless aggression and fast, angry sound is still unmatched. As such, I personally find it an ideal driving soundtrack! When you have to go beyond limits and really drive it like you mean it, there's truly nothing better. Thrash metal is heavy, unrestrained, blisteringly fast and super super fun. It will make you wanna mosh and it will make you wanna run wild!
It would be remiss of me if I didn't touch on one of my most beloved genres that is likewise intrinsically linked with driving, racing and speed - nu metal! True, it's not as fast as thrash metal and its disciples, but it's definitely not lacking in terms of raw power, hard hitting rhythms and attitude! Nu metal is known to make you wanna move and this just so happens to fit our theme here perfectly. I'm aware that the frequent inclusion of nu metal tracks in classic racing games and movies has helped create the link between the two in my head, but I believe it goes much further than that. This wonderful genre combines the aggression of metal with the intensity of hip-hop, a best-of-both-worlds combination begging to be blasted in your car stereo. The more industrial and more extreme varieties of nu are just as if not more fitting and pumping than the rest. The fact that the genre was also at its peak during a particularly beloved and strong period for car design is just the cherry on top at that point.
So, there you have it, a nice strong collection of my personal favourite tracks related to driving, suitable for driving and just conducive to high speed. I sincerely hope that if you're into cars and fast things like I am, you'll appreciate this selection. But even if you aren't a petrolhead, these are just some really fun songs united by speed, power and high energy, so they're an excellent soundtrack not just for driving but all kinds of other things too - running, exercising, doing chores or just an energetic walk outside. Anything works and I hope this playlist gives you that adrenaline rush that you need to get it all done. Life is like an open road, so it all falls onto us to decide where we want to go and how we get there. Will you just sit there in the parking lot waiting for things to happen, will you just cruise along slow and steady or will you go pedal to the metal and shoot for glory? The choice is yours, what matters is you grab the wheel, kick into gear and make it happen! Just remember, whatever you do, drive safely, wear your seatbelt, be careful and be mindful. Take care out there and see you down the road!