7 for the road

by Cosmo Lee

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to."

This meme has been going around the music blogosphere. Adrien Begrand tagged me with it, but in typically way-behind fashion, I haven't gotten around to it until a month and a half later. Listing seven songs I currently dig is virtually impossible, as I listen to so much music that such a list could change multiple times daily.

Thus, I'm posting seven songs that soundtracked a recent road trip I took. Most aren't metal; I usually don't listen to metal while driving. It either riles me up too much, or the details get lost in road noise. I just need a good beat. My prototypical driving experience is the video for Helmet's "Unsung," with its images of locomotive pistons and rods pushing relentlessly. Most of these songs are decidedly wussier. Burning clean is a good goal - for both engines and fondue.

Full Moon Fever (1989)

Henry Rollins has called Phil Lynott his "guardo camino." He never travels without carrying hours of Lynott's music. My guardo camino is Tom Petty. That's not half as cool, but so it goes. Tom Petty is solid, dependable, the good things about America. Traditionally, the first record I listen to on any road trip is Full Moon Fever. As a driving song, "Runnin' Down a Dream" is pretty much perfect. It's got a good beat, a pumping bass line, and lyrics about driving and singing along to the radio: "I felt so good, like anything was possible / I hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes."

Tom Petty - Runnin' Down a Dream

Automatic (1989)

Someone astutely observed that The Jesus & Mary Chain's early guitar tone resembled that of black metal. That is not the JAMC I love. I prefer them when they went shamelessly commercial, feeding their drum machine steroids and replacing bass guitar with pulsing synths. It's like ZZ Top when they sold out, or Judas Priest's "Turbo Lover" - a fantastic driving song that resembles another, Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone." Automatic had basically two songs. The first was a minor-key two-chord vamp with a sneer, and it was about drugs. The second was an upbeat I-IV-V, also about drugs. "Head On" was the big classic, but "Between Planets" kickstarts my heart.

The Jesus & Mary Chain - Between Planets

Forever Blue (1995)

This was a bad choice. I like driving to oldies music + Chris Isaak is basically Roy Orbison v.2.0 = sock hop in my car, right? Wrong, daddy-o. Forever Blue was Isaak's breakup record; even the packaging's blue tint was sad. There I was, barreling down the American highway, practically sobbing for miles. Fuck you, girl who broke Chris Isaak's heart. You made my drive a real bummer. Isaak's amazing voice, though, often rescues otherwise vanilla material. The yodeling parts in "Goin' Nowhere" are awesome. I love how in the last one, the drummer unexpectedly switches to tom-toms and fiercely hangs onto them until the end. (Switching beats underneath a riff is one of my favorite metal devices.) Added plus: the song is about driving, though the narrator is a real scoundrel.

Chris Isaak - Goin' Nowhere

The Piano (1993)

Michael Nyman is one of the biggest influences upon my own music. His soundtrack to The Piano is practically part of my blood. (Ironically, the film affected me so much that to protect its purity in my consciousnesss, I vowed never to see it again. I may have to break that vow.) "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" is the main piano theme, and it's some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. Nyman fuses his trademark geometric structures with a Celtic/Scottish feel evocative of the protagonist's homeland. To me, the rolling 6/8's feel quite metal. I could imagine this recontextualized as Viking metal.

Michael Nyman - The Heart Asks Pleasure First

Hideous Kinky (1998)

Hideous Kinky is also a huge influence on my life. The Kate Winslet vehicle was good, not great, but it was shot on location in Marrakech. The images caused me to seek out the city for myself. It was even more mindblowing in person. One has not lived until one has experienced the Djemaa el Fna, the great night market in Marrakech's main square: the oil lamps, food stands, buskers, hustlers, snake charmers, mosque tower looming overhead. I have never felt such electricity elsewhere, except possibly in Taipei's night market. The film's soundtrack is a mix of '60s and '70s Western pop music and Moroccan traditional music. "The Tortoise's Song" takes some minutes to start up, but develops a feverish, hypnotic lather. I put it on repeat and must have listened to it for an hour.

Khalifa Ould Eide & Dimi Mint Abba - The Tortoise's Song

Stabbing the Drama (2005)

Stabbing the Drama is a big guilty pleasure of mine. Objectively, I recognize that's it not very good. (In fact, I walked out during the first song of Soilwork's tour for this record because of the cheesiness). However, it soundtracked a tough time in my life, so I have a soft spot for it. The little breakdown at 2:29 always gets me, although it really shouldn't. Something about Speed Strid's vocal melodies makes me homesick for northern Europe.

Soilwork - Observation Slave

Sincerity... (2005)

Few beats are as driving-friendly as the hardcore punk two-step. Sincerity Is an Easy Disguise in This Business opens with a half-time overture, then accelerates into a two-step that pins you to your seat. "Tonight Is the Night We Ride" feels like "Unsung" - that windswept engine thrum, riffs opening and closing like throttles. Craig Chaney's singing even sounds like Page Hamilton's. (Also, compare the twangy riff at 1:24 with the main riff from "Runnin' Down a Dream.") The song is one of the purest celebrations ever written about the road: "Go 'til we see the sun / Let it burn / Any given night / Crossing another state line / We know we can never die."

Evergreen Terrace - Tonight Is the Night We Ride

Now, I throw down the gauntlet to these fine bloggers:

Aversion Line
Bang! Bang!
Clocked In - Punched Out
Driftglass
Floodwatchmusic
Metal Flows in My Veins
Skullgal