At the start of the week, I mentioned a post over at Jalopnik, listing what the author considered to be the Top 10 Driving Albums. While I won’t dispute Jalopnik’s car knowledge, I would say that their top 10 list was as good as my “Top 10 Carburetors” list would be. So, I thought that we could trade some paint with them and run them clear off the road with a turbo-certified Top 10.

I spent the week picking out albums and testing them out in the car to be sure they were as good behind the wheel as they are on the headphones, so I can assure you that most of these are certified pedal stompers.

Start your Engines…

Honorable Mentions

The only reason that they didn’t make it was because there were only 10 slots. If there were 13, you can bet these albums would’ve been included. There wasn’t, so they weren’t.

Now, let’s get the pace car off the track and get into the list…

#10: Nashville Pussy – High as Hell

High as Hell opens with the sounds of a grumbling car starting, but it’s no clean start. This album is grimy. It’s leather vest with no shirt grimy. It’s greasy hair, a biker mustache, and a waggling tongue grimy. It’s burger wrappers on the floor and a gun under the seat grimy. And that type of attitude gets me home from work without having to think about what a clean, little adult I’ve become. This may be the foam baseball hat with “This Pud’s For You” sitting on top of my countdown, but there’s no denying that it’s pedal to the floor, finger out the window rock and roll.

#9: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Have a Ball

This is all 70’s songs covered in punk format, and although it’s not the most aggressive album on the list, it beats all the others in the fun category. Even in those situations where the moron in front of me jams on the brakes to make a quick left from the right lane, this album takes the edge off enough that I don’t want to ram them. And it’s so up tempo and corny that I don’t even mind listening to “Mandy”. If I can listen to “Mandy” and not ram things, it gets into my top 10.

#8: The Donnas – Spend the Night

Maybe it’s the straight up rock jam packed with cowbell that makes my foot heavy. Maybe it’s the fact that the Donnas are an all girl band, and my foot is simply trying to get the gas pedal and the floor into a three way. Either way, this album makes me go too fast.

#7: DMX – It’s Hot and Hell is Hot

Remember the opening sequence of Office Space where the white nerdy guy is totally into the gangster rap when he’s in his car? Yes, I do that. This CD produces the illusion that my little black car with the big black wing is really a 98 Olds inhabited by one bad motherfucker. And bad motherfuckers don’t drive fast. They roll.

#6: Clutch – Blast Tyrant

Is it fitting to have a band in the top 10 Driving Albums that is named after the part of the car that separates people who drive from those who ride? You bet your ass it is. But, even if these guys were named “Glovebox” or “Vanity Mirror”, I would’ve included them because of their riff driven rock. This album kicks it up out of the gate and gets you powering through the traffic like a clinically proven, government banned, stoner rock fuel additive. Even though it’s a Japanese turbo whistling me through traffic, this album makes it feel like heavyweight American muscle shoving me through on a blur of raised white lettering.

#5: Queens of the Stoneage – Queens of the Stoneage

I step on the gas with this one, but I want more straightaways when I have it on. It completely fills the cabin with bass laden semi-stoner goodness to make even the most aggravating drive from point A to point B seem as unimportant and smooth as a desert straightaway. It’s agressive, but smooth, like a turbo on the highway.

#4: Unida – Coping with the Urban Coyote

I was originally looking for a Kyuss album to put in the list, but Kyuss is really best suited to driving long stretches of desert. Because there are as many asshole drivers in Massachusetts as there are cacti in the California desert, I went with a Kyuss spin off that has a little more bite. It’s Kyuss vocals over riff-driven rock without the Black Sabbath noodling solos. I can’t listen to it without wondering when someone is going to use this album for either a drag racing or muscle car video. I can’t help visualizing myself in a Chevelle SS leading Hell’s charge across the desert when this in on. When I see myself, I have big, shitty sunglasses on, and I usually grin and flash you the devil horns before I leave you in the dust. Yea. It’s one bad ass album.

#3: Various Artists – Rig Rock Deluxe

I swear to christ I play this album every time #1GF! get on the highway to New Hampshire. I sing backup vocals, fake pull the truck horn, and clap until she makes me put something else in. It has both classic artists like Red Simpson and Junior Brown, and more recent artists like Son Volt. Is it enough truckin’ songs to keep you rollin’ on through the night? That’s a big 10-4.

#2: Zeke – Kicked in the Teeth

Zeke’s albums are brutally fast, with tracks that tend to be less than 2 minutes long. Put that in your car and try to drive normally. Try it in Massachusetts. I don’t care if you’re a grandma on downers, it ain’t going to happen in this state. You’re going to get where you’re going zipping in and of lanes faster than a speed freak with the runs. When you finally pull your keys from the ignition, you’ll probably emerge from a punk-induced coma and think “I can’t actually remember getting here. Thanks, Zeke.”

And the number 1 Driving album…

#1: Fu Manchu – King of the Road

If any band makes me want to grow a biker mustache and wear red tinted sunglasses and slide across the hood of a lime green ‘70 Hemi ‘Cuda and peel out, it’s Fu Manchu. They are the undisputed kings of pedal-to-the-floor stoner rock, and leaving them out of a top 10 driving list is a crime against rock. Just the title alone begs to be put at the top of the list. King of the Road? Fuckin’ A, right, King of the Road. And look at that cover. Is that a line of jacked up vans on there? Oh, you bet it is. Hell, most of the Fu’s covers have vehicles on them (my favorite). Know why? Because the Fu is about cars, rock, and cowbell. This album is full of kick-ass tracks like “Drive”, “Hell On Wheels”, and “Boogie Van” that are about what? Yea. DRIVING. The Fu is the best thing to happen to driving since the invention of the power slide.

So that’s it. If you did your homework and came up with your own top 10, I can’t wait to see it. Be sure to either drop your list (or a link to it) in the comments.

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Posted in Cars, Music