Car Songs

One of the very first rock records (some say the first, but let's not open that worm-filled can) was Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88," and it sounds as good today as it did half a century ago. They may not make Oldsmobiles anymore, but its legacy lives on. Happy motoring!

It's not just a guy thing anymore: Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney proved that in 1965, when she began her professional drag racing career. Whether Mercury, Mustang, Lincoln, Cadillac, or their more exotic cousins like Mercedes and Cobra, just about every make of car has its own piece of musical memorabilia.

Everybody expects the Beach Boys to croon to their wheels, but how about the Ramones? Or Marc Bolan? Just goes to show how deep this car thing is ingrained into our collective musical psyche. It doesn't matter if you drive a Ferrari or a Focus — you, too, can dig the sounds of car culture.

We sure do love our cars, don't we? It's our link to freedom, our personal style statement, our fetish object. Gleaming pipes, eight coats of wax, four on the floor, and a positraction differential…whatever that is. Whether it's eight cylinders of pure, lean muscle machine, or just some beater that uses as much oil as gas, the automobile occupies a unique space in pop music. So put the pedal to the metal!