Ongoing History of New Music

The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1018: Stars’n’Cars’n’Rock’n’Roll

Next to music and my dogs, my biggest obsession is cars. I’ve always been a car nut. I’m one of those people with a list of cars I’ll buy when i win the lottery…

I’ll start with production sports cars. A Porsche 911 Turbo 4 will be my daily driver, although there will be a Lamborghini Uris SUV for those times I need to haul people and stuff. For those summer days, I think a McLaren 750s Spider would be cool.

I’ll need a car for track days, of course. No one else in the neighbourhood would have a Koenigsegg. I’d probably order the Jekso Absolute (1600 horsepower sounds about right.)

And just to show everyone that I’m not out to completely destroy the planet, there will be at least one EV. Right now, that would be a Rimac Nevera.

That’s what? Four million dollars’ worth of vehicles? Not including insurance and maintenance, of course. I’m never going to win that kind of lottery, but it’s nice to dream.

For other people, though, this is the kind of machinery sitting in their air-conditioned, highly secure underground garages. That includes a lot of rock stars.

Eric Clapton is so well-known at Ferrari that the company built him a custom one-of-a-kind model that probably cost him upward of five million. Neil Peart had a selection of very collectible sports cars from the 1960s, all in silver.

Brian Johnson of AC/DC has a bunch of Bentleys, Ferraris, and some classic race cars. Same with Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. He’s even written a book about this collection.

Then there’s everything we use in the car to listen to music. Radio, car audio, satellite radio, infotainment systems, and all that.

All this got me thinking about the relationship between cars and rock. The two things go hand-in-hand. We should look at this history, yeah?

Songs heard on this show:

  • Jonathan Richman, Roadrunner
  • Coldplay, Speed of Sound
  • Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, Rocket 88
  • Weezer, We Are All on Drugs
  • Greta Van Fleet, Highway Tune
  • Foo Fighters, Something from Nothing
  • The Clash, Brand New Cadillac
  • Blink-182, The Rock Show
  • Jamiroquai, Black Devil Car
  • Joy Division, Love Will Year Us Apart

Eric Wilhite has his usual playlist.

The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39732 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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