When spring finally comes, here’s a list of different driving songs where you’ll want to roll down the window

[Thomas Dennett likes lists. This is one of them. – AC]

It’s an overstated but honest saying; it’s the little things in life. With one of the most abhorrent and bone chilling winters in a while finally behind us, we can experience, once again, that little mystical feeling of rolling down the car windows and blasting some tunes. Here’s hoping these songs will be a perfect pairing for any open window road trip you take.

Fuel – Metallica

Appearing on Metallica’s 7th album, Reload, Fuel is a headbanger that’s a great way to start off any road trip. James Hetfield Oooh’s, Yeah’s and Unnhh’s his way through this fast paced but undeniably groovy tune. Nothing like some chugging guitar and double kick to really set the pace for a drive. And considering the song is about cars it seems fitting. The opening line “Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire…” is actually a recipe for a pretty violent case of incomplete combustion in real life, but is the perfect way to start off this hard hitting song.

Wolf Like Me – TV On the Radio

Released on the 2006 album, Return to Cookie Mountain, this song is a little more straightforward than some of the other alt-rock tunes this band is known for. Driven by a steady drum beat, and some eerily comforting guitar tones, this song is a foot tapper (but please don’t tap the gas pedal, it’s extremely bad for your car). The whole song has a comforting reverb effect that permeates through every instrument, and despite the softer sound when compared to a band like Metallica, the song is no less high energy. Oh, and the lyrics are about a guy turning into a werewolf. So if that doesn’t entice you to listen nothing will.

Hell Yeah – Rev Theory

Okay no more songs about cars and fuel and the such after this. I promise. But this song really is a perfect fit for highway driving, ideally one with a high speed limit. From their 2008 album, Light It Up, this song is best known for being the theme song for the television show Blue Mountain State. However, I’d posit that is fits much better for a high octane rip down the highway than for a football team filled with hormonal young men. I’ll admit, it’s a little bit of a, what I like to call, “dude rock” song; lyrics and visuals of loosely dressed women in fast muscle cars. But forget about the lyrics and focus on the gritty vocal style, ferocious guitar solo and thrashing drums. It’ll have you screaming hell yeah while driving at 120 in no time.

Faith Cola – Kevin Breit and Sisters Euclid

Enter Sister’s Euclid, the funky Jazz quartet who I had to privilege to see live at the Millpond in Alliston, ON, as their loud and distorted rock influenced jazz sent old couples fleeing in horror, plugging their ears all the way. Faith Cola, off the 2007 album of the same name, isn’t like the other songs on this list. No vocals, but it’s a fast paced and feel good song, with one of the catchiest chorus guitar hooks I’ve ever heard. Not to mention lead guitarist Kevin Breit shreds the slide guitar like nobody’s business. A funky four piece never sounded so good.

Angels & Airwaves – Young London

A rock anthem like no other, this song just screams good vibes. Off of the 2010 album LOVE, the former front man of Blink-182, Tom DeLonge, brings his signature pop-punk vocal style to this alt-rock tune. The song opens with some frantic guitar tapping over a blasting drum beat. The uplifting lyrics are juxtaposed with the fast-paced instrumentals and thrashing cymbals. It’s sometimes hard to put into words the feelings that a song convey, but every time I put this song on I get an overwhelming sense of freedom. This song is the soundtrack for the breeze that blows your hair back when the windows are down.