What’s the best road trip song? A case for ‘Roadrunner’ by the Modern Lovers.
The ideal road trip playlist should be packed with fast-but-not-too-fast songs, sound familiar enough for everybody in the car to head-bang like Garth and Wayne in “Wayne’s World,” and include obscure gems to prompt discovery and conversation. It should start with a string of energetic anthems, cool down with more laid-back classics, then burst into an explosive finale.
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And, especially in Massachusetts, it should open with “Roadrunner,” by Natick-born group the Modern Lovers. The song appeared on the band’s self-titled debut LP, which celebrates its 50th anniversary later this summer.
“It’s a really great driving song, and even people who don’t live here understand that,” said Joyce Linehan, a former Boston chief of policy and veteran arts promoter who in 2013 attempted to make “Roadrunner” the Commonwealth’s official rocksong.The bill, initially proposed by Representative Marty Walsh, future mayor of Boston, died in committee after two other reps pushed for Aerosmith’s “Dream On” instead.
In the classic that inspired punk rock — famously covered by the Sex Pistols — songwriter and frontman Jonathan Richman exults about Route 128, Stop & Shops, and late-night highway drives with the radio on. “Suburban trees, suburban speed,” he sings, “and it smells like thunder.” (Another notable line from the song, “I’m in love with Massachusetts,” is displayed on the wall of a VIP lounge at Roadrunner, a Boston music venue that opened in 2022.)
“It’s one of those mythological road trip songs, thematically very specific, especially to the American road trip experience,” said Laura Ohls, senior editor of rock, alternative, and metal for Spotify, which reports more than 22 million road trip playlists created by 17.5 million unique users of the streaming service. “There’s a pattern of songs that feel central to the road trip that are not necessarily the most popular, but feel right for the occasion.”
It’s easy to cobble together such a playlist based on easily recognizable songs. Spotify’s most-streamed road trip playlist tracks include (in the United States): Kesha’s “TiK ToK” (more than 1.9 million playlist-specific streams), Pitbull and Usher’s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” (1.7 million), the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” (nearly 1.7 million), Jay-Z and Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (1.6 million), and Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” (1.5 million).
Amazon Music didn’t provide an equivalent list, but staples in its road trip playlists — subdivided into pop, classic rock, alternative, and hard rock categories — include Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty,” AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” and Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over.”
These examples speak to the need for energy,familiarity, and car consensus on lengthy road trips, Ohls said: “You’re scoring for hours of the open road. You want to match the wide range of emotions you might go through — and making sure you keep awake and alert.”
Experienced curators know fast and familiar is not an automatic recipe for successful road trip playlists. It helps when the lyrics mention driving, highways, the road, and so on: Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” the Eagles’ “Life in the Fast Lane,” Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” Rihanna’s “Shut Up and Drive,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”
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Engine rev-up noises, from cars, motorcycles, or otherwise, are a plus, as in Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher,” Daft Punk’s “Da Funk,” and Primus’ “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.” And don’t lard up the list with rarities, but a few key placements are welcome, like the Tom Robinson Band’s “2-4-6-8 Motorway,” Mott the Hoople’s “Drivin’ Sister,” NRBQ’s “Me and the Boys,” and John Hiatt’s “Drive South.”
“It’s finding the right mix of familiar enough to where people don’t want to run away, but challenging enough where music fans of all types will get something new out of it — all without breaking the vibe,” said Andy Harms, Amazon Music’s rock and alt programming lead. “Forward momentum is a big thing. I don’t think you want too many downtempo songs.”
“Roadrunner” was not engineered to be a road trip song, although it has appeared on countless road trip cassette mixtapes and CD-R mixes before the streaming era. In a 2007 Guardian article that inspired Linehan’s quest to make “Roadrunner” the Commonwealth’srockanthem, writer Laura Barton called it “one of the magical songs in existence … asong about what it means to be young, and behind the wheel of an automobile, with the radio on and the night and the highway stretched before you.”
Richman wrote it in 1970, and the Modern Lovers, who included future Talking Head Jerry Harrison on organ, recorded it in 1972; the definitive version, produced by the Velvet Underground’s John Cale, took four years to come out.
Between the Modern Lovers and Richman, numerous versions of the song have been released, although Richman himself stopped performing it years ago. He recently told Pollstar by email, “I can’t play songs I don’t feel anymore.”
A Boston native who tours regularly, Richman, 74, rarely does interviews and declined a request for this story.
But he did give the Globe a statement: “Thanks to all for such respect to the song ‘Roadrunner.’ It was a group sound so I speak for all the band in saying ‘thank you.’ In the past 50 years much has changed in the U.S.A., but it’s nice to know that song still resonates with people.”
Especially people in cars.
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