{"id":1195,"date":"2026-05-25T20:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1195"},"modified":"2026-05-25T20:08:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:08:01","slug":"whats-the-best-road-trip-song-a-case-for-roadrunner-by-the-modern-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1195","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the best road trip song? A case for \u2018Roadrunner\u2019 by the Modern Lovers."},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>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 \u201cWayne\u2019s World,\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1193\">From \u2018Skidmarks On My Heart\u2019 to \u2018Steppin\u2019 Out,\u2019 we built the ultimate road trip playlist<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>And, especially in Massachusetts, it should open with \u201cRoadrunner,\u201d by Natick-born group the Modern Lovers. The song appeared on the band\u2019s self-titled debut LP, which celebrates its 50th anniversary later this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s a really great driving song, and even people who don\u2019t live here understand that,\u201d said Joyce Linehan, a former Boston chief of policy and veteran arts promoter who in 2013 attempted to make \u201cRoadrunner\u201d the Commonwealth\u2019s official rocksong.The bill, initially proposed by Representative Marty Walsh, future mayor of Boston, died in committee after two other reps pushed for Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cDream On\u201d instead.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>In the classic that inspired punk rock \u2014 famously covered by the Sex Pistols \u2014 songwriter and frontman Jonathan Richman exults about Route 128, Stop &amp; Shops, and late-night highway drives with the radio on. \u201cSuburban trees, suburban speed,\u201d he sings, \u201cand it smells like thunder.\u201d (Another notable line from the song, \u201cI\u2019m in love with Massachusetts,\u201d is displayed on the wall of a VIP lounge at Roadrunner, a Boston music venue that opened in 2022.)<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s one of those mythological road trip songs, thematically very specific, especially to the American road trip experience,\u201d 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. \u201cThere\u2019s a pattern of songs that feel central to the road trip that are not necessarily the most popular, but feel right for the occasion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s easy to cobble together such a playlist based on easily recognizable songs. Spotify\u2019s most-streamed road trip playlist tracks include (in the United States): Kesha\u2019s \u201cTiK ToK\u201d (more than 1.9 million playlist-specific streams), Pitbull and Usher\u2019s \u201cDJ Got Us Fallin\u2019 in Love\u201d (1.7 million), the Killers\u2019 \u201cMr. Brightside\u201d (nearly 1.7 million), Jay-Z and Rihanna\u2019s \u201cUmbrella\u201d (1.6 million), and Katy Perry\u2019s \u201cLast Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)\u201d (1.5 million).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Amazon Music didn\u2019t provide an equivalent list, but staples in its road trip playlists \u2014 subdivided into pop, classic rock, alternative, and hard rock categories \u2014 include Jackson Browne\u2019s \u201cRunning on Empty,\u201d AC\/DC\u2019s \u201cHighway to Hell,\u201d and Florence + the Machine\u2019s \u201cDog Days Are Over.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>These examples speak to the need for energy,familiarity, and car consensus on lengthy road trips, Ohls said: \u201cYou\u2019re scoring for hours of the open road. You want to match the wide range of emotions you might go through \u2014 and making sure you keep awake and alert.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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\u2019s \u201cBorn to Be Wild,\u201d Bruce Springsteen\u2019s \u201cBorn to Run,\u201d the Eagles\u2019 \u201cLife in the Fast Lane,\u201d Tracy Chapman\u2019s \u201cFast Car,\u201d Rihanna\u2019s \u201cShut Up and Drive,\u201d Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers\u2019 \u201cRunnin\u2019 Down a Dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1191\">US beats Hungary to stay alive for ice hockey world quarterfinals<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Engine rev-up noises, from cars, motorcycles, or otherwise, are a plus, as in Van Halen\u2019s \u201cHot for Teacher,\u201d Daft Punk\u2019s \u201cDa Funk,\u201d and Primus\u2019 \u201cJerry Was a Race Car Driver.\u201d And don\u2019t lard up the list with rarities, but a few key placements are welcome, like the Tom Robinson Band\u2019s \u201c2-4-6-8 Motorway,\u201d Mott the Hoople\u2019s \u201cDrivin\u2019 Sister,\u201d NRBQ\u2019s \u201cMe and the Boys,\u201d and John Hiatt\u2019s \u201cDrive South.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s finding the right mix of familiar enough to where people don\u2019t want to run away, but challenging enough where music fans of all types will get something new out of it \u2014 all without breaking the vibe,\u201d said Andy Harms, Amazon Music\u2019s rock and alt programming lead. \u201cForward momentum is a big thing. I don\u2019t think you want too many downtempo songs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cRoadrunner\u201d 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\u2019s quest to make \u201cRoadrunner\u201d the Commonwealth\u2019srockanthem, writer Laura Barton called it \u201cone of the magical songs in existence &#8230; 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.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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\u2019s John Cale, took four years to come out. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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, \u201cI can\u2019t play songs I don\u2019t feel anymore.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A Boston native who tours regularly, Richman, 74, rarely does interviews and declined a request for this story. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But he did give the Globe a statement: \u201cThanks to all for such respect to the song \u2018Roadrunner.\u2019 It was a group sound so I speak for all the band in saying \u2018thank you.\u2019 In the past 50 years much has changed in the U.S.A., but it\u2019s nice to know that song still resonates with people.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1189\">Joe Mazzulla was \u2018a coach on the court\u2019 as a teen at Bishop Hendricken, and Tuesday he could be named NBA Coach of the Year<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Especially people in cars.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The song appeared on the band\u2019s self-titled debut LP, which celebrates its 50th anniversary later this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s the best road trip song? 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