Not long ago, I was assigned on a dare to complete a simple top 10 road trip song list. Little did I know that this simple idea would morph into a haunting task which would keep me up nights comparing and contrasting how a Dave Brubeck Quartet passage through a rainy interstate in Des Moines would work as opposed to a Scritti Politti tune from the mid '80s on a 3 1/2 hour speed trip to Boston from central Jersey. Is it a rainy part of the year, do you have company on this trip, are you traveling at night, cutting school or work, or just driving alone? The possibilities of the perfect top 10 list are as infinite as the type of road trip you can take. What's more, without music, your trip is a disaster waiting to happen.

As I stared into my screen weighing the benefits of having Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" over "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead, I realized that although this is an impossible task, the sheer impossibility of it made it all the more possible. The truth is, every road trip, just like every piece of music has certain similar variables. The beginning - an introduction to the players involved and their instruments (like your '69 Rambler or the Richard Hell and his Voidoids) the revving up of the engine and the motion of the music are the same. You get into the first section of the trip - for example heading out to Route 80 and you've begun - much like the lead in to the 1st chorus. You get into the body of the song much like the middle of the trip - it's familiar, yet new. You're not certain of the outcome, but you know where you are. You also know, just as you're certain that there will be a bridge
in the middle of a Beach Boys song, you still don't know how it's going to sound, or in the case of the trip, how beautiful the side of Route 7 in Vermont looks at dusk.

Finally, every piece of music, like every road trip comes to an end, usually by picking up steam and reprising the themes expressed in every previous section of the song. Sometimes it comes too soon like in the case of Cake's "Race Car Ya Ya's" or probably went on too long like in Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #7" but in any case, you've reached your climax and you're ready to stretch your legs.

With all this in mind, I present my top 10 which should be viewed not as "must buy music" but rather a roadmap through a successful musical trip. Feel free to substitute your own choices in slots 1-10. I will do so myself, time to time.

Road Runner - Jonathan Richmond and the Modern Lovers.

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