It's not just a normal sunset when the mighty Zep is attached to it. It’s that deep red and orange hues type of sunset that’s brighter as the sun goes down. It’s that Achilles Last Stand while driving on what seems like an endless highway type of sunset. Does anyone know what that is anymore? Does anyone just go for a drive anymore? Do you the reader understand what I mean? Have you ever just gotten up, showered, dressed, eaten, got into your car, pointed it in some random direction and just drove? Just went for a drive, ended up in some small town, grabbed a fountain drink at the first convenience store you saw and then turned around to go home? Nobody goes out just for a drive anymore. I think this is something that I must start doing. Someone needs to start doing this again. Take those long winding roads and those long scenic routes back home. Supertramp said, “Take the long way home”.
When did we forget to get in our cars and just take a road trip just to take a road trip? What happened to leaving at 11am and getting back home right at dusk? Those back roads are lonely without us. Those original state highways need some love, too. They miss the oil and gasoline from our colorful tin cans on wheels.
There’s so much “driving music” that has been made, don’t let it go to waste. Musicians poured their blood, sweat and tears into some great driving tunes for us to speed down back roads to. There’s nothing like taking two or three curves with Panama at full blast with all four windows down. Or if you don’t make it home by dusk, it’s dark, the city lights are dimly in the distance as Robert Plant’s Big Log comes on so you purposefully take your time to get home. We switch multiple lanes at 85 miles per hour with Motley Crue’s Kickstart My Heart and pass 18 Wheelers on a two lane highway in oncoming traffic with Ozzy’s Crazy Train. As we pull out of that lonely mom and pop grocery store in a Dollar General small town, to get back onto the highway we turn on Almost Cut My Hair. Rolling over hills, passing through valleys at midday is the perfect time for Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here. A bridge deserves a Journey track. Every long stretch of straight highway needs a touch of Radar Love, when there’s nothing to see but brush and asphalt.
Those early morning drives start with some Yes. How about Roundabout as the sun rises in the horizon over the highway? “Going for a drive” is a lost art. Most people nowadays respond with “Why” whenever you say you’re “going for a drive”. What’s happened to people today? Get out of the house, especially you teenagers. Stop sitting and staring at computer or television screens. Stop staring at your phones! If you have a license, why are you inside the house? Get out and experience the world around you. Go have some experiences to tell your children and grandchildren about. Those things don’t and can’t happen if you stay inside. One of my earliest long distance road trips I made with my friends in high school was driving to Canada. There were days when we would all contact each other and decide to go just because we were bored. Yes, when you live about 20 or 30 minutes outside of Seattle a road trip to Vancouver is not out of the question. We’d go just to go and we’d have a blast on the way there; and of course on the way back we’d stop everywhere because we didn’t want to go home. I still tell my children now about those times because I have those experiences to tell. I have them to tell due to the fact that I made them happen by leaving the house. I made them happen by being active. We have to actively get out and do things. Do the things that you want to do, specifically getting on the road and going places. Travel when and while you can. Don’t hesitate to go when you can go. As long as you don’t have major responsibilities, i.e. spouse, children, then run, Run Like the Wind with Christopher Cross & Michael McDonald (or Run To the Hills). And, if it is just you and your spouse, go, go, go before you have children. See everything that you can see together because you may not get that chance again at least not until you’re older. When you are older, every chance you get, go for a drive. It doesn’t matter how far or for how long but go.
Let’s not pretend though. We all know that the best music to drive to is Classic Rock and that includes the new editions to classic rock, i.e. Whitesnake, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, etc. Remember once a song hits the 25 year mark it’s considered a classic, which is one of the reasons why all of your oldies stations one year got an “upgrade” because tons of music became classics. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Metallica on a classic rock station. I just about lost my mind. I had to wrap my mind around the fact that one of my favorite bands was now considered classic. All of my favorite bands are considered classics now.
This stuff on the radio now, most of it you can’t drive to it. Most of the “music” that’s on the radio, if you listen to current radio, what’s left of it, doesn’t have the substance to be used as background music to your drive. For instance, right now I have Zeppelin’s Ramble On blaring in my earbuds. That you can drive to. That’s leaving the parking lot of your job for the day to get stuck in trying to get home traffic or it’s I’m almost within the city limits of the next major city. That’s an evening drive or early morning drive song. Whether you agree with me or not, the best thing about being able to stream your music anytime is the fact that we can stream classic rock. Unfortunately, streaming has and is slowly destroying radio. It's a very slow and painful death to watch, but it is killing it. And, the fact that we still have access to true real music is its only saving grace. If we had to stick with the crap that’s coming out currently we’d be in trouble. Real music whether you believe it or not is becoming rare. Artists who play their own instruments and write their own music are slowly starting to become a thing of the past. If I’m wrong then they’re just becoming rare. Either way, we now more than ever need to encourage young people to write and play music. Autotune and AI must not take over, ever. If you can’t sing, then shut your mouth and don’t sing. If you can’t play, leave that instrument alone. And if you can’t write music just don’t. Pen down, hands off the keyboard.
But let's face it, the best music for any sunset has got to be Zeppelin. And the best road trip music: Zeppelin. Again some may not agree but that's okay. For those of you who are lost let me call them by their government name: Led Zeppelin. I mean really. Think about every Zep album and every song. Their entire catalog of music is the best soundtrack for every road trip. Literally every Zep song could fit a sunset or a sunrise. Especially Kashmir. Coffee in hand, sun rising, cellos and guitars in tempo. Oh but the reverse. Tea in hand, sun setting, cellos and guitars in tempo. It's the same grand effect either way. Obviously this fits for the long drive. It's almost 9 minutes of pure audio ecstasy. Kashmir is impeccably orchestrated just like every other Zeppelin song. You haven't taken a real road trip until you've taken one with Led Zeppelin as your soundtrack. If you ever took one with my friends and I, if Stairway came on as we pulled into the driveway you couldn't exit the car until the song was over.
However, let’s not belabor the point any longer: get in the car and drive. Get in the car with some real music to provide the soundtrack to wherever you end up on your drive. Every road trip deserves a great soundtrack and if you take one then make it worthwhile. Make it enjoyable. Make it memorable. Make it yours.
Put on some Zeppelin and watch the sunset.
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