[ Live Animals ] Baby, You Can Drive My Car

Mike Watt-obsessed car blog Jalopnik recently put out its Ten Best Driving Albums list and challenged others to list their own. Kudos to the 'nik for props to Tom Waits and Minutemen, but Paul's Boutique? "Drifter" was hot shit, I'll give them that: "I'm doin' one-twenty rollin' over mailboxes. Radar detectors to tell me where the cops is."

My own list follows:

10. Beck - Midnite Vultures
If I ever became brain damaged enough to buy a Hummer H2, this is the album that will constantly blast from the 4 12's that I will have mounted to the place where the helicopter hooks used to be.

9. Spoon - A Series of Sneaks
Cars in a crowded city on the cover, a truck with a "30 gallon tank", "Car Radio", and the charging sound of songs that sound as if they were written in vans on tour.

8. XTC - Drums and Wires
My favorite XTC album, it's the band reduced to the most essential elements - literally drums and wires. Songs alternate from sprightly pop gems to bizarre hypnotic drones made perfectly for watching yellow lines zip by.

7. Kraftwerk - Autobahn / Neu! - Neu 1
I'm really disappointed at the Jalopnik guys for not catching the first one. Maybe it's not exactly a good album for driving 100mph in Montana, but it is about the damn Autobahn and it and Neu's counterpart are both ideal for spooky late night driving in the middle of nowhere.

6. Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
This is the album for driving 100mph in Montana. Pure, drippy, smelly screaming sludge metal played by two sociopaths. I usually have to turn it off halfway through because one can only drive 100mph for so long.

5. T. Rex - Electric Warrior
From "Jeepster":

Just like a car
You're pleasing to behold
I'll call you Jaguar
If I may be so bold

"Bang a Gong" is still the greatest song ever made. "Flying Saucer take me away!"

4. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
My personal favorite Tom Waits album, and since almost all Tom Waits albums are good to drive to, this one makes my list. "Midtown", "9th and Hennepin", and "going down down down down town down down town."

3. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Makes me think of the Pacific Coast Highway.

2. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
I really can't argue with this one. The album starts with the sound of a car ignition and 48 songs later ends with a Three Car Jam. In the middle, there's tequila, Michael Jackson, French Indo-China, "My word's a war", Toadies, something about tub caulking, an of course a #1 Hit Song.

1. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
I challenge anyone to doubt the power of this album. It lures you into its scuzzy world, and suddenly you're thinking about robbing that 7-11 on the way home. The ultimate in getaway car music.