(Credits: Far Out / Michael Joseph)
Cars and music are a match made in heaven. Nothing beats driving down an open road, cranking up the tunes, and enjoying a moment that’s no one else’s but yours. The thunderous sounds of AC/DC may seem perfect for a road trip down any highway, and their songs have been used for many such scenes in film and on television. According to singer Brian Johnson, however, there’s an exact science to the appeal of driving while listening to music, and one song in particular epitomises the energy it stirs.
Back when CDs were all the rage, you could pick up any road trip compilation and find one or two AC/DC tracks sandwiched between Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and Free’s ‘All Right Now’. According to these playlists, the typical road trip song consists of classic rock hits that start with an endearing guitar riff and include a catchy melody and engaging rhythm.
Syncopation is key when it comes to good driving tunes: an upbeat tempo and feel-good vibes make you feel ready to take on anything life throws at you while reminding you why you had your first-ever guitar lesson in the first place – for the freedom. A good road trip song is one that makes you feel liberated one moment and carefree the next as you taste a moment of enjoyment amid life’s chaos.
For Johnson, a noted petrolhead and owner of the silliest car in rock and roll, while it’s clear that a good driving song “has to be strong, it has to be powerful, it has to be passionate”, the “chemistry” between cars and music is “inexplicable”. He explains that it’s “something that happens” between “the power of the music and the beat, which drives the heart of the car’s engine, and it drives you along.”
Most of us have likely experienced this exact appeal while driving and playing rock ‘n’ roll anthems ‘Highway to Hell’ or ‘Back in Black’, but Johnson’s favourite song to play while burning rubber isn’t one of the band’s at all. In fact, the ultimate driving song, according to the musician, is War’s ‘Low Rider’. Discussing the enduring appeal of American classic cars and the importance of rock ‘n’ roll in such environments, Johnson deems ‘Low Rider’ his “favourite driving song of all time”.
This, of course, seems entirely fitting, considering that the song tackles the concept of modified classic cars and the people who drive them. It adopts a satirical tone that captures the appeal of the cars and the lifestyle itself while sounding laidback but funky in its execution, making for the perfect driving song and one that you can’t help but sing along to.
Johnson’s passion for cars and music reinstates everything that became characteristic of the partnership in the first place: coolness. It’s cool to be into cars, but it’s even cooler to be in AC/DC, and the fact that both have a significant impact on emotion and identity explains the ways in which the two subjects became naturally intertwined.
