Image via Complex Original
Intro
Picking the 10 best driving songs is a fool's task. For every Baby Boomer crying behind the wheel to Don Henley's "Boys of Summer," there's a gaggle of girls singing along to the latest Lady Gaga abomination. For this list, we assembled a cross-section of undeniably awesome driving tunes. Some are classics, others are hidden gems. We promise just one thing: Include these tracks on your next mix, and you'll have 10 new favorites for your turn behind the wheel.
Panana
10. Panama
Band: Van Halen
Released: 1984
Best Paired With: "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen
Complex Says: There's a reason Van Halen once ruled the world: These cocaine-snorting, chick-banging motherfuckers could rock. Choosing the best Van Halen song for your shift is no easy task. The easy pick is "Runnin' with the Devil," of course, but for my money, it's "Panama" every time. Even if Eddie is now a bloated embarrassment of his former self, that sonofabitch sure could shred.
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Highway to Hell
9. Highway to Hell
Band: AC/DC
Released: 1979
Best Paired With: Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head"
Complex Says: Americans may not have invented the automobile, but we sure as hell invented the roadtrip. Still, we're willing to give this band of semi-retarded Australians credit for recording one of the best hard-charging, pedal-to-the-metal roadtrip tracks in history. It doesn't hurt that Bon Scott kicked the bucket a few months after recording this song in 1980.
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Picture Me Rollin'
8. Picture Me Rollin'
Band: Tupac
Released: 1996
Best Paired With: N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton"
Complex Says: Even if you're not rolling in a 500 Benz (retail price: more than you can afford), your roadtrip soundtrack must include this track from the West Coast's favorite dead son, Tupac Amaru Shakur. Good for both the open road and clogged city traffic, this track will make even your shitty used Honda look good.
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Ramble On
7. Ramble On
Band: Led Zeppelin
Released: 1969
Best Paired With: Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home"
Complex Says: Some roadtrips are fueled by Red Bull and Doritos. Others, by bittersweet nostalgia. For the latter, when Mom and Dad are waving goodbye in the rear-view mirror, cue up the only Zeppelin song that's not despicably daft after being overplayed for 40 years. Sure, the lyrics get gay when "Mordor" and "Gollum" are invoked, but concentrate instead on the part about "goin' around the world."
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Runnin' Down a Dream
6. Runnin' Down a Dream
Band: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Released: 1988
Best Paired With: a handjob (girls love this song)
Complex Says: Of the many songs that are actually about driving, very few deserve mention here. Tom Petty's hit single from 1988 is one of them. Though it's been a mainstay on your dad's clock radio for 20 years, this classic found new fans when it appeared on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas rock station.
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Ass-n-Titties
5. Ass-n-Titties
Band: DJ Assault
Released: 2000
Best Paired With: Spank Rock's "Bump"
Complex Says: Want to know if your girlfriend is a keeper? Cue up this woman-hating but undeniably catchy track—and watch her reaction. (If she sings along, marry her.) No one's saying that DJ Assault (nee Craig De Sean Adams from Detroit) is a world-class lyricist, but this track is one of rap's great traffic-busters. Seek out the 2001 remix, which has more, um, depth.
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The National Anthem
4. The National Anthem
Band: Radiohead
Released: 2000
Best Paired With: DJ Spooky's "Fixed Income"
Complex Says: Not every road song is meant for barreling through traffic and flipping off slow drivers. Sometimes, it's time to set the cruise control to 90 and fly down the flat, empty highways of western Texas. Roads like these demand a rolling, hypnotic yet still energetic soundtrack. Cue up Radiohead's "National Anthem," spark up a J, and watch out for hillbilly cops.
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Who Was in My Room Last Night
3. Who Was in My Room Last Night
Band: The Butthole Surfers
Released: 1993
Best Paired With: Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hot Rod"
Complex Says: Like the Flaming Lips, these punk rock mainstays got famous pretty much by accident in the mid-'90s "alternative nation" era. Though their catalog goes back to the early '80s—and they continue to tour, sort of—it's this song, the opening track from 1993's Independent Worm Saloon, that goes best with the open road.
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Move Bitch
2. Move Bitch
Band: Ludacris
Released: 2002
Best Paired With: DMX's "Rough Ryders' Anthem"
Complex Says: For everyone who's been stuck behind a family of eight packed into a white minivan…For everyone who's missed a green light because a half-blind senior citizen couldn't see over her steering wheel…For everyone dumb enough to drive during rush hour in Los Angeles…This track's title says it all.
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She Sells Sanctuary
1. She Sells Sanctuary
Band: The Cult
Released: 1985
Best Paired With: Deep Purple's "Highway Star"
Complex Says: A respectable hit when it was released in 1985—particularly in England, where it reached 15 on the charts—The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" is one of those songs that keeps paying dividends for the losers who wrote it. (They can't seem to resist releasing new versions every few years.) It was a crowd-pleasing Rock Band track, but the song's appearance in Layer Cake cemented its position as a great driving tune.
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