Driving Music.

There's driving music, and there is Driving Music. Regular ol' driving music is stuff that sounds good in the car; it can be a catchy rhythm or something that makes me ponder life's realities. This is far different from Driving Music; the stuff that causes a reflexive and satisfying "whump" as my right foot pins the gas to the floor.

Talking Heads - Take Me To The River
I remember driving from Los Angeles to Sacramento a few years ago, passing through The Grapevine and the Central Valley on the 5 at 2am when this song came on. I wish I could describe the feeling of 140 miles an hour on a dark, empty interstate in the late night desert, completely buzzed out of my mind from the music and machinery and the sublime tingle of fast.

Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
This song reminds me of riding through Death Valley in April on a motorcycle. The happy solitude of the wide open desert, just me and my thoughts until the song begins with that weird electronic falling cascade and those first few beats. Then the persistent roar of wind and sound and vibration with the throttle open just as wide as the desert, with the pavement passing inches below my feet in a blur.
AC/DC - Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
Stoplight waiting, those first few bars of just slow... slow... pure blues guitar, Brian Johnson lights a cigarette and calls out "hey all you middlemen..." the lone snare kicks in... waiting... "Rock and roll ain't no riddle man... to me it makes good good sense - good sense" getting ready... run the revs up to 4,000 GREEN LIGHT sidestep the clutch WHAM rhythm guitar hits like a concrete fist redline shift second gear tires chirp bite tempo builds guitar drums punishing redline shift third "Heavy decibels are playing on my guitar" wind noise joins in redline shift fourth "We got vibrations coming up from the floor" acceleration slower now wind noise building to a roar triple digits shift fifth geography a blur chorus "Rock and roll ain't noise pollution..."
The 22 second section of this song between 0:45 and 1:07 is just about the purest distillation of rock and roll that I know. Awe inspiring.
Underworld - Rez
Someday in the not-too-distant future I will own a dedicated track car, and I will listen to this song as I turn one beautiful, consistent lap after another.
Johnny Cash - Rusty Cage
Johnny Cash's version of this song kicks ass all over Soundgarden's original. And I like Soundgarden's original. Cash's version is just THAT good. Halfway into the song when it pauses and the electric guitar joins the acoustic, and Johnny sings "when the forest burns along the road / like God's eyes in my headlights / when the dogs are lookin for their bones / and it's raining icepicks on your steel shore" man... that's some music to DRIVE to.