Skip to content

The loud and proud playlist

There is a ritual for non-morning people that view life in the am as a confusing netherworld filled with the living dead. They are essentially morning zombies with limited intellectual activity and a lurching style of gravity-defying autonomic motion.

There is a ritual for non-morning people that view life in the am as a confusing netherworld filled with the living dead.

They are essentially morning zombies with limited intellectual activity and a lurching style of gravity-defying autonomic motion.

There is no cure for the early morning blues, but some people rely upon massive doses of caffeine to attempt a jump-start on the day. It helps, but the act of piloting a car for the morning undead is a whole ‘other challenge.

So the first order of the new day for dozy drivers is to crank up the sound.

They rely upon a massive injection of loud and proud tunes from the vehicle’s sound system to clear the cobwebs. Nine out of ten scientists would probably agree that high decibel music might help a little.

The scary part is the end of the workday when a forgotten sound level blows a now-alert driver right out of his seat.

The 64,000 decibel question is what songs work for that morning spike of loud and proud musical pick-me-ups.

How Many More Times by Led Zeppelin would be on the playlist. This is pure motivational rock and roll by the godfathers of metal.

Just don’t play an air guitar while you are driving when Jimmy Page riffs on this Zep classic.

An early morning driving serenade would hardly be complete without All Along The Watchtower by left-handed guitar god Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix hits the ground running with his opening riff in this Dylan tune.

The trick is to avoid excessive use of the gas pedal when Jimi pushes your motivation well into the red zone-even at an early morning hour.

The Yardbirds were a monster band. They had Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck to handle guitar duties for them. That is a jaw-dropping lineup of axe-men for one band. No morning drive would be complete without Heartful Of Soul by these British invaders. Play it loud enough to make your car speakers beg for their lives. Then enjoy the ride.

No morning would also be complete without a healthy dose of AC/DC on the car stereo system. Shook Me All Night Long may just be loud enough to wake up the non-living dead in the morning, so stay away from graveyards on your morning commute.

Real dead people would probably prefer the Bon Scott song collection in a he’s- one-of –us sense.

American Woman by the Guess Who would make the list. It starts with an odd ballad style sequence then it suddenly beats people up with a blazing guitar sledgehammer blow delivered upside the listener’s head. The yin and yang of the introduction to American Woman is a classic waker-upper for reluctant morning commuters.

The final addition to our playlist has to include Jimmy Morrison. The Doors were never famous for their Lawrence Welk style, so it boils down to many choices from these guys. But Break On Through topped our Doors list for early morning disturbances of the peace in a car.

Jimmy Morrison may have been a self –destructive narcissist, but his music has kept drivers awake for many decades. Not too shabby for a guy who will celebrate his fortieth anniversary as a dead guy this year.

Jim Sutherland may be reached at mystarcollectorcar.com