Key Spins: Key Trips (Day)
This is Part 1 of a two episode series of 100 songs for road tripping or beach going. Part 2 is Key Trips (Night).
Key Spins: Key Trips (Day)
When I(Gregory) was nine, my family took its only vacation—crammed into our Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser for the eternal crawl from Ohio to Florida. Two or three days of asphalt, questionable motel pools, and a single 8-track tape to sustain us.
I don’t remember what that 8-track was…
Okay, fine. I could never, ever forget what that 8-track was, as it was Carole King’s Tapestry. On loop. For approximately 9,000 plays. By the time we hit Georgia, the 8-track’s mechanical clunk—always mid-song, felt like a taunt. (Oh, you like this chorus? Too bad. CLUNK. Here’s Side 2 again.)
To this day, if I hear It’s Too Late or I Feel the Earth Move, I’m instantly transported: knees stuck to vinyl seats, looking out of those Vista Windows and taking in the tall Florida Cumulonimbus clouds.
This is why we made Key Trips (Day).
Day-drive music shouldn’t be a hostage situation. It should be windows-down, air guitar–worthy, mile-munching anthems—50 of them, no repeats, and zero 8-track clunks. Songs for cornfield hypnosis, skyline dopamine, and convincing you that, yes, this is the fun part.
Seat belts on. This is Part 1 of our road-trip survival guide.
How to listen to this playlist?
Click on the link below for the streaming service you sub. This two part episode and other longer playlists will not have a YouTube playlist.
Apple Music Playlist
Spotify Playlist
The Songs
Pack the car, pair your BlueTooth and let the music imprint on the scenary.
XTC – Respectable Street
The Clash – Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
Dinosaur Jr. – Feel the Pain
X – The New World
The Cars – Good Times Roll
Doves – Catch The Sun
Swervedriver – Rave Down
PJ Harvey – Down By The Water
Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener
The Cardigans – Daddy's Car
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Rattlesnakes
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – My Wife and My Dead Wife
Pinkshinyultrablast – Holy Forest
Stereolab – Melodie Is A Wound
Broadcast – Black Cat
The American Analog Set – Cool Kids Keep
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Straight Up And Down
America – Ventura Highway
Talking Heads – This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
Supertramp – Goodbye Stranger
Broken Bells – Vaporize
Say She She – Astral Plane
Erykah Badu – Back In The Day
Snoop Dogg – Gin and Juice
Cibo Matto – Sugar Water
St Germain – Sure Thing
Pinback – Tripoli
Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater
Pavement – Here
American Football – The Summer Ends
War – Summer
Us3 – Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)
Paul Simon – I Know What I Know
The English Beat – Save It for Later
Sniff 'n' The Tears – Driver's Seat
Iggy Pop – The Passenger
Django Django – Default
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Learning To Fly
Pulp – Spike Island
Boards of Canada – Roygbiv
Kraftwerk – Trans-Europe Express
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
Tones On Tail – Go!
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
Oracle Sisters – Blue Left Hand
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand
The Cure – And Nothing Is Forever
Yazoo – Situation
Ladytron – Soft Power
Cocteau Twins – A Kissed Out Red Floatboat