We’ve all got our favourite music or radio station to listen to but when embarking on a long holiday or road trip in particular you’ve got to pick the music to last the distance. Music takes you back to a time or place when you hear it and the longer you’ve been around the more nostalgic you get to a time of your life when certain music played a big part and burnt itself into your memories.

One of my all-time favourite Australian artists is Ross Wilson and in particular his group of the late 70’s through to the late 80’s, Mondo Rock. To this day I still follow his movements through social media (my children would say stalking, I beg to differ) and try to catch his performances whenever he’s in Adelaide, his voice is still as perfect as ever and his stage presence is magnetic.  Mondo Rock was just one of a few favourite bands back in the day, which added to the fun of a road trip and camping with friends.

Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel and ‘Barking Spiders Live’, in particular got a lot of airplay on early camping holidays. The songs took the monotony out of 10 hour drives from Adelaide to Scott Bay on the far west coast of South Australia and provided the soundtrack to nights around the campfire talking, well…probably bullshit, and solving the world’s problems.  Back then it was cassette tapes in the car or portable player which we thought we were lucky to have.  Woohoo, music on demand!

Circa 1986

Nowadays when on a road trip we still tune in to the radio usually in the first instance, it’s handy for keeping up with news and traffic conditions and also for getting local news and the vibe of the destination we are heading to. But, we also have the luxury of having huge catalogues of music at our fingertips. No side A, side B any more. Most cars still have a CD player in them but by far the most popular method now is to just plug in the phone or other device into the aux input or usb plug and you’re good for hours and hours of your favourite music.

I must admit I am still a fan of having a separate device for my music so I love my ipod, where I can download music and separate them into specific genres or moods if you like, to suit the occasion. And what is my ipod full of? Why Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil and Mondo Rock of course!  Not only that though I actually love a whole lot of new music and if I take itunes word for it, I seem to have a lot of Indie and Alternative music these days. Think chilled, cruisy, Sunday afternoons overlooking a beach with a glass of wine and platter of food – the music that would accompany that. Amongst the music though is dance, pop, hip hop, electronic, R&B and rock.

So there you go, I guess you could definitely say eclectic, everything from Kate Bush and David Bowie to Peking Duk and Ocean Alley or Hilltop Hoods to Pete Murray to Amy Shark.  Some of them are mixed in together but mostly separated by decades, and let’s not even go to the 70s / 80s party mix play list, anyone for a bit of Rock Lobster?

What’s your go to driving music?

Cheers

Glenys