15 Underrated Road Trip Songs that You Need in Your Library

Your friends would be happy like the people in this stock photo if you have some good tunes on the road. 

It is well-documented that we here are huge advocates of classic rock as driving anthems -- for very good reason. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't anything good from other genres and eras either, as there are hidden gems everywhere that are often overlooked by many driving enthusiasts out there who'd like to listen to some good tunes while shiftin' gears.

So, as a public service, here is a list of 15 songs often overlooked by people while they are looking for a good road trip playlist. Don't leave home and go on the roads without these songs.

The 70s Made the Best Driving Music, and It Makes No Sense

The Greatest Hits of horrible hairstyles... And driving music? 

Just this past weekend, I had the opportunity to go on a road trip out of state. Just like what anyone else would do in this situation, I checked my music library to see if I needed to load up on driving songs for me to survive being tailgated on the Interstate by the one Honda CRX driver with a cracked muffler that's also missing a front wheel.

So for a couple hours on a Friday night, I went through a mental checklist of all the road trip essentials, which about consists of all the usuals.

And then it dawned on me: almost 80% of the songs in my driving playlist consist of bands from a particular era. More specifically, the 1970s -- the era of the Apple II and Ford Pinto.

I strongly believe that the 70s was the Golden Period for driving songs -- which really makes no sense, for the reasons I'll explain below.