There's a concert on campus this evening by Third Eye Blind, best known for the doo-doo-doo chorus of "Semi-Charmed Life" from about ten years ago. I wasn't aware that they were still together, but they're apparently here, and playing a show on the court where we usually play our pick-up basketball games.
When I was at Yale, one of their songs came up on the Internet radio thing I was listening to at the time, and one of the grad students in the group pegged them pretty accurately as a Car Radio Band: their better songs have a sort of doofy charm such that when you're driving alone, and they come on the radio, you'll turn it up and sing along. You wouldn't want to have to admit to owning the album, though.
I like that description a lot, and it works for a number of other bands, as well. Meat Loaf would probably be the other canonical example of a Car Radio Band (well, it's one guy, but you know what I mean...). Owning Bat Out of Hell is an automatic deduction of 100 Hipster Cred Points, and any of the sequel records will lose you 1000 HCP. There's no ironic exception, either-- you can't ironically enjoy Jim Steinman songs. But they do have a certain loopy grandeur, and it's hard not to sing along when they come up on the radio...
What are some other Car Radio Bands?
(For the record, I own Bat Out of Hell on CD, and have the first Third Eye Blind record on cassette tape. I bought some of their other songs on iTunes, as well. Nobody has ever mistaken me for a hipster, though.)
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What are some other Car Radio Bands?
Pretty much any 80s hair band would qualify, yeah?
(Not only do I own and love Bat Out of Hell, I saw Bon Jovi in concert last summer. And they were AWESOME.)
Note that I go out of my way to NOT be a "hipster."
I have a rather good thirdeyeblind long-sleeved promotional teeshirt. Friend of mine works for a record company, always good for that sort of stuff.
For car radio bands, maybe Fallout Boy? Two years ago, I swear it was possible to drive cross-country switching radio stations enough to hear 'Sugar We're Going Down' at least every third song, and it wasn't entirely disagreeable.
How about the Gin Blossoms? (that one album anyway)
Incidentally, I heard the latest single by Snow Patrol (not the Chasing Cars one, but another one) on the radio yesterday, and I've decided they are the Gin Blossoms of this decade.
Songs that sound good only in your car, with no one looking while you drum on the steering wheel:
Diesel's "Sausalito Summernight."
The Go-Gos, "We Got the Beat."
Iron Maiden, "Aces High."
Also, "Gettin Jiggy Wit It," but only if you have a ragtop.
Current score: -4100 HCP
Is this the -99th percentile?
To me, the mid-90s are full of Car Radio bands:
Goo Goo Dolls
Cracker
Collective Soul
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Don't be ashamed of Meatloaf. Take a listen to the new Arcade Fire (a hipster fav) and you will hear a lot of similarities.
Duncan Sheik.
To me, the mid-90s are full of Car Radio bands:
I suspect that high school will always be a rich source of this sort of material. It's a rare person who gets through high school without liking a few regrettable songs...
Goo Goo Dolls
Cracker
Collective Soul
Toad the Wet Sprocket
I'm not sure I'd put Goo Goo Dolls or Cracker into this category, though. They both got a reasonably good critical reception back in the day, unlike, well, Third Eye Blind...
I think real Car Radio Band status would require a total lack of respectability.
(I didn't go to the concert, by the way-- they sold out, and apparently sold 2500 tickets, which is pretty impressive given a student body of 2100...)