Making your Commute Suck Less with Awesome Music

Are you dreading your commute tomorrow? As I was stuck in traffic today (yes, on a Sunday afternoon), I realized that music is the difference between being mildly unhappy and wanting to tear your hair out. Earlier today, a man ahead of me had stopped in the middle of the street to allow three buses, who were at a stop sign, turn in front of him. We had no stop sign. The buses would have waited approximately seven seconds for both of our cars to pass if he hadn’t stopped. I glared at his side view mirror and decided his random act of “kindness” was a means to make up for his 1970s molest-ache. I don’t know what kind of music was playing at the time, but I’m pretty sure that if I had been listening to the right tunes, I would have been full of love for humankind and imagined sprinkles and rainbows shooting out of his exhaust pipe.

My commute home, though it was incredibly slow going and I got cut off a handful of times, was a completely different experience. And it’s because I was listening to good music from my own playlist.

I have a very eclectic taste in music, so what I recommend for some may not be applicable to others. So I came up with a way of recommending commute music to others. Just imagine, in specific terms, what you would rather be doing than sitting in stop-and-go traffic.

Would you rather be enjoying the succulent nectar of a ripe plum while being carried along the seashore atop a wild stallion? Try some Samba.

Would you rather be nuzzled by the downy fleece of a llama while drinking your favorite frothy libation? Try Winterset.

Would you rather be skinny dipping under the moonlit sky? Lana Del Rey, all the way.

(Here’s one from the Captain) Would you rather be grinning down a bear in a river, claiming for yourself the most prime spot for plucking salmon out of the rapids? Try the Halo soundtrack.

I remember hearing once about a study of drivers and their aggression compared to what they listened to. Apparently drivers who listened to classical music were the most aggressive. Doesn’t really surprise me, since listening to orchestral music manipulates my emotions like few other things in this world (Maybe Downton Abbey). On the other hand, listening to oldies in high school while driving always put me in an almost Stepford Wives state of artificial bliss. There’s a song that goes, “First gear, It’s all right. Second gear, I lean right. Third gear, hold on tight.” I just looked it up, and it’s a Beach Boys song called “Little Honda.” I don’t know why the Beach Boys get so much smack for “Kokomo” when this is easily their most asinine song to date. Still, unless your soul has been ravaged by termites, this song will probably bring at least an ounce of sunshine to your commute, even if you don’t want to admit it to anyone else.

So what would you rather be doing than sitting in traffic? What do you listen to on your commute that keeps you from rear-ending dawdling drivers?