Cars and rock music – there’s a clear connection. Probably something to do with the speed, adrenaline, the feeling of being in control, and the dexterity involved – the parallels are myriad. The association existed right from the heavy blues origins of rock. Robert Johnson’s “Terraplane Blues” was a tongue-in-cheek song about a Hudson, Chuck Berry sang about Cadillacs and Ford V8s, and Elvis collected cars like they were scale models. He even played a racing car driver in Speedway and famously gifted his mother a pink 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood. Then, there are the Beach Boys, who sang a dozen songs about cars that celebrated hot rods and drag racing.
Billy Gibbons’ cherry red Ford hot rod, The Eliminator, defined ZZ Top’s image, and when I met him at a Formula 1 race, he confirmed that he was nuts about cars. Metallica’s James Hetfield is even more obsessed – he builds his own custom hot rods, with many displayed at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
Janis Joplin’s Porsche 356C dazzled with hand-painted psychedelic swirls, and she sang the immortal words, “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?” AC/DC singer Brian Johnson’s first lyrics for the band, written under extreme duress, were, “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean…” He even has a car show! Sammy Hagar’s biggest solo hit is “I Can’t Drive 55”, and he joined Van Halen because he met legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen at a mechanic’s shop. Eddie was driving a Lamborghini Miura S! Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason races his Ferrari 250 GTO at Le Mans and has turned his garage into a museum of rare sports cars. When he was in India to judge the Cartier Concours d’Elegance, he also mentioned that one J Clarkson was a close friend.
Then, there’s John Bonham, widely considered to be the greatest rock drummer ever. When the band members of Led Zeppelin decided to film a fantasy sequence each for their feature film, all Bonham did was drive cars. Someone else who collected cars? Bonham’s friend. The other contender for the best drummer in the world ever – The Who’s Keith Moon. Not sure he was a good driver, though.
Then, there’s David Coverdale of Whitesnake. The video for “Here I Go Again” features his girlfriend doing a ballet routine on the bonnet of his Jaguar XJ. And did you know it’s John Lennon’s white Beetle that’s on the cover of Abbey Road? He also had his Rolls Phantom V painted in psychedelic colours. But it was Indophile George Harrison who was the real petrolhead Beatle; he owned a couple of Ferraris and a McLaren F1, among others, and was obsessed with Formula 1. His friend, Eric Clapton, has a dozen Ferraris and still orders custom one-offs. Then, there’s Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”, written on a tour bus when a journalist challenged them to write a song on the spot. It raises your adrenaline so fast, it probably should be banned when you are driving. And have you heard Chris Rea’s “Daytona”, where he talks of the Ferrari’s “12 wild horses in silver chains”? Car culture and rock music. Try and separate the two. You can’t.
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