50 Best Rock Songs About Roads
Best Rock Tracks for Hitting the Open Road
There’s something strange that happens once the highway stretches out and the phone signal starts fading. The air changes a bit. The mind goes quiet in a way it rarely does in a room. The right song comes on and suddenly every cracked window, every green sign whipping by, starts to sync with the beat. These tracks carry that feeling of motion that’s both freeing and heavy, like you’re outrunning something you can’t quite name. Not every tune here mentions wheels or gas or the miles ahead, but they hum with the same restless pull.
There’s a different kind of charge that comes from guitars built for travel. The low growl of a bass line that feels like tires gripping wet pavement. The chorus that hits like a headlight flash through the dark. These are the moments when rock spills into something wilder, stitched together with the same road-trip nerves that fuel pop, rock, country, and R&B songs trying to capture escape. It’s less about arrival and more about the noise between one place and the next, the way it all blurs when the windows shake.
Every drive carries a bit of chaos, the kind that turns empty roads into confession booths. Some tracks drag that feeling out into the open. Others keep it quiet, tucked between riffs that stretch longer than they should. These are the ones that sound good when the night feels too long and the world feels too big to stop moving through. Here are the best rock songs for roads.
Top 10 Highway Rock Songs
1. 'Born to Be Wild' by Steppenwolf
2. 'Radar Love' by Golden Earring
3. 'Highway Star' by Deep Purple
4. 'Runnin' Down a Dream' by Tom Petty
5. 'I Can't Drive 55' by Sammy Hagar
6. 'Roadhouse Blues' by The Doors
7. 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC
8. 'Life Is a Highway' by Tom Cochrane
9. 'Running on Empty' by Jackson Browne
10. 'Road to Nowhere' by Talking Heads
Driving Songs for Long Trips #11 to 20
11. 'Roll On Down The Highway' by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
12. 'The Passenger' by Iggy Pop
13. 'Rockin' Down the Highway' by The Doobie Brothers
14. 'Red Barchetta' by Rush
15. 'Road Trippin'' by Red Hot Chili Peppers
16. 'Ramblin' Man' by The Allman Brothers Band
17. 'Heading Out to the Highway' by Judas Priest
18. 'Slow Ride' by Foghat
19. 'Going Mobile' by The Who
20. 'Thunder Road' by Bruce Springsteen
Classic Rock Songs About the Journey #21 to 30
21. 'Here I Go Again' by Whitesnake
22. 'Truckin'' by Grateful Dead
23. 'Drive My Car' by The Beatles
24. 'Ventura Highway' by America
25. 'Interstate Love Song' by Stone Temple Pilots
26. 'Open Road Song' by Eve 6
27. 'Davy's on the Road Again' by Manfred Mann's Earth Band
28. 'Six Days on the Road' by Dave Dudley
29. 'I Am The Highway' by Audioslave
30. 'Under My Wheels' by Alice Cooper
Epic Rock Tracks with Road Themes #31 to 40
31. 'Autobahn' by Kraftwerk
32. 'Take It Easy' by Eagles
33. 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen
34. 'The Road to Hell' by Chris Rea
35. 'Long Road To Ruin' by Foo Fighters
36. 'Route 66' by The Rolling Stones
37. 'Blue Highway' by Billy Idol
38. 'Midnight Rider' by The Allman Brothers Band
39. 'Holiday Road' by Lindsey Buckingham
40. 'I'm Bad I'm Nationwide' by ZZ Top
Best Road Trip Rock Songs #41 to 50
41. 'Detroit Rock City' by Kiss
42. 'Crosstown Traffic' by Jimi Hendrix
43. 'Mercury Blues' by David Lindley
44. 'Turn the Page' by Bob Seger
45. 'Panama' by Van Halen
46. 'Driver's Seat' by Sniff 'n' the Tears
47. 'Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad' by Grateful Dead
48. 'Road Runner' by The Modern Lovers
49. 'Love Is A Long Road' by Tom Petty
50. 'Take the Highway' by The Marshall Tucker Band
© 2025 Carson McQueen
