In 1973, Golden Earring released a song practically engineered to make drivers press a little harder on the gas pedal.
More than a decade later, Sammy Hagar made speeding the entire point of a song. Van Halen followed with an ode to a fast car, and by the end of the 1980s, Tom Petty was singing about hitting the road with the radio on.
For Gen X, these songs became part of the soundtrack of getting behind the wheel. And while we can’t prove any of them have actually caused a speeding ticket, we’d like to see the statistics.
Some songs make you want to sing along. Others apparently make your right foot forget how speed limits work.
Here are four songs that have probably cost Gen X a fortune in speeding tickets.
‘Radar Love’ — Golden Earring
If there were a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame specifically for driving songs, “Radar Love” would deserve its own wing.
Dutch rock band Golden Earring released the song in 1973 on its album Moontan, and it became an international breakthrough for the group. Written by George Kooymans and Barry Hay, “Radar Love” reached No. 7 in the U.K. and later No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
More importantly for our purposes, the entire song is built around driving through the night. Its narrator is on the road when he senses that his girlfriend needs him, a seemingly telepathic connection that sends him racing home.
Even the song’s creators knew they had stumbled onto ideal driving music. “Radar Love” has spent the ensuing decades appearing on lists of the greatest road songs, and it’s not difficult to understand why. That relentless bass line kicks in, and suddenly 55 mph feels suspiciously pedestrian.
‘I Can’t Drive 55’ — Sammy Hagar
Unlike most songs on this list, “I Can’t Drive 55” can point to an actual speeding ticket as its origin story.
Sammy Hagar has said the idea came to him after he was pulled over in New York while driving from Albany toward Lake Placid. Hagar was exhausted after traveling and was doing 62 mph when a police officer stopped him.
The speed limit? Fifty-five.
Hagar told the Los Angeles Times that he recalled uttering the phrase that became the title while the officer was writing his ticket. He went home and turned his frustration into “I Can’t Drive 55,” released on his 1984 album VOA.
The song reached No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, but its cultural footprint became much bigger than its chart peak. The music video doubled down on the premise, with Hagar behind the wheel of a Ferrari and eventually landing in court after an assortment of automotive offenses.
If you’ve ever gotten a speeding ticket while this was playing, you can’t even blame the song. Hagar warned you right there in the title.
Related: Founding Member of Legendary ’70s Rock Band, Who Turned Down Jimi Hendrix, Turns 80
‘Panama’ — Van Halen
“Panama” sounds like a song that should be played loudly in a fast car. That’s convenient, because it was literally inspired by one.
Released on Van Halen’s blockbuster 1984 album 1984, “Panama” was born after David Lee Roth realized something was missing from his songwriting résumé. He’d written plenty about women and partying, but he hadn’t actually written a song about a fast car.
Enter the Panama Express, a race car Roth had seen at a track in Las Vegas.
And Van Halen didn’t stop at writing about an automobile. During the breakdown in “Panama,” that engine you hear revving is the real thing. According to Rolling Stone Australia, Eddie Van Halen backed his 1972 Lamborghini Miura up to the studio so its engine could be recorded for the track.
The result was a song with a pounding beat, one of Eddie Van Halen’s instantly recognizable guitar riffs and an actual Lamborghini roaring in the middle of it.
Frankly, obeying the speed limit under those circumstances seems like a lot to ask.
‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’ — Tom Petty
By 1989, Tom Petty had figured out that you don’t need an actual Lamborghini roaring on your record to make listeners want to hit the highway.
“Runnin’ Down a Dream,” from Petty’s first solo album, Full Moon Fever, was written by Petty, Mike Campbell and Jeff Lynne. The song reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped Billboard’s Album Rock Tracks chart.
But the reason it belongs here is baked right into the song.
Petty opens with a beautiful day, the radio playing and the road rushing by. He even gives a nod to Del Shannon’s 1961 hit “Runaway” before spending the rest of the song chasing whatever might be waiting farther down the highway.
The combination of Campbell’s propulsive guitar riff and Petty’s open-road imagery makes “Runnin’ Down a Dream” one of those songs that seems to change the scenery outside the windshield.
And if you happen to look down afterward and discover you’re going 12 miles per hour faster than you thought you were?
Well, that’s between you and the state trooper.
Related: 3 Songs From 1971 That Every ’70s Kid Still Knows by Heart 55 Years Later
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