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December 2, 2008 8:16:11 PM CST

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Cars Driven Out of Pop Music

Posted Sep 7, 08 2:18 PM CDT in Arts & Living 

(Newser) – Songs paying homage to cars exploded onto the scene in the earliest days of rock 'n' roll, but since the the Beach Boys described the workings of their "409" and Bruce Springsteen sang about "Racing in the Street," auto-themed rock seems to have gone the way of the Delorean, the Washington Post reports.

Modern songs that mention cars tend to do so only in passing, and sometimes in frustration. But the classics tended to rhapsodize on the freedom, prestige, or girls that a hot set of wheels could attract. In post-war America, the automobile was romanticized. But today, cars feel more like uniform, gas-guzzling commuter vehicles we have to own.

Source Washington Post

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Before cars were merely ways of getting from Point A to Point B, they were objects of desire and mystique, like this 1957 Corvette.   ((c) eperales)
In the youth culture of post-war America, a car was a symbol of liberation and power, and of sex: What happened in the backseat stayed in the backseat.   ((c) Paul Keleher)
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It's where you'd go to escape your parents. ... It was a refuge from square culture and repressive attitudes. It was your own universe where you could have your own social life. - Bob Merlis, an automative journalist, on how cars fit into post-war teenage culture

We started out writing about boy-girl situations and our surfboards. There had to be something else to write about. What else did we know anything about? Cars! - Dean Torrence, of the group Jan & Dean, which helped fuel the car craze in rock

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
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