Throttle Music

This is the playlist for my 35 mile motorcycle commute to work via 101.

I Will Follow - U2
Mongoloid - Devo
Date With The Night - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Detachable Penis - King Missile
Clap Your Hands - Wu Tang Clan
Soldier - Eminem
Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Disorder - Exploited
Ride To The Bottom - Small Axe
Raw Power - Stooges
Wicked - Ice Cube
Metal Militia - Metalica

This mix started with riding at night. The streets are for the most part quiet and weirdness steeps into my ride. Part of it is the limited visibility; navigating the road surfaces at speed becomes a mental exercise. Sometimes you can remember how the road bends or bumps, or you can draw from your experience to find you the right line. I will just imagine how I am are going to roll through it and hope for the best.

It was also an experiment. I wanted to see if I could ride safely while listening to my Ipod. I listen to music on most of my rides, safety and the laws be damned.

This playlist originated with the most embarrassingly-named song in the playlist, "Detachable Penis". The delay-driven notes fall into a deep pool of malaise, and it reminds me of the engine roar slicing through the darkness. I threw "Date With The Night" for the obvious evening reference, and it's a crazy song.

I begin the mix with "I Will Follow", a very appropriate song for riding on the highway, with a molto crescendo like the quiet before starting your bike. After hearing it at Lucky 13's, I added "Mongoloid" with a catchy, faux-drum machine beat but a very ironic and incorrect subject. You just want to jump around in geek fashion.

I put "Clap Your Hands" about 10 minutes into the mix. By this point, I'm usually throttling past the airport. The traffic opens up here, and I will dart in and out of the lanes pushing triple digits. The Wu-Tang represents the nihilism of street life: cold mother fuckers, always aware for danger, if you want to survive. I think it applies, whether you are in the housing projects of Staten Island or bearing down the road on two wheels.

There are only a few songs that I fall in love with from the first few notes. "Follow The Leader" by Eric B. and Rakim was the first, and "Soldier" is the most recent. Like most of Eminem's repertoire, it is an evil song, but the rhythm is so seductive, I will sway my head and shoulders in time, even covered with a full-face helmet and leathers.

At this point, I'm usually splitting lanes through San Mateo, and I need to be rhythm with the flow of traffic. That's why I put "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" right after, a quiet song but with a very strong beat. And I can hear it at the slower speed I pass cars on my left and right.

The ride through Redwood City tends to be frustrating. A long straightaway and good pavement, but traffic backs almost as much the intersection with the San Mateo Bridge. I decided to put "Highway Star". It is a classic driving song but a relatively slow beat. Fits the tension over if I should push the speeds with so many cars blocking the way.

"Disorder" from The Exploited was an easy choice, a fast tempo, old school anarchy song. "Ride To The Bottom" is a song from my old friends in Small Axe, a reminder that I ride motorcycles because of my love of mountain bikes.

By the time I get to "Raw Power" by Iggy and The Stooges, doing 90mph is like a natural state. "Raw Power" makes being fucked up seem normal. And if you are going to be fucked up, you need to be listening to The Jesus Lizard.

I can't say "Wicked" and "Metal Militia" serve any purpose besides to fill out the mix, but angry, destructive tunes are always appreciated.