With OC BikeFest happening this weekend, the roads will be packed with bikers competing against each other to find out who has the loudest engine as they head to the several planned events around town. I’m not a biker, but I think we share the same love of having the wind hit your face while speeding down a road. And since I’m a lover of music, having tunes blast out of the speakers while you’re driving completes the experience! In recognition of OC BikeFest 2013, here are six songs that I always turn the volume up to 11 while listening.

 

By: Clutch

Off the album: From Beale Street to Oblivion (2007)

This Maryland band has a couple of awesome nods to legendary blues acts in this rocking blues rock song. Some of the lyrics were taken from Mississippi Fred McDowell’s version of the legendary blues song, “Worried Life Blues” (yes, part of this song is a cover of a cover). The part of the song where frontman Neil Fallon yells, “Bang, bang, bang, bang! Vamanos, Vamanos!” surprisingly has nothing to do with shooting a gun. The section is a tribute to another legendary blues musician, John Lee Hooker; more specifically, a reference to his song “Boom Boom.”

 

By: The Black Keys

Off the album: Attack & Release (2008)

By the time of this album’s release, The Black Keys had already made four albums that established them as an awesome garage blues rock band with a raw sound.  That sound was a creative decision, of course, but it also had to do with the fact that they didn’t professionally record any of their albums until this one. This was the first time the band had a professional producer, Danger Mouse, known as the other half of Gnarles Barkley with Cee Lo Green. In the last verse of the song, there is reference to a girl named Sadie. It’s believed this is a reference to singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach’s daughter of the same name who was born earlier that year.

 

By: AC/DC

Off the album: Highway to Hell (1979)

I don’t like starting on a sad note, but this song about life while consistently on tour would be one of the last times AC/DC fans hear former lead singer Bon Scott’s voice, as he died months later after severe alcohol consumption. The band was popular at the time, but this record, along with the use of harmonized guitar riffs used in this song (that is, two guitars playing the same notes at the same time) began to solidify their place in rock history. AC/DC dedicated their next album to Scott and continued to sharpen the dual guitar sound. That album, “Back in Black,” launched the band into a legendary echelon of rock. 

 

By: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Off the album: By the Way (2002)

The opening song to the album, “By the Way” is almost a perfect mix of the band’s calm, soothing melodies and their loud, rambunctious funky jams. In the song’s music video, we watch as frontman Anthony Kiedis hails a taxi that is driven by a mad man. Driven by the fast and heavy beat of the song, the taxi driver manically swerves through city traffic and parks under a bridge to torture Kiedis through means of awkward interpretive dance. It has long been rumored that this bridge is the one described in the band’s popular song “Under the Bridge,” although there is no evidence to prove it one way or another. 

 

By: Muse

Off the album: Absolution (2004)

Following the viewpoint of the captor in its lyrics, this song shares its name with the psychological syndrome that was named after the 1973 event in Stockholm, Sweden, in which hostages of a bank robbery became emotionally attached to the criminals. This song is one of many Muse tracks that is written in a minor key, but sounds upbeat and uplifting (the exact opposite emotions are usually true in music when dealing with minor keys). When performed live, the band oftentimes segues into an instrumental jam session at the end of the song; some which last up to 10 minutes long.

 

By: Led Zeppelin

Off the album: Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

According to guitarist Jimmy Page, this song was improvised at a jam session while the band was trying to finish recording the song “Four Sticks.” Apparently, the band wasn’t doing a great job of staying on track, and the subsequent jam session led to the basis of “Rock and Roll” being written in 15 minutes. The song, which had a guest appearance of Rolling Stones pianist Ian Stewart, also had an interesting recording process when the song was finished. Instead of using the normal process of placing a microphone next to an amplifier, Page simply plugged his guitar directly into the mixing console to create the guitar’s distinct sound on the track. It is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs where all four band members share writing credit.