What music moves you?
Since man first invented two wheels, brave knights of the road have ridden with the wind in their hair and music in their ears. Yes, there’s something about motorbikes that’s inspired song smiths through the generations to pen ditties that celebrate the noble pursuit or sum up the effect it can have on the senses.
So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are the ten songs that we think best capture the experience and provide a fitting soundtrack to any ride, whether you’re astride a muscle bike or moped. Of course, one biker’s Meatloaf (Bat out of Hell) is another one’s Poison (Ride the Wind). So whether you’re partial to poodle rock or only roll to rock’n’roll, check out our rundown…and don’t forget to let us know if we’ve missed out your favourite biking song.
- Born to Be Wild – Steppenwolf
The daddy of them all…the theme from ‘Easy Rider’, the movie than defined a generation and launched a million motorbikes. Includes the first recorded use of the term ‘Heavy Metal’, too. - On the Road Again – Canned Heat
A long straight desert road, heat haze wobbling the vanishing point on the horizon, a steady cruising speed, not a car for miles…well, you can but dream. - Motor Bikin’ – Chris Spedding
Session guitar maestro and erstwhile Roxy recruit Spedding’s 1975 pre-punk salute to bikers and their propensity to ‘Move up the Queen’s highway like a streak of lightning’. Whilst staying within the legal speed limit, we trust. - Funky Moped – Jasper Carrot
Also charting in 1975, the Midlands mirth-maker’s tale of rivalry on the road provided a comic counterpoint to Spedding’s earthier anthem. - Little Honda – Beach Boys
Proving you can perform a good biking song without a sniff of spandex, Brian Wilson and Co.’s heartfelt honouring of the humble Honda tells us, in easy steps, just how to enjoy the charms of this ‘Groovy little motorbike’. How things have moved on. - Spread your Love – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
We had to include this one purely on the strength of BRMC’s name (and the rockin’ riff of course), that’s borrowed from the gang of naughty boys led by Marlon Brando and right-hand-man Lee Marvin in 1953’s outlaw biker classic ‘The Wild One’. - Leader of the Pack – The Shangri-Las
The sad story of teenage love found in the candy store and lost on a wet road…a cautionary tale for bikers everywhere that revved and roared its way into the charts back in 1965 and supposedly features a young Billy Joel on piano. So now you know. - Motorcycle Emptiness – Manic Street Preachers
The Welsh rock smiths craft a solo-heavy anthem that appears to sum up the frustration of running out of petrol on a long ride. That’s what we think, anyway. - Ace of Spades – Motorhead
If you could throw every stripped-down hog in the world into a giant crucible, throw in a couple of hundred miles of tarmac, garnish with a hundred weight of well-worn bandanas and then compress into a 7 inch disc, we think the result would sound like this when played. - Vincent Black Lightning 1952 – Richard Thompson
A gorgeous song about a beautiful machine, extolling the Vincent’s virtues whilst reminiscing about romance in the cafe racer scene. Bike-folk at its most haunting from Fairport figurehead Thompson.
Blog post originally written for Devitt Insurance and appeared on their Keep Britain Biking site in 2012.