The Best Road Trip Playlist Ever – According To Mariel

I am a mixtape master. I remember in high school how I would spend hours hunched over the computer to find the perfect tracks to fit with the perfect mixtape theme, whether it was days of the week, songs about summer, songs to help my sister over a breakup, or songs to help me sleep.

There were times before I wrote gruelingly specific songs about crushes, crossing my fingers they would hear them and be like YOU’RE RIGHT I LIKE YOU TOO or YOU’RE RIGHT I WAS A JERK I’M SORRY (am I too old to be doing this? Does this even work?). The years before I picked up a guitar I had a CD burner and a bunch of songs. I would make mix upon mix, half-hoping for the off chance that the boy of my interest would be around and mysteriously hear one of the songs and the telepathic vibes I was shooting him by repeating “I like you, I like you, I like you” in my head would indeed work. Of course, that never happened. What 15-year-old boy (what 20-something-year-old boy) picks up on weird, subtle vibes? I probably just seemed mental.

Anyway, now as a 20-something in a band, I spend a lot of time in a car/van/mini-van with car top carrier, which means I spend a lot of time listening to music and finding the perfect songs for the drive. Over the last few months of touring I have attempted to create the ultimate, mostly ’90s-themed playlist for amping up the morale when our van is leaking exhaust and we feel drunk on the fumes and we haven’t slept in 36 hours. Yes, tour isn’t always glamorous (hardly glamorous), but the good news is, this is my favorite playlist ever. I have gotten almost thrown out of the car and ditched on the side of the road like a dead deer or empty can of soda over some of these songs. Why? because maybe my band never liked Dawson’s Creek, maybe they think Sugar Ray is lame, but probably because I played it way too much and they just couldn’t take it.

LISTEN HERE: playlist in Spotify

Prepare to be amazed.

1. It’s My Life – Bon Jovi

2. One Week – Barenaked Ladies

3. All Summer Long – Kid Rock

4. Someday – Sugar Ray

5. Glycerine – Bush

6. Closing Time – Semisonic

7. Lightning Crashes – Live

8. She’s So High – Tal Bachman

9. Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus

10. If I Am – Nine Days

11. I Think God Can Explain – Splender

12. Drops of Jupiter – Train

13. 1979 – Smashing Pumpkins

14. Livin’ La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin

15. Summer Girls – LFO

16. Only Wanna Be With You – Hootie and the Blowfish

17. Save Tonight- Eagle Eye Cherry

19. All Star – Smash Mouth

20. Father of Mine – Everclear

21. She Hates Me – Puddle of Mudd

22. Run-Around – Blues Traveler

23. All for You – Sister Hazel

24. Every Morning – Sugar Ray