Band Wagon

When it comes to road-trip music—and vehicles—Death Cab for Cutie are out of time.

CHRIS WALLA

1. "The One Thing,” from the third INXS record. Still the best.
2. "Mr. Roboto,” by Styx. Please tell us your secret.
3. Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long (All Night).” I love this song. (I love.)

NICK HARMER

4. Nena Hagan’s “99 Luftballons.” A favorite pastime of mine in elementary school was designing fallout shelters to live in once the nuclear annihilation of earth occurred. This song perfectly captures the ridiculousness of it all. In German. At least that’s what I think she was singing about.
5. Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom (Coming Home).” Other than the fact that this song starts with a riff that reminds me of R.C. Pro-Am on the old Nintendo Entertainment System, it has the coolest countdown to a chorus ever. It’s like, “Just so everyone knows, the chorus is coming. Get ready to sing along!”
6. After the Fire’s “Der Kommissar.” I had to include this track on my road-trip cassette because, even though ATF is British, this song is a cover of a Falco song that was originally sung in German. So, it kind of fits with my theme.

BEN GIBBARD

7. “One on One,” by Hall & Oates. They were my favorite band when I was a kid.  Even today, I stand by my claim that Daryl Hall is the underappreciated king of the vocal ad-lib outro.
8. “The Safety Dance,” by Men Without Hats. I remember being genuinely disturbed by the video for this song. It’s probably the reason why I have a strong aversion to medieval fairs to this day. And hippies.
9. Toto’s “Africa.” The lyrics to this song made absolutely no sense to me when I was younger. Upon revisiting them for this article, the same conclusion was reached.

JASON McGERR

10. Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” I was a huge Michael Jackson fan when Off the Wall came out, but it was Thriller that I wore the label off of—so many hits, so many repeat listens. And finally, I learned how to moonwalk.
11.  “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” by Yes. The original drummer from Yes, Bill Bruford, played on one of my all-time favorite albums, Fragile. After Bill left the band, I stopped buying their records—that is, until I heard “Owner Of A Lonely Heart.”
12. David Bowie’s “China Girl.” The man hired Stevie Ray Vaughan to play guitar on a pop record. Genius.

Death Cab for Cutie’s new CD, Narrow Stairs, was just released.

Photo by Darcy Hemley