Cars and music aren’t strange bedfellows. There’s a superb probability you were listening to songs – either of your individual selecting or via the radio – in your most up-to-date journey.
While they will represent two relatively area of interest interests, there’s loads of crossover between the 2, with countless songs about driving and likewise referencing certain cars.
Though Tracy Chapman stopped wanting doing so in her hit song (you already know the one), many artists have gone one step further and put the cars they own or desire on the covers of their albums.
With considered one of the world’s biggest stars doing just that this month, we thought we’d take a take a look at among the higher – and lesser – known albums with cars prominently featured on the duvet.
Kendrick Lamar, GNX – Buick Regal GNX
When the boy from the mad city’s highly anticipated sixth album debuted earlier this month, it sparked interest within the Buick Regal GNX of the Eighties.
Essentially the most potent evolution of the Grand National from 1979 to 1987 got here within the model’s last 12 months on sale, when Buick released the limited-run Grand National Experimental (GNX), a performance coupe with input from McLaren.
Claimed to provide 206kW and 488Nm from its turbocharged V6, the GNX was faster in a 400-metre sprint than the Ferrari F40, and thus entered the realm of automotive folklore.
The instance on Lamar’s album is believed to be his own, though it’s not the identical automobile because the GNX he was driven home from hospital in by his father after the now multi-award-winning hip hop star was born.
The Cars, Heartbeat City – Plymouth Duster 340
In March 1984, The Cars released the album that contained what still stands as their most recognisable song – Drive.
And what could possibly be more fitting than a band called The Cars releasing a song called Drive on an album with a high-performance vehicle on the duvet?
The Plymouth Duster was never sold in Australia, though it was born within the US muscle and pony automobile heyday, powered by a 340 cubic-inch (5.6-litre) V8, though the version on the duvet of Heartbeat City doesn’t show its engine – fairly its olive green paint and black bonnet.
The Black Keys, El Camino – Chrysler Town & Country
Yes. An album named after a Chevrolet pickup actually contains a photo of a Chrysler people-mover on its cover.
The Black Keys’ breakthrough album – which included hits equivalent to Gold on the Ceiling and Lonely Boy – was named after the El Camino since the band reportedly saw one and thought it’d make a superb joke.
What’s lost on most audiences outside the US is that the automobile on the duvet is definitely a Chrysler Town & Country, an uninspiring people-mover which features faux wood paneling down its sides.
It’s not the one album to feature the Chrysler T&C, as Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ album cover displayed a later-generation version of the minivan.
Oasis, Be Here Now – Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
Many bands experience troubles with their third albums, but not many groups have as much hype surrounding them as 1997-spec Oasis, which had turn out to be stars with Definitely Possibly and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
For Be Here Now, the band hired photographer Michael Spencer Jones to give you a brand new cover, which involved paying tribute to The Who drummer Keith Moon’s swimming pool sinking of a Lincoln Continental.
As was the style on the time for Brits with an excessive amount of money, a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was chosen because the vehicle of selection, and it was placed into an empty swimming pool without its engine, before water was put back in to make it float.
Unfortunately, without its V8 up front, the nose of the automobile rose up, so it appears on the album cover floating on the front-end fairly than the rear.
Nickelback, All of the Right Reasons – Ford Thunderbird
Canadian rockers Nickelback were all the fad within the mid-2000s, but they went back to the Fifties when in search of a automobile to feature on the duvet of their 2005 album.
All of the Right Reasons included the large hit Photograph, but it surely also included a photograph of a 1958 Ford Thunderbird on the duvet, travelling down a road with the sun setting behind it.
Interestingly, the photo on the back of the album which incorporates the band just isn’t of the Thunderbird, fairly a 1970 Dodge Charger.
Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel – Lancia 2000
The previous frontman of Genesis took two years to launch his solo profession, and did so with the eponymous Peter Gabriel in 1977.
Despite Solsbury Hill being its standout song, the album never received one other official name, even when it’s known by fans simply as Automobile.
That’s because of the 1974 Lancia 2000 that features on the duvet, which was owned on the time by long-time Pink Floyd artist Storm Thorgerson, who sprayed the Italian coupe with water – a brave decision – to create the moody image.
Gabriel’s subsequent 4 solo albums were also self-titled, though no others included cars or the Lancia on their covers, presumably since it’d rusted away.
Frank Ocean, Nostalgia, Ultra – BMW M3
While Frank Ocean is now considered one of the most important stars of R&B, his debut mixtape previewed the style of music we could expect in the long run – and provided a take a look at what cars he wanted.
It’s hard to miss this brilliant orange E30 BMW M3, especially with its lowered stance and BBS wheels. Nevertheless it wasn’t actually owned by Ocean; it was as a substitute borrowed from the BMW fan forum, Bimmerpost.
Now a world star, Ocean did find yourself buying an E30 M3… and an E90 M3.. and an F10 M5. His current collection includes many BMWs and higher-end supercars, but it surely was the boxy 3 Series that began all of it.
ZZ Top, Eliminator – Ford Coupe
The bearded trio hit it big with 1983’s Eliminator, with singles equivalent to Gimme All Your Lovin, Sharp Dressed Man and Legs.
Nevertheless it’s band leader Billy Gibbons’ 1933 Ford Coupe that stole the highlight on the duvet, and its customisation was inspired by the identical thing because the album name – drag racing.
The Coupe itself was named Eliminator following the discharge of the album, and it once more featured on the front of a ZZ Top album in 1985’s Afterburner, albeit a cartoonised version inspired by the space shuttles of the time.
It now reportedly resides on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Smash Mouth, Fush Yu Mang – Ford Falcon Squire
Before they became all-stars, Smash Mouth released their debut album in 1997, complete with lurid colouring, confusing lettering and with a 1962 Ford Falcon Squire wagon.
The Squire isn’t the one wood-panelled vehicle to seem on this list, though it’s the only automobile pictured flying through space.
Reportedly owned by Smash Mouth guitarist Greg Camp, the ‘Woody’ is pictured loaded up with gear as if it’s happening a road trip, though the band’s upcoming stardom meant it didn’t must tour within the Falcon for long.
The Grogans, How Would You Know and Washed Out/Ride – Holden Kingswood
This may increasingly be a distinct segment and there are lots of more artists on the market with cars on their album covers, but it surely’s not only the large names who put vehicles front and centre on their handiwork.
Victorian surf rock band The Grogans used an old Holden Kingswood as their touring vehicle of their early years, and the beige/white wagon found itself on the duvet of two singles in late 2018 and early 2019.
It’s not known whether the trio’s experiences within the Kingswood influenced their 2023 song ‘Overheat’, which details the pain that everybody who drives an old automobile within the Australian summer has experienced.
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
