Cars Driven Out of Pop Music

Songs paying homage to cars exploded onto the scene in the earliest days of rock 'n' roll, but since the the Beach Boys described the workings of their "409" and Bruce Springsteen sang about "Racing in the Street," auto-themed rock seems to have gone the way of the Delorean, the Washington Post reports.

Modern songs that mention cars tend to do so only in passing, and sometimes in frustration. But the classics tended to rhapsodize on the freedom, prestige, or girls that a hot set of wheels could attract. In post-war America, the automobile was romanticized. But today, cars feel more like uniform, gas-guzzling commuter vehicles we have to own. (More cars stories.)