🚗💿 Top 10 Real Deal ’80s Car & Road Songs

All horsepower. No speed limits. 100% Eighties. Ready To Power Your Weekend Drive.

10. “Highway to Hell” – AC/DC (1980) “Ain’t nothin’ I would rather do — goin’ down, party time!” Technically 1979 in Australia, but released worldwide in 1980. The ultimate loud-and-proud road rebellion anthem.

9. “Drive” – The Cars (1984) “Who’s gonna plug their ears… when you cry?” New wave introspection behind the wheel — lonely, longing, and unmistakably ’80s.

8. “Cruel Summer” – Bananarama (1983) “Hot summer streets and the pavements are burnin’…” The perfect slow-roll summer jam with city steam and heartbreak in the rearview.

7. “Racing in the Street” – Bruce Springsteen (think of the 1980 live version on the Live 1975-1985 triple album, so it counts) “I got a ’69 Chevy with a 396…” The boss’s elegy for car guys who swapped dreams for garages. Wrench-turning poetry.

6. “Fast Car” – Tracy Chapman (1988) “You got a fast car — is it fast enough so we can fly away?” Somber but hopeful. When the road is your only way out, and the tank’s just full enough.

5. “You Might Think” – The Cars (1984) The band’s name is The Cars so they have to be on this list twice. “You might think I’m crazy — all I want is you.” Driving synths, kinetic video, and Ric Ocasek’s detour into eccentric obsession. Quintessential ‘80s vehicle vibes.

4. “Don’t Stop Believin’” – Journey (1981) “Just a small town girl, livin’ in a lonely world — she took the midnight train…” Okay, it’s a train, not a car. But it fueled a million road trips and Jersey mall parking lot singalongs and a mysterious end to The Sopranos.

3. “Panama” – Van Halen (1984) “Jumpin’ in and out of the runnin’…” Built for convertibles, burnout competitions, and 120 mph speedometers.

2. “Born to Run” – Bruce Springsteen “Tramps like us, baby we were born to run!” We’re headquartered in NJ. We have to by law feature Bruce as much as any other artist. Jersey’s own national anthem. You’re not really driving unless this plays once per trip.

1. “I Can’t Drive 55” – Sammy Hagar (1984) “I say, ‘Go on, write me up for 125!’” The Red Rocker. Redline. Red-blooded anti-authority anthem. Forever number one in the carpool lane of your soul.