The Necessity of Music In The Car

I know there was a time when cars were simple. An engine, wheels, seats and a steering wheel used to be all that was needed. Maybe if you wanted the Model T tricked out edition you'd get a couple of windows thrown in. Nowadays, you get everything from GPS and 10 cup holders to seat warmers and auto parallel parking. Cars today are nothing short of homes on wheels. But setting all that crazy new technology aside, one thing that is now an absolute necessity in cars today are car audio receivers, or in layman's terms, the brains of the car stereo.

Really, where would we be today without music in the car? Traffic would be even more agony than it already is. Long road trips would be minus a soundtrack. Behind-the-wheel singers wouldn't even exist. You know those people. Kind of like the ones that pick their nose thinking that no one can see them as they drive down the road knuckle deep in the left nostril but instead, they are belting out every word to "If You Wanna Be My Lover" by the Spice Girls as if they were Posh Spice on speed. (Guilty.)

I know people listen to radio outside of their box on wheels, but radio as we know it would go the way of the VHS or Furby if not for people listening as they drive home from work or on their way to the grocery store. No more request lines, and free prizes for being the 9th caller. No more catchy radio jingles that get stuck in your head all day and no talk radio with outrageous political rants that offend and entice. Without that car stereo, I probably wouldn't find much use for CDs anymore. I wouldn't have that pleasure of driving home from the the local music store and blasting my new purchase with the windows down and the pedal to the floor.

Even though it only takes the simplest of car audio receivers to listen to the necessity that is radio in the car, it's hard not to drool over the new technology that's out there. It is the generation of in-the-dash everything isn't it? Especially when it's getting close to the holidays I can't help but browse sites like become.com which has an endless catalog of car tricking bliss with that all that crazy technology I can't come close to understanding. I even tend to wander from car stereos to iPods and even voice recorders. (I've always wanted something like that to keep by my bed or in my car's glove box so I don't miss those moments of songwriting inspiration.) 

Overall, without music in the car, I feel like driving would be a chore. And the day driving becomes an absolute pain in the butt while stuck in silence, letting the boredom build and the road rage to boil over, is the day I cut my license in half and start taking the bus. No joke.