{"id":564636,"date":"2026-04-04T18:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T18:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564636\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T18:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T18:54:12","slug":"3-classic-rock-songs-from-1987-that-are-perfect-for-a-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564636\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Classic Rock Songs From 1987 That Are Perfect for a Road Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are building a playlist based on rock music in 1987, it could end up going in several directions. There\u2019s the Americana of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. Or you could fill the list with hair metal bands like M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce and Def Leppard. Balance the party tunes with college radio hits by R.E.M. and The Smiths. Or the dissonant noise of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. One might foreshadow grunge with its very godfather, Neil Young, or the early funk metal of Faith No More, because we care a lot!<\/a><\/p>\n

Consider this a starter for your 1987-minded playlist. Perfect for the road while highlighting the diversity of rock music as the decade began to wind down.<\/p>\n

\u201cRocket Queen\u201d by Guns N\u2019 Roses<\/p>\n

Of course, \u201cWelcome To The Jungle\u201d, \u201cSweet Child O\u2019 Mine\u201d, and \u201cParadise City\u201d are obvious choices to propel you down the highway. But the closing track on Appetite For Destruction has a snaking groove that rivals the album\u2019s colossal hits. Also, this is the song GN\u2019R played as Axl Rose stormed a photographer in the audience, igniting the 1991 Riverport Riot in St. Louis<\/a>. I\u2019m not suggesting you become riotous in the car. But the Sunset Strip-blues in \u201cRocket Queen\u201d will give you a much-needed boost of adrenaline for the drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBullet The Blue Sky\u201d by U2<\/p>\n

U2\u2019s masterpiece, The Joshua Tree, feels like a greatest hits record. If you\u2019re in the mood for a hymn, there\u2019s \u201cRunning To Stand Still\u201d. Or one of the great romantic ballads, \u201cWith Or Without You\u201d. Or, still, arguably the greatest rock intro in history: \u201cWhere The Streets Have No Name\u201d. You may just want to add the entire album to your playlist. But if you\u2019re only choosing one, spin \u201cBullet The Blue Sky\u201d. It features U2\u2019s deepest groove, a populist sermon from Bono, and a wall of guitars from The Edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cTouch Of Grey\u201d by Grateful Dead<\/p>\n

Grateful Dead\u2019s biggest hit sounds upbeat, but lyricist Robert Hunter describes running late, the harsh morning light after a raucous evening, and illiteracy, among other things. But Jerry Garcia follows each somber verse with a sunny refrain to keep going: \u201cI will get by.\u201d It\u2019s a survival anthem, and the whole point is to keep going. \u201cTouch Of Grey\u201d zooms in and out of local and broader struggles, and the title reflects the middle-aged musicians. For The Dead, with age came wisdom and the band\u2019s only Top-10 single.<\/p>\n

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you are building a playlist based on rock music in 1987, it could end up going in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,2617,88,216,2156],"class_list":{"0":"post-564636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1980s","9":"tag-classic-rock","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-rock-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}