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My Gen X Playlist: Route 66 – Depeche Mode

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What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
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Gen X grew up during a technological explosion. We became a unique hybrid, comfortable using technology but also remembering when life was more primitive. When I was a kid, we didn’t have CDs or Spotify playlists. Our cars didn’t even have cassette decks in the early days. Like all Gen Xers, we had to make due and improvise.

My family used to go on road trips that took us out of range of our local radio stations. As a backup plan, my brothers and I tape recorded our favorite TV shows and then brought along a cassette radio to listen to them on the road. One of our favorite shows was Get Smart – a comedy of the bumbling secret agent, Maxwell Smart, code name Agent 86. He definitely was no James Bond! Smart was equipped with all the spy gadgets at his disposal to combat the evil organization, KAOS. Because we had seen all of the episodes so many times, we could visualize the action and facial expressions as we listened to each episode. I cant imagine anyone doing this now in this day and age. That’s all we had back then and we loved it.

With the advancement of virtual reality, I wonder if road trips will ever become a thing of the past. That would be a shame. Kids would no longer break out into a spontaneous round of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall or get punched in the shoulder when an out of state license plate passed by. Families would no longer become each others captive audience for miles on end, losing precious bonding hours. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for technology, but a little sad when we lose something in the process. But who knows. The old somehow always finds a way of making a come back. If lost, maybe the road trip tradition will make it out of retirement and become trendy once again. The old eventually becomes the new, right? Even Depeche Mode brought back the road trip song, Route 66, after 40 years. It was originally released by Bobby Troupe in 1946, only to climb the charts with Depeche Mode in 1987. So maybe all will not be lost and that brings me a glimmer of hope because it sure would look silly singing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall wearing VR goggles. That would be such a crime.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Well, if you ever plan to motor west
Come my way, take the highway, that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66
Well, it winds from Chicago to L.A
More than two thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it goes to St. Louis, down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh-so pretty
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino
If you get hip to this kind of trip
And go take that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it goes to St. Louis, down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh-so pretty
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino
If you get hip to this kind of trip
And go take that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

Get your kicks on Route 66
Get your kicks on Route 66
Get your kicks on Route 66
Get your kicks on Route 66
Get your kicks on Route 66

28 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: Route 66 – Depeche Mode”

  1. It is interesting that you bring this up. I was just talking to my friends about this concept and how it will negate the need for adventure. When one can just pick up a headset and travel to New Guinea, it is pretty foreboding for the travel industry. Until they begin placing VR traveling behind a paywall. Imagine though, the VR travelers of future touting their expensive vacations to Brazil or Rome – yet never having tasted the air. Are we all just virtual travelers then? Is the need for physical existence just becoming an afterthought?

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    1. I surely hope not. There is nothing quite like the experience of being up close and personal when travel touches all five senses. Can VR replicate the aches and pains felt from walking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu? Can it give the same thrill feeling when the bulls run through the streets in Pamplona? The taste and smell of French pastries on your way to the Eiffel Tower. I’m not sure if VR can replicate this exactly.

      But I do think VR is interesting, but would not want it to replace adventure entirely. Hopefully the two can coexist together. But you make a very good point and time will tell. Keep your fingers crossed.

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  2. We’re doing a modified route 66 trip and my kids have recently discovered audible books which they now listen to while we travel lol So, somethings never go out of style… they just receive an upgrade!

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      1. Naw ya did what had to do before the internet. Honestly i sometimes wish the internet wasn’t as huge. Granted i wouldn’t be having this conversation with you if so but I also made comics in the 80’s and Zines in the 90’s.

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  4. I get a little jealous when it comes to my kid and road trips. He gets to listen to music, or watch Youtube the whole trip. When I was a kid I remember either sleeping to make the trip go faster, or drawing on the fabric on the seats. It was that vevet like stuff where it would be a slightly different color if you push the fibers one way. Its hard to explain but Im pretty sure you cant do that in VR. Oh, or getting lost, that was always fun, can you get lost in VR? Heres a side note, we always, before all these coffee shops, would stop at gas stations along the way and make “gas station lattes” which consisted of mixing whatever they had, creamer, hot chocolate, and of course coffee. Man… I miss those days.

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  8. I did this too ❤️ every year

    I do this with my kids from time to time – we call them adventures

    Sometimes depending on what I plan they can sometimes call it torture lol – but that is only when I try to make them come hiking or something overly outdoorsy lol

    Dare I even suggest camping lol 😄 omg they would never 😮

    My dad would be like “ok hotel tonight or camping?” And we would always say hotel lol

    I have some hilarious camping stories lol

    Do you remember magic fingers? Lol omg I LOVED that – would drive my parents nuts cause we would beg for quarters

    One time – my grandparents gave me a phone book sized joke book ❤️ right before a cross country vacation

    My dad would have us up by 3 or 4 am and I would have my joke book and be like
    “Page 1 / Joke 1” 😄😄

    Maybe day 4 my book was missing some how lol – I never forgot that book 📕 ❤️👏

    I will say – as I grew up – remember the Walkman? 😄😄 that was always in my ears

    I was at the end of the boom box and beginning of Walkmans lol 😄✌️

    I remember my mom being all excited over everything … and as a teen I was like yeah – seen one, seen em all 😮

    But then I became my mom lol … and now I get excited about doing those things and going those places ❤️

    One day they remember and appreciate ❤️

    But it’s nothing like it once was – it’s a bygone era now 🤷‍♀️

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    1. I’m sure these adventures are fond memories for your kids and they will continue the tradition with their children!

      Magic fingers? What is that?

      That’s a pretty big joke book! I’m sure your parents thanked your grandparents for all the fun!

      And yes… the Walkman. They were the best!

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      1. Yes ❤️ they are always awesome memories…

        And sometimes when they say I’m torturing them with outdoor activities like hiking lol … they actually end up laughing, having fun and enjoying 😄😄🙄 and yes – I hope they continue with their own children someday 🙏❤️

        Magic Fingers –

        https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/oct/16/aye-theres-the-rub/

        I haven’t seen them since the early 80’s but I guess some still around?

        In case the link doesn’t work… it was a thing attached to the bed, you put a quarter in and it would shake the whole bed 😄😄 it was awesome 👏❤️ we were always begging for quarters if the hotel had this ❤️

        Do you remember them? I believe it was nationwide for moment?

        Hahaha I would constantly ask for a new book – but no one bought me new jokes… probably in fear they would be subjected to all my jokes lol 🤷‍♀️

        I could not get enough of joke books and Archie comics lol – I still have ALL my old Archie comics from the 80’s ❤️

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  10. Though I understand the lament of the long family car trip, it is not as if that experience has been an eternal experience, those trips replaced other family experiences too. Route 66 was not even built until 1926 (the year my Mom was born). The first mass-produced steel-bodied station wagon was the 1946 Willys Station Wagon, which is probably not what you are visioning either. My point is, things do change. Change is the only thing that does not change. And there were some aspects of the long cross country car trip that were not something you would want to repeat again if given the opportunity. Memory tends to filter out all the long monotonous hours until just the fond memories remain.

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    1. I think what I love about road trips is the excitement of reaching the destination on the front end and then the lingering of the experience on the back end drive home. I enjoy the drive both ways. Most of the road trips haven’t been cross country. I agree, that would be monotonous and maybe I’d have a different feel for those.

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      1. I too have fond memories of road trips. Indeed, perhaps by own blog is about road trips to some degree. And the nostalgia for road trips is quite understandable. I think my point was for us to not despair of change. Change is inevitable, and much change can be a good thing. Travel safe, have fun, enjoy life’s abundant experiences my fellow traveler!

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