There is almost nothing more American than a good, old-fashioned road trip. Fill up the tank, call up your friends, and take to the great highways. But if you’re anything like me, before you go, you load up your iPod with a road trip mix that is so well-crafted (and let’s face it, borderline genius) that surely your friends will oohh and aahh all the way to Albuquerque. (That never happens, by the way.)

My only problem when creating these mixes is the embarrassment of riches to choose from. Not only do Americans love riding along in their automobiles, but bands love to sing about it too, making the wealth of road trip songs nearly overwhelming.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member kwasiak.

In May, Rolling Stone magazine tried to tackle the age-old question of what is the greatest road trip song ever by polling readers. They came up with a respectable list, but I beg to differ with some of the entries. “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin beat out “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” by the Beasties?! Gasp! Sputter! That is music blasphemy if I’ve ever heard it.

USA Today tried to be a little more scientific about it and asked some of their travel and music writers to submit their greatest driving hits, but the resulting recommendations are all over the map, if you’ll pardon the pun.

So I thought we’d tackle this question here: What is the greatest road trip song ever? Here are my top five songs for you to scoff at or second.

1) “Country Roads” by John Denver--Take me home, John.
2) “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys--I dare you not to scream it.
3) “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf--Easy Rider created the whole genre.
4) “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys--Flight of the Navigator! Need I say more?
5) “California” by Phantom Planet--This is the theme song to The O.C. It’s a controversial choice, I know, but the song is irresistible.