Prog and Cars

 

agreed, and I have about a 40 minute ride to work, so that's two sides of TFTO - but it's not Bruce Springsteen, which I what I think of when I think of music and cars rather than music in cars.

 

How can you tell what they're listening to if they have earphones/earbuds?

That's cool that you're in the Netherlands, a place which was horrified by car accidents and pedestrian deaths, especially of children, fought back against cars, and built amazing bike-friendly pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.

Do people listen to rock when riding bikes? I found that when I was living in Europe and often taking trains, the music I wanted to hear was techno. So much of German techno seemed designed for listening on a train - futuristic, moving to the rhythms of travel by train...

I'll wager you are right - we'll find that mainstream, more traditional rock and roll, particularly American r&r, is more concerned with the car. I think that's why American critics tended to be wary of European rock forms such as prog. US critics had such a conservative view of what rock should be, and thought it shouldn't stray too far from its 'roots' (Elvis, Chuck Berry, etc.). That's why they loved Bob Seger and ridiculed Jethro Tull and Yes. But since rock didn't originate in Europe, Europeans felt much freer to play with it, innovate and be creative. That is both why European rock (e.g. the various British Invasions) was so exciting, but also why places like the UK were so quick to abandon rock and move on to new musical forms, or to stretch rock even further into dance and rave forms...