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In case you were wondering, it’s Depeche Mode. Any of the band’s albums. They all apply.

I’m speaking of course about a question that has plagued me, and probably many others, since the creation of the car stereo. That question is “what is the best driving album?” and I recently discovered that the answer is any album by Depeche Mode.

The funny thing is, I’m not really that big a fan of Depeche Mode. Sure, they are alright and Violator was a pretty awesome album but when you are driving to Las Vegas, Los Angeles or (god forbid) Phoenix, Depeche Mode’s music just seems to fit perfectly with the whine of the engine, the thumps in the road and the rattle of the wind.

Living where I live, two hours away from the closest Metropolitan area, I spend a lot of time driving and that time in the car has afforded me the opportunity to really dig into this question. I must say that over the years I’ve completed a very thorough examination. I tried creating mixtapes, I tried popping in a couple anthology albums and I even tried a completely random selection of songs from a random selection of artists but nothing really seemed to fit perfectly. Sure the music was great but it didn’t always feel right. Some songs would be great and some wouldn’t and when you are driving a long damn way, then you really need a full album that fits. Not just a song or two.

So yeah, after 16 years of endless research, I can now say that the perfect driving music is Depeche Mode. Because, for whatever reason, all of their albums fit long, boring drives better than anything else.