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What do you think about when you hear the word Cruising? Do you think about cruising along on a Sunday drive? Driving along scenic views, foliage, country roads, taking a jaunt along a highway or interstate? Or, does your mind come up with weekend nights where you cruised along the streets and blocks, jamming to your favorite tunes, shouting (pleasantly) to familiar drivers or friends along the sidewalks?
Take the cliché Sunday drive for instance; tuning your radio was something of a tangible part of the drive. As the windows were rolled down, we tuned our radio to Get Out of My Dreams by Billy Ocean which was likely a good candidate along with The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News. If pop/rock was not your genre, perhaps Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses by Kathy Mattea, Chasin' That Neon Rainbow by Alan Jackson, or If You're Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band) by Alabama were cranked and tuned into your dial as you examined the canvas of the passing landscape. Did you or your family take a casual drive somewhere? Were you tuning into the radio or did you utilize that now nostalgic cassette tape?
On the side B of this discussion, cruisin' the downtown was equally an adventure and entertained us on the weekend evenings. Whether the route was several streets or just a few blocks, such as in my hometown of Clearfield, PA, rows of vehicles creeping through the streets mystified us. One car may be rocking out to Dr. Feelgood by Mötley Crüe, The Look by Roxette, or Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi while a few vehicles down may be kicking some beats such as Walk This Way by Run DMC Featuring Aerosmith, Nightmare On My Street by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, or Push It! by Salt-N-Pepa. Another few cars down could be cranking out 9 To 5 by Dolly Parton, Fishin' In The Dark by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, or Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On by Mel McDaniel. And there still may be a few eccletic amongst the ocean of vehicles who choose a more instrumental approach like Silhouette by Kenny G, Limelight by Spyro Gyra, or Angel by Anita Baker. Perhaps you were a listener of Christian music and jammed to Secret Ambition by Michael W. Smith or Awesome God by Rich Mullins while you participated.
Cruisin' was still a thing in my hometown in the early to mid-1990s. Myself, our late friend Jason Gross, and/or our night time DJ CJ can recall numerous Friday nights taking a brief step outside of the WCPA/WQYX radio station, hidden down an arguable alley, and listening to all of the vehicles ebbing through four blocks of our small town. We'd hear such a variety of music and the occasional WQYX or the competitor stations within the region to include WOWQ (Q102 - Country) [Now known as BigFoot Country], WFGY (Froggy 98 - Country), and WOKW (OK! 102.9 - Adult Contemporary).
Attempting to decipher this mecca of harmony may be a feat in itself, yet those adventures of enjoying our vehicles whether a classic car, lifted 4x4 truck, or a simple hatchback while listening to the local radio station or our own collection of music seem to be echoes of our past. Our hometown has had a reinvigoration of cruising beginning in 2018 being sponsored by the latest owners of our former radio station and a variety of local businesses.
Do you remember cruising whether it was the casual drive or weekend night on the shorter course? Is cruising still a thing in your town or city?
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