On the Road

On the Road is a novel by Jack Kerouac, published by Viking Press in 1957. This largely autobiographical work, written as a stream of consciousness and based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America, is often considered the defining work of the postwar jazz-, poetry-, and drug-affected Beat Generation.

References in Popular Culture

• The book can be seen lying on the dashboard of the car at the beginning of the music video for "Youth of the Nation", by P.O.D., as well as on Lisa's bookshelf in an episode of the television program The Simpsons. (Episode 7F07 - Bart vs. Thanksgiving - see picture)
• It's the favorite book of Seth and Marissa in the television program The O.C., but they reference "the pancake tour of North America" in what may be an error by the writers of the show.
• In an episode of the television program 3rd Rock from the Sun, now that high school's over for him, Tommy wants to follow Jack Kerouac's lead and hit the road. Later, he actually decides he's ready to go to college, and Harry suggests maybe he can study Kerouac.
• On the television program Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Xander decides to leave the southern California town of Sunnydale to get out and see America as Kerouac did. He got as far as Oxnard before the engine fell out of his car.
• The Van Morrison song "Cleaning Windows" contains the lyrics, "I went home and read my Christmas Humphreys book on Zen,/ Curiosity killed the cat/ Kerouac's Dharma Bums and On the Road."
• The Weezer song "Holiday" contains the lyrics "On the road with Kerouac /Sheltered in his Bivouac / On this road we'll never die..."
• Billy Joel mentions Kerouac in his song "We Didn't Start the Fire", which lists prominent people, places, and events of the twentieth century.
• The Our Lady Peace song "All for You" contains the lyrics "Jack Kerouac, K-K-K-Kerouac / On the road and in my head."
• The Band Spitalfield has a song titled "I Loved The Way She Said L.A.", which is a direct quote from the book.
• On the television program Freaks and Geeks, Lindsay and her friends read Jack Kerouac's On The Road.
• The Scottish indie-pop band Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes, had a song in 1986 called 'The Rain Fell Down'. It contains the lines, 'On the road, me and my best friend. Though Jacky Kerouac never meant it like this.'
• Indie rapper Sage Francis recited: "I'm on the road reading Kerouac / It's poems versus better raps" in his song "Escape Artist".
• Jawbreaker lyricist Blake Schwarzenbach referenced the authour in the song Boxcar, with the lyrics "You don't what I'm all about, like killing cops and reading Kerouac"
• In an episode of the television program Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett leaps into a member of a 1950s biker gang. He meets the leader's girlfriend who wants to become a writer, and that On The Road is her inspiration for living.