Bob Seger Interview: Bob Talks Woodward, His First Car, Driving Tunes and Jeremy Clarkson

Back in 2016 I sent an email to Bob Seger’s managers asking if Bob would like to come on and talk cars with me. Just cars and cruising Woodward here in Detroit. They said yes. After composing myself, I spent a half hour during this Bob Seger interview talking about everything from cruising songs to his love of cars foreign and domestic. We even talked about his days in Ann Arbor and having three jobs to make ends meet. 

Here’s some of our conversation for you - you’ll find the entire chat here

Jim: "So, what's your go-to song or songs right now that help you clear your mind when you're out driving?"

Seger: "Oh, there are so many. 'Born to Be Wild,' for sure. And for some reason, I love listening to ZZ Top when I drive. There's just a motorized thing to their music."

Jim: "Do you ever tell them that? When you talk to them?"

Seger: "Oh yeah, I met Billy."

Jim: "How do they react?"

Seger: "Probably the same way I do when someone likes my music—flattered. I met Miranda Lambert when I did The Voice, and she really liked my music, and I really liked hers. It's a wonderful feeling. It just feels comfortable."

Jim: "Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear fame, said your song 'Long Twin Silver Line' is his go-to tune when he needs to drive faster than he probably should."

Seger: "That's a good one. We played that on the last tour a couple of times. Now you've got me thinking about songs—'All Down the Line' by the Stones is another great one."

Jim: "Jeremy comes here to talk cars with you, and it's funny because he admits he wanted to talk music, but you wanted to talk cars."

Bob: "Yeah, we get that way—Detroiters."

Jim: "Absolutely."

Bob: "It's in our DNA."

Jim: "Has it always been that way for you?"

Bob: "Oh yeah, I grew up in Ann Arbor during the drive-in scene. It was like something out of American Graffiti, just watching cars come through. Everett's Drive-In was the big spot in Ann Arbor. Seeing a beautiful '61 Ford convertible with a 390 in it—just great stuff."

Jim: "When did you have time to go to a drive-in? Didn't you have, like, three jobs when you were 16?"

Bob: "Yes, I did. I was on a work co-op program because it was just my mother, my brother was in the service, and my dad was gone. I sold clothes at Wilds, which is gone now. I worked at Brown Jug, delivering pizzas on weekends, and I also played at fraternity parties."

Jim: "So you had three jobs, and your first car was a '54 Ford, right?"

Bob: "Yeah, but it only lasted about a month. I really consider my first car to be a '55 Ford, which lasted about nine months."

Jim: "What happened to these cars?"

Bob: "I wasn’t very wealthy, so I was buying $100 cars. The first was a '54 Ford flathead, the second was a '54 Chevy, which also ran for about a month. Then I got a '55 Ford, just a little sedan with posts. It wasn’t the cool one with all the windows down at once, but it was a V8 and automatic, which I wasn’t crazy about, but it was a great car."

Jim: "The Dream Cruise—my wife noticed last year that we're seeing more new cars, not just family cars, but Hellcats, new Mustangs, and Camaros. Do you like that?"

Bob: "That's the brilliant thing they finally did. For years, we wanted them to remake those cars, and they finally did. Now we have retro versions of the Mustang, Dodge, Chrysler, and Camaro. I think it's really cool."

Jim: "Bob, you've probably been up and down Woodward Avenue a few times yourself."

Bob: "Oh yeah."

Jim: "What do you want people to think about when they see these classic cars and the people who come here from all over the country?"

Bob: "I hope they see more than just great cars. It's about great music, and it's just fun. I love that families come out—three generations together."

Jim: "It's fantastic."

Bob: "Yeah, I love it too. The retro thing isn’t just with cars—now we see the Bronco and the Jeep Wagoneer coming back. It might only be a matter of time before we see all these models from the '70s and '80s back on the road."

Jim: "Very possible. They might even bring back the Gremlin."

Bob: "If I see a Gremlin with a Hellcat in it, I think I've done my job. That would be wild."

Jim: "Let's talk about your preference for the Corvette."

Bob: "I just think they're fantastic cars. I have a '67 and a '71. The '71 is a little more civilized, but they're both fantastic. I've always loved the Corvette, but I just love cars in general. I'm a Chrysler guy too, and a Ford guy. I feel like I'm the only guy who's owned a car from every major automaker. I love my imports too, but there's something about American muscle cars that just makes me giddy."

Bob Seger is a blessing. We're blessed to live in a time where we can enjoy his music and his love of Michigan. I'm proud to call Bob a friend...and fellow gearhead.

Bob Seger has a career that many artists only dream of, from selling millions of records to being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

While Seger bid touring farewell in 2019, legions of fans still adore this "Beautiful Loser" and always will. In honor of his birthday on May 6, we take a brief look at 10 interesting Bob Seger statistics that might surprise you.

In June 2021, Seger spoke with David Fricke and reflected on his life in music and the December 2020 passing of longtime Silver Bullet Band saxophonist Alto Reed.

Seger said Reed phoned him to tell him about his colon cancer diagnosis and said, "I listened really hard to him, and he said 'how grateful I am for my wonderful life.' ... I thought that was so beautiful, and I thought he was so brave. I don't think I could go out (on tour) without him."

As far as the touring part of his career goes, Seger said, "You know, I've had a great life, oh my goodness. I loved what I did. Never worked a day in my life, really. The hard parts were in sleeping in hotels, having rotten food."

However, it seems as though Seger isn't completely retired from music. He touched on his experience during the pandemic and how Bruce Springsteen offered some supportive words saying, "I was getting kind of down on myself, down on the world and down on everything. [Springsteen] said, 'Bob, go out there and start writing, start singing, start playing, start recording."

If you ever feel like getting lost in the wonder that is Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, you might want to wander over to the Seger YouTube Channel. Not only does the channel feature official music videos, but there's also various live clips of Seger over the years, which are real gems.

Much like with streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, Seger was one of the last few major artists to not have an official channel on the platform.

When the channel was first unveiled in January 2020, president and CEO of Universal Music Enterprises (parent company of Capitol Records) Bruce Resnikoff said, "What’s really important is that Bob is first and foremost a storyteller, and we now live in a world where artists are able to tell their stories and give their message to old fans and new fans in way that goes well beyond touring and live appearances. In the world of YouTube and videos, we get a chance for Bob to tell his story in way that’s very real to people, and to reach a much broader and younger audience."

Only one Seger album has topped the Billboard 200 Album Chart, and that was 1980's Against the Wind. And Seger's lone number one hit? That was 1987's "Shakedown" from the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack.

Seger's been nominated for seven Grammy Awards and has won only one, which came in 1981 when he won Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal for "Against the Wind."

Seger's catalog boasts 10 platinum studio/live albums, and they are:

Ample could be said about the amount of time it took for Seger to get inducted into the Rock Hall, but that rant could take a long time. However, we still think it's a massive oversight the Silver Bullet Band were snubbed.

Rolling Stone has an interesting piece on the history of the "Like a Rock" ad campaign for Chevy trucks, which ran from 1991 until 2004, and its impact on advertising during sporting events. He would tell Ultimate Classic Rock, "When Chevy asked for it, for a long time I turned it down, because I just didn’t want it to be in an ad. I’m really glad I did it now, because it sold a lot of trucks to save a lot of jobs, and, you know, this is my home state. So it’s a good thing. And people keep hearing it, so that’s great!"

Seger covered a diverse selection of tunes including Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," Ike & Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits" and an absolutely beautiful rendition of the Christmas classic "The Little Drummer Boy."

According to IMDb.com, "Old Time Rock & Roll" has been featured in a wide variety of films/TV shows including WKRP in Cincinnati, Scrubs, Glee and more. Often, the use of "Old Time Rock & Roll" post-Risky Business was to reference the iconic scene of a young Tom Cruise in his underwear, as evident by this scene from ALF.

Seger would appear in season 32, episode 17 of the iconic animated series. It's pretty amazing it took so long for this to happen considering Homer Simpson's love of classic rock, especially fellow Michigan natives Grand Funk Railroad.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Seger's Greatest Hits was certified Diamond (selling 10 million copies) on May 30, 2017. Sure would be interesting how many units the compilation has moved since then.

Per Pollstar, Seger's farewell tour was the 3rd highest-grossing tour in North America in 2019 bringing in $97 million. The two artists that out-grossed him that year were Elton John ($157.4 million) and The Rolling Stones ($177.8 million.)