Dean Winchester is notorious for having a pretty banging playlist throughout the entirety of the Supernatural series. He is into classic hard rock and always elects to pick the music while he and Sam drive around in the impala from town to town, state to state, hunting monsters.
Dean even has the saying, “Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole” and he stays true to this idea for all fifteen seasons of the show. Some of his favorite bands consist of Metallica, AC/DC, Van Halen, Led Zepplin, and, of course, Kansas. A lot of Dean’s music has been quintessential for the show’s atmosphere and aesthetic, many songs often relate to the Winchester’s and the situations they get themselves into.
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper
“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult is a perfect example of a song relating to one of Dean’s many situations. With the number of times Dean and Sam have almost died (or have and came back), they simply cannot fear the reaper any longer.
Especially because they have fought so many of them, including Death himself even at one point. But even still, Dean continues to get into these rough situations where he comes extremely close to death, and he just never really knows when that death will actually stick.
Fortunate Son
This song by Creedence Clearwater Revival is a Dean staple. This song feels like it’s about Dean, and it’s pretty clear that he listens to it when he’s feeling a little extra rebellious and maybe a little extra tired of his life.
Dean often probably feels like he isn’t the most “fortunate son,” much like the lyrics in the song. He often gets into tough situations, and he feels it is his duty to help those in need from the monsters because no one else will.
Panama
As mentioned, Van Halen is definitely one of Dean Winchester’s favorite bands, and one of the songs that would be upon his “Top 10 Songs” would unquestionably be “Panama.” In season 4, after a time travel accident, Dean introduces himself to his father as Dean Van Halen.
Dean would totally sing along to this song alone in the impala while driving down the highway to another case, beating his hand against the steering wheel, tapping his foot while revving the gas. This song would probably be a bit of a stress reliever for Dean in between all the angels and demons, ghosts and ghouls, that he faces on the daily.
Smoke On The Water
Dean would be able to just hear this opening riff and immediately “get in the zone.” “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple is another classic and favorite of Dean’s. The chorus of this song, “smoke on the water, fire in the sky” is really reminiscent of the apocalypse as well.
Like the world is trying to give the viewer, in this case, Dean, and omen of worse to come. In the season 6 episode “Two and a Half Men,” this was also the first song that came to mind while Dean was comforting a crying baby, he hummed this song and instantly put the baby at ease.
Space Oddity
The Winchester’s are pretty big Bowie fans (in fact, almost the entire cast tweeted about Bowie after his passing in 2016). And while Bowie has an entire plethora of amazing music, none quite fit Dean Winchester as well as “Space Oddity.” This song is all about being brave enough to travel into the unknown.
Major Tom ventured into space, not knowing what to expect, and he saw the most beautiful of sights before he lost connection to ground control. Dean definitely imagines himself as Major Tom, not to mention that he totally microwaved a fairy to this song.
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Dean Winchester says “Bon Jovi rocks…sometimes” and has an entire jam sesh with Sam in the last episode of season 3, while driving to New Harmony, singing this song at the top of his lungs.
He makes Sam sing along with him, and after Sam gets really into it, Dean realizes that he relates to the song a little more than he would like. Dean is on a death walk during this season, after having made a deal with a demon to save Sam’s life the season before. He has one more day to live with the deal he made and he realizes that the hellhounds are coming for him, dead or alive.
Simple Man
Not only did Jenson Ackles make a super amazing cover of this song with just an acoustic guitar, but it also happens to be one of Dean’s favorite songs. This song seems to perfectly describe Dean’s life.
Unlike Sam, Dean got to know his mother and share a few years with her. He often misses her throughout the series, they both do, but it’s different with Dean. He has always seemed so much more about their parents than Sam had, and so this song is a beautiful homage to Dean and Mary.
Eye Of The Tiger
In the season 4 episode, “Yellow Fever,” Dean is kind of losing it due to an illness he contracts from one of the Winchester cases. In the episode, Sam walks up to the impala just as this famous Survivor song, “Eye of the Tiger,” is about to play on the radio, Dean does some air drums, but then he notices Sam and the moment ends.
However, there is a deleted scene that is sometimes added to the end of the episode depending on where it’s streamed that has that scene continues. Dean does an entire muscial number to the song, perfectly fitting for an intense car jam, the crew just let Jensen Ackles have fun with the scene. It is an absolutely hilarious scene and highly, highly recommended.
Ramble On
So apparently Eric Kripke wanted a lot more Led Zeppelin in the series, but their royalties were just too expensive, so instead the show opted to allude to some Zeppelin songs throughout the series.
It turns out Dean’s top favorite song is a tie between two Zeppelin songs, “Ramble On” and “Traveling Riverside Blue,” as he states in the season 4 episode “Monster at the End of This Book.” Both of these songs really capture Dean and his life and seem to perfectly describe his character as well, as if he were based on these songs.
Carry On My Wayward Son
It wouldn’t be a Supernatural season finale without “Carry on my Wayward Son,” the song that has become more of a theme song to the series than any other song in the show. This song not only perfectly captures the boys and their tiring travels and adventures while being monster hunters, but it has also become a staple for every fan of the series. After 15 long years of this amazing show, this song makes an even bigger impact on the fan base.
Now the fans will be the voices in the chorus, singing to the Winchesters to “Carry on, my wayward son, There’ll be peace when you are done, Lay your weary head to rest, Don’t you cry no more.” It’s been a long journey for these boys and every fan is excited to see how it will all end.
