— You would think that “London Calling” would be an awesome addition to any workout mix. I have found it to not be so. Odd.
— You would NOT think that “Cool, Cool, Considerate Men” from the Broadway musical 1776 WOULD be a good addition to the workout mix … but I can assure you. It is. When all the male voices come in singing, as one: “TO THE RIGHT … EVER TO THE RIGHT … NEVER TO THE LEFT …” Oh my God. Oh. My. God. Seriously. It has to be some of the most exciting music I have ever heard in my life. I grew up on this musical – but suddenly – racing to Nirvana on the elliptical at 8 a.m. – I cannot get enough of this one song. Yes, there is the downtime in the middle … when Dickinson berates Hancock for dancing the gavotte with Adams … come over here with us … so yes, it stops a bit … and in a workout mix this is BAD … but for some reason, because I know the exhilaration, the transcendent exhilaration of that sudden chorus of male voices: “To the RIGHT … EVER TO THE RIGHT …” I can deal with the downtime. Not only can I deal with the downtime, but I start to freak out in excitement about what is coming next, and this helps me to keep going.
— Alanis Morrissette is kinda horrible for any workout mix.
— Kelly Clarkson is the opposite of horrible. Kelly Clarkson is essential for the workout mix.
— Sadly, XTC is NOT good on the workout mix. I thought it would be – especially “Dear God” – especially that last verse when he gets pissed … but no. It just doesn’t get me off. In terms of working out. What is inspirational in normal listening sometimes doesn’t have the same effect when you’re trying to keep going, stick to it, not give up (and this goes for “London Calling” too – that’s a song which – well, I’m hard pressed to find a song that makes me feel more angry, more resolved, more … restless … than THAT one … but it doesn’t transfer to the “let’s go one more mile” vibe on the treadmill)
— Madonna’s “Impressive Instant” from her Music album is essential. I have it on the same workout mix multiple times. So so inspirational. Just the beat. It keeps you going.
— You wouldn’t think that Elvis Presley’s kind of meandering slow-build “If I can Dream” (from near the end of his career) would really work in a workout mix … but I assure you. It does. It SO does.
— I thought Lenny Kravitz’s “Fields of Joy” would be an essential addition to my workout mix. But it doesn’t really work for me. Weird. It’s great makeout music, great crush-y I like a boy music – but solitary workout music? No. However, his critically berated “American Woman” is AWESOME for the workout mix.
— Aerosmith is … God. You have to be careful with them. They’re so damn florid, and so self-regarding … and yet when they hit it, they hit it GREAT. But you have to be very careful. I have found (oddly) that their “Pink” song – a ridiculous cheesy song – REALLY works in any workout mix you might be putting together.
— Here’s a no-brainer. Rick Springfield’s “Red Hot & Blue Love” is awesome. It’s an awesome song, in general, I swear to GOD … and it’s also AWESOME when you’re sweating and feeling like giving up … He helps you to say: “No. I am going to KEEP GOING.”
— This is also a no-brainer. Any workout mix without Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” is not worthy of the name “workout mix” and that’s final.
— “White America” by Eminem doesn’t work for me on the workout mix, even though I think that’s my favorite of his. However: ‘Til I Collapse – and Sing For the Moment have become ESSENTIAL workout mix components. I would have totally thought “White America” would be the one … but no. It is not. And I have (sadly) over-listened to “Lose Yourself”. And so it has lost some of its impact. I am staying away from it for a while … because I need it to get its oomph back.
— “Sweet Child O’Mine” is a no-brainer.
— So is “The One” by Foo Fighters. Holy crap. I sprinkle that song thru the workout mix – because I find it so damn inspirational. By inspirational – I mean: it makes me pissed and determined.
— “Christmas in Sarajevo” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a surprise. But I can’t do without it. It starts slow but once it gets going? Watch me fly on the damn treadmill, watch me fly! Chorus of voices: “Sheila’s strong now …. won’t be long now … Sheila’s strong now ….”
— “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder is … also kind of a surprise. I wouldn’t have thought of that as primo workout material – but it is. I love the song, regardless … but when it comes on, I feel this BURST of adrenaline and that is the whole point of a good workout mix.
But this morning – there I was – pounding away on the treadmill, surrounded by others who were pounding away … and I seriously have tears in my eyes because I am now listening to “Cool, Cool Considerate Men” for the 2nd time … and I find it so uplifting and inspirational. I had to laugh. The odds that somebody else in the gym is listening to, oh, “Sexy Back” or “Since U Been Gone” are pretty high. But what are the odds that somebody else would be listening to “Cool, Cool Considerate Men”?
most definitely agreed on Kelly Clarkson. she is a blood-pumper. i have absolutely no comment on Elvis. i don’t want to fight with you, because i love you. :-)
hahahaha Sarahk – I actually laughed to myself as I put that one on the list, knowing that you would be rolling your eyes down in Florida.
HA!!!
Too, too funny that you commented about “Sexy Back”. I was just talking to Tom the other day about how I was so not liking Justin Timberlake for some while, but recently he has been creeping his way back into my heart. Then he does those “Barry Gibb Talk Shows” on SNL, and DAMN he is soooo funny!! Tom and I BOTH have little crushes on him!! Anyhow, during the course of this conversation, I mentioned how much I love the song “Sexy Back”. Ceileidh whips her head away from the computer (where she had been IM’ing with about 14 friends at once) and just about screamed, “WHAT?!” and hysterically starts to laugh at me.
Apparently, it is gross for me to like that song.
Just so you know.
According to Ceileidh.
I’m a lazy sack, so I don’t have workout music.
I do have writing music, and I think it’s the same basic theory: just whatever will keep me moving in the right direction.
The current mix has two versions of “London Calling”…the Clash’s version, and the version Springsteen, Costello and Grohl did at one of the awards shows, in tribute to Strummer.
But, like I said, I don’t work out. So I’ll take your word for it on the exercise mix.
you are surprised that ‘dear god’ isn’t a workout song??? an acoustic atheist dirge??? that’s like wondering if elvis costello’s burt bacharach collaboration will kill the dance vibe at a party…
I tried to have London Calling in my running mix, too. It just doesn’t work. I tried Spanish Bombs and Clampdown too. The beat is just a little too slow. Not that i’ve been running lately…
Brendan-hahahahaha
I’d recommend “Lost in the Supermarket” over “London Calling” as a Clash workout song. :D
Other exercise favorites:
“Gloria,” U2
“Treat Her Right,” The Commitments Soundtrack, Vol. 1
“She Bangs the Drums,” The Stone Roses
“That Great Love Sound,” The Raveonettes
“Song with a Mission,” The Sounds
“The Kids Are Alright,” The Who
Some Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. :D
Bren – hahahahahahaha Dirge!!!
No, but seriously – The song, when I listen to it normally, always fills me with a kind of rage – his rage is catching (“you’re always letting us humans down …” etc.) … and I thought that maybe (maybe) that would translate into good treadmill music.
I was sorely mistaken. The second I hear the little kids voice and the melancholy first notes, I’m like: SKIP!
Christmas in Sarajevo?!?! OH MY GOD. I’m giving you the finger right now.
“when Dickinson berates Hancock for dancing the gavotte with Adams”
Only you, Sheila, only you! :-)
Back when I had time to run, I used to run to Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville and Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand. Now when I hike, I often listen to cassettes of Mozart, Mahler, or this fife and drum tape I got at Fort Ticonderoga in 1995.
PS–Try “Spanish Bombs” instead of “London Calling.”
…and for XTC, try “When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty” or “Helicopter.”
Workout? What means this word? ;)
I guess everyone has their own taste.
For me, music to work out to MUST be fairly complex – lots of different things going on in the background. Swing jazz works surprisingly well for me, because the fifteenth time I hear a song, I can go, “okay, I’ll try to focus on what the trumpeter’s doing this time in relation to the rest of the band.”
Music that seems “repetitive” to me – no matter how good the beat – doesn’t work.
Music in another language, especially if it’s one I speak a little bit of, works really well because I’m foucusing so hard on trying to understand what’s being said.
I don’t know. I guess it’s kind of sad that I need something to “distract” myself that much during my workout, but if I don’t, I won’t get that hour a day in. And since even WITH that hour a day I’m closer in build to Queen Latifah than Beyonce, I really need it. (I probably really NEED 90 minutes or more but I’m unwilling to give up that much more of my life.)
Kate – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Now before you judge … please listen to it!! And tell me you don’t feel like running 5 miles when you hear it.
I dare ya!
ricki – Oh man, I don’t think the need for music during a workout is “sad” at all. Anything that helps me keep going. I don’t care what it takes. If wearing a feather headdress helped me go that extra mile, I’d wear the feather headdress.
Carrie – hahahahahahaha I know. Geek geek geek.
What about “Train in Vain”?
And for Ricki–Los Amigos Invisibles! Good beat, all en espanol. :)
I know some people who listen to books on tape when they’re working out. That would completely not work for me – but I know people who just DIG it – because they can unhinge their minds, go off whatever world is in the book – and it helps them to go on longer. They aren’t just on the treadmill watching the clock. They’re wrapped up in a story.
I guess I say it’s “sad” because every workout “guru” I ever hear seems to be all about the “you should LOVE your workout! You should look forward to it like you look forward to a meeting with a secret lover! You must LUST for the workout!”
And frankly, I don’t.
For me, I do it because I know it’s important to staying healthy. Because I know I feel better the rest of the day when I do it. And because it means I don’t have to live on rice cakes and air. But no, I don’t love working out. I love that my cholesterol is low and my blood pressure is well within the healthy range. But no, I don’t love the workout.
It’s kind of like some of the nutrition-minded people who go “Any right-thinking person prefers a big green salad to a cookie!” Um, no. I guess I’m not a right-thinking person then.
I guess – in my mind – it’s all part of the same thing. There have been days where I did NOT go to the gym when I had it planned – because I forgot my iPod at home. It’s the zoning OUT that I look forward to – the adrenaline rush – and also – I look forward to it being OVER. ha. What I am addicted to is the feeling AFTER the workout. Nothing quite like it. Clean, achey, strong, satisfied. But the music is SUCH a help for me in sticking to it … Otherwise, seriously, I’m on the treadmill and I keep checking the clock – and it feels like it goes on forever. It’s agony. Then I really DO hate my workout. But if I’ve got my zone out music – time just flies.
But mainly – the best feeling – is when I’m DONE. Ha!!
And I’m with you, ricki. i can’t imagine there will ever be a time that I will “prefer” a salad to a big slice of pizza and a beer.
I try to control myself – but … sorry. I prefer beer. And wings. And nachos.
I run 5-6 days a week, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s all about the beer and the wings. I do the former so I can enjoy the latter with a (mostly) clear conscience.
ricki – when you get a second, could you email me? gibsongirl@sheilaomalley.com … I can’t find your email for some reason – I know I have it somewhere. i have a question to ask you about a project I’m working on.
Thanks!
saltpeter … pins …
I’m thrilled – going to see this tomorrow night. One of my favorite musicals of all time … and the last time I saw it, live, was at a small barn playhouse in New Hampshire – during the bicentennial year…