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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
If I could hazard a guess, the reason why so much of the music played in gyms is so bad is because it is selected long beforehand in corporate boardrooms.
My guess is that your gym contracted with some kind of audio "content provider" company to pipe in a selection of music, and that company has several contracts with record companies to play certain songs.
Those songs are not likely to be the best songs available. On the contrary, it is much more likely that they are the cheapest songs that the content provider could get away with contracting for while fulfilling the terms of its contract with your gym.
You might think of it as "the best of the worst", with maybe one or two genuinely popular songs thrown in to make the rest endurable.
I gave up going to the local "Y" after finding I could not get on the walking/running machines... they were always reserved for some class or another. So, I started race walking on my own. While at the Y they had a local station on and I was always wishing they had just had silence on since it was a distraction from what I had on my mp3 player. Currently, for my 10 miles of walking I have a player loaded with a bunch of singles as well as a couple of techno mixes from Podrunner at DJsteve.com. Sometimes the pounding of techno drives me and sometimes I'm really put off by it but when I'm in the mood for it, Podrunner does the trick and it's free. (No, I don't work for the site!)
Being a moble DJ, music is important to me. So, my work out mix has a lot of variety. Some that work for me are tunes by Tina Turner (Simply the Best), Devo (Pop Music), Fergie, Hoku (Perfect Day), Hobostank (The Reason), Madonna (Vogue, Rain), Natasha Bedingfield, (unwritten is a perfect pace!), Proclaimers (500 Miles),Ram Jam (Black Betty), The New Loud (Secrets) - Milwaukee band, Vanilla Ice (Ice Ice - naturally), Gnarls Barkly, Eminem, (With out me), Evanesance (Anything!) and a bit of Aerosmith (Walk this way). Not bad for a guy in his mid 40's, hey?
I think you have to find what drives you along and sets a relatable beat or had somet meaning to it. Songs that affirm seem to be helpful. I also rotate what is on my playlist quite often so that I don't get bored. But, some are standards that are always there, including a couple to get me over the 'wall' that I think everyone hits in exercise.
Exercise and be well!
Actually, I like electronica and some techno. At the gym I used to go to, they used to play a lot of R&B and soul from teh late 70s/early 80s. The new gym I go to has TVs with cable attached to all the cardio machines and I find watching TV to be even better for my workout because if soothing interesting is on TV, it will keep me from getting bored and therefore I will work out longer.
But really, in today's world of portable music and mp3 players with 30 and even 100GB memories, just bring your iPOd if you don't like teh gym's music.
It knocks the hell out out "cock rock" at all times including working out....the odd bit of Doors, or Ozzy now and then was about all I could cope with.
My gym played 103.5 Classic Rock out of Chicago until they closed down...I wonder if there was a correlation.
I don't go to a gym, but I used to move around my own living room a lot (need to start doing that again). I particularly love Indian music; the deep, heavy rhythms are stimulating and the melodies inspiring. And as someone else said about Japanese music, if you don't understand the lyrics you can't be distracted by them.
But the techno crap probably is the cheapest to contract out.
I'm old, so I'm heavy on the oldies.
Jump Into the Fire, Harry Nilsson
All the way From Memphis, Mott the Hoople
Summertime Blues, the Who Live at Leeds
And I Would (Walk 500 Miles), The Proclaimers
'Burning Down the House' and 'Once in a Lifetime', Talking Heads
Synchronicity II, The Police
'Happy,' 'Shattered', 'Out of Time,' 'We Love You', 'Monkey Man,' 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking,' the Rolling Stones
Suffragette City, David Bowie
5 O'Clock World, The Vogues
That's enough.
You guys all have it easy. I work at 2-3 gyms, but the one closest to my home, where I work out the most, is in a city facility that also houses the old folks' day center.
Now don't get me wrong, there's one or two sixty year old guys there that go in a bench numbers that would be impressive in a fit twenty year old man. But mostly, the day center seems to me like a mausoleum. And the music played in the whole building reflects it.
The short end of it is that you've got to bring your own music, no matter where you work out.
Call me crazy, but I don't think anyone who just this week wrote a Clarence Darrow-epic defense of whiny, grating little Steve Perry and Journey should be calling the kettle black about anyone else's "crappy music." Were it up to me, I'd make you work out to a loop tape of "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" forever. And if you complained any further, I'd throw in "The One That You Love" by Air Supply for good measure.
That said, the fitness room at my office these days doesn't have a CD deck, so I time it so that I'm doing the treadmill and elliptical when "Jeopardy" is on. But here's a very quick short list (25) that will light a fire under you if you're alive:
"Jump Into the Fire" -- Harry Nilsson (Anonymous was dead-on about that one)
"She Sells Sanctuary" -- The Cult
"I Fought the Law" -- The Bobby Fuller Four (or The Clash, take your pick)
"Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy" -- The Monks
"Kick Out the Jams" -- MC5
"Baby What's Wrong" -- The Cynics
"Til the End of the Day" -- The Kinks
"I'm Tellin' You Girl" -- The Lyres
"Bama Lama Bama Loo" -- The Swingin' Neckbreakers
"10-5-60" -- The Long Ryders
"Theme From 'The Vindicators'" -- The Fleshtones
"Age of Consent" -- New Order
"Tour de France" -- Kraftwerk
"Hong Kong Gardens" -- Siouxsie & the Banshees
"Shoot You Down" -- APB
"Sock It to Me, Baby" -- Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels
"Lip Service" -- Elvis Costello
"Baby Hit and Run" -- The Contours
"Heat Wave" -- Martha & the Vandellas
"Can I Get a Witness" -- Marvin Gaye
"Gettin' Ready for Love" -- Martha & the Vandellas
"Town Called Malice" -- The Jam
"In the City" -- The Jam
"Police on My Back" -- The Clash
"Let's Go" -- The Reducers (Connecticut's best band since 1978, not to be confused with the Reducers SF)
If that baby workout doesn't turn you into a limp dishrag, check for a pulse ...
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