Just kidding. I find Weezer or The Shins works good, or a playlist of uptempo Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Faces and the Rolling Stones..

my gym has just got a new music system. there are two big flat screens in the cardio studio which display music videos while the music plays. the whole thing is controlled by a computer at the main desk where the trainers can make playlists, change the music etc. this would be great except the music is pretty terrible- generic R&B, hip hop, techno stuff. just once i managed to convince my trainer to put on something decent- debaser, by the pixies. i was surprised they even had it in their library.

so i bring my own music- i have one of those little clip on shuffles which is less ungainly than my ipod- which usually includes:

-metric

-pixies

-dandy warhols

-nine inch nails

-BRMC

-arcade fire

-pluto

-mint chicks

-shins

i like music which starts off with a strong fast tempo so theres no lag between the songs. once i'm done with cardio i don't mind what plays just as long as it doesn't make me want to concuss myself with a free weight. i also think variety is really important because decent music makes working out more enjoyable. some of my best friends listen to techno. i just don't want to hear it at 6 am.

I like silence when I work out and when I dine.

I consider the practice of playing music in gyms and restaurants I attend to be nothing other than the rape of my ears and mind. The establishments are forcing me to listen to what I consider to be garbage.

Everyone has an mp3 player. Those who want music can listen to their players.

If I wanted to listen to music I could bring my mp3 player.

I often see people listening to their mp3 players in gyms that have ambient music. This means that the mp3 listeners must increase the volume sufficiently loud to drown out the ambient music. They are probably ruining their hearing

If they're playing unremarkable techno or electronica, I'd wager that it's precisely because it's unremarkable. I agree with the poster who said it beats than cock rock: you may not exactly like it, but (unless they're playing happy hardcore), does it really crawl in under your skin?

Then again, my gym playlists mostly consist of cheeseball industrial and synthpop club hits, which is to say, simplistic 4/4 dance beats made into English-language pop songs for a German audience. A particular favorite, and a sterling example of the absurd shit you can get away with, is Informatik's Nymphomatik..

I find tool - the pot and vicarious, plus prodigy (smack my bitch up, spitfire, breathe) to all be excellent motivational songs.

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 ...

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.

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.

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.