I tend to really want upbeat music when I work out, so twee pop bands like Tullycraft get played a lot. "Electric Version" by The New Pornographers goes really well with staying upbeat, along with (maybe slightly more surprising) Guided By Voices and Belle and Sebastian. Really bombastic songs bother me for some reason when I'm exercising. I keep things nice and happy.

So...I tend to be left to my own devices...the shuffle is the perfect tool for this...I don't own any techno, but I tend to fill the playlist w/ varied tempos and moods, which turns a run into a sort of circuit workout...I vary occordingly.

Nine Inch Nails works

the Arcade Fire

U2

Wilco

Kathleen Edwards

King Crimson

Genesis(w/Peter Gabriel) esp the Lamb Lies down...

Sugar...or Husker Du, or just Bob Mould

Modest Mouse

Suzanne Vega

Johnny Cash

Some songs that work very well, and tend to unleash an emotional response as well as an increase in workload and pace...etc...

'One Tree Hill' from The Joshua Tree

'JC Auto' from Beaster

'Wake Up' From Funeral

'Black Cadillacs' from Good News for People who like Bad News

99.9F by Suzanne Vega

'Idiot Wind' by Bob Dylan...blood on the tracks

I don't understand the concept of the constant 'one the one' house beat....it tends to annoy me to no end after just a minute....I tend to think that from the Gym perspective, they are simply trying to get people in and out as fast as possible....I hate treadmills, I hate gyms, I hate techno, so...for me, I equate my sunday run as my Church, and for me to go to a gym is akin to attending a Mega/non-denominational/watered down religious social gathering, rather than going to Mass.

Everyone listens to their iPods or plugs headphones into the personal TV monitors on the elipticals and treadmills.

I wouldn't go to a gym that piped in techno. UGH.

Honestly, I think I'd rather have the techno. I listen to a lot of Japanese pop music, because the tempo is 'up' and the lyrics don't distract me. I'm also fond of classic cheer songs from the 80's. "Hey Mickey!" is of course the ultimate example of this genre.

NightHawks are great also --don't know how i forgot to include them in the previous post.

When I listen to music I listen to music. When I work out I work out. I prefer to tune background noise out and concentrate on what I'm doing. In fact, if a quality song turns up in the gym's rotation I find it distracting.

Traffic

Last Great Traffic Jam

New Orleans Jazz, like:

Big Sam's Funky Nation

Birth of a Nation

Trombone Shorty

Orleans & Claiborne

James Andrews Crescent City Allstars

People Get Ready Now

Tom Scott & the L.A. Express

Tom Cat

Tim Buckley

Greetings from L.A.

Medeski, Martin & Wood

Last Chance to Dance Trance

Eddie Palmieri

Molasses

Tito Puente

Exitos Eternos (and i can really jam to Oye Como Va)

David Bowie

Fame

Pink Floyd

Money

Tim Weisberg

Undercover (selections from)

Brian Hughes

Shaken, Not Stirred

Tina Turner

Private Dancer

Joe Jackson

Everything Gives You Cancer

Is literally made for working out. It's great, too.

I totally agree with this post but at least when I'm just working out on my own I can listen to my iPod. The worst is getting trapped in a spin class with crappy music (i.e., most of them.) I once got trapped in a class that involved a 20-minute remix of "Jenny from the Block." I almost walked out.