In general, I’m pretty much incapable of doing any activity without the proper soundtrack as an accompaniment. If ever you see me shopping in the grocery store, standing in line at the bank, or just strolling down the street, I’m knee deep in my own music video fantasy.
The success of my exercise routine is highly dependent upon the perfect music mix. I have a painfully short attention span, which makes reading books/magazines while exercising almost impossible. Sometimes, if I get stuck on a bad song while I’m exercising, I can feel a noticeable lag in my productivity. But with the perfect music, I become a MACHINE.
I rarely listen to entire albums, and some of my favorite work-out songs are not songs which I would listen to under any other circumstance (i.e. around other people). In fact, I’ve been embarrassed more than once by realizing that the song I’m jamming out to is blaring so loudly that the person on the spin bike next to me is mouthing the lyrics to a fairly embarrassing song.
Likewise, there’s a lot of music I love that drags me down when I’m working out.
Here are some of my favorite songs for working out. What Are Your Favorite Exercise Songs?
[There are a few artists (Daft Punk, Michael Jackson, Peaches, Prince, etc.) which compose a huge portion of my mixes. The list below only includes a few “essentials”.]
Amanda Blank– Big Heavy
Bel Biv Devoe– Poison
Britney Spears– Womanizer
The Contours– Do You Love Me?
The Cool Kids featuring Lil Wayne– Gettin’ It
Crystal Castles– Untrust Us
Daft Punk– Around The World
Destiny’s Child– Nasty Girl
The Donnas– Too Bad About Your Girl
Drake– Best I Ever Had
The Dresden Dolls– Mandy Goes To Med School
Feist– Gatekeeper (Do Right Remix)
The Fiery Furnaces– Single Again
Girl Talk-One of the few artists whose entire albums can be the soundtrack of my workouts; I especially love Night Ripper and Feed The Animals
Gnarls Barkley– Smiley Faces
Gogol Bordello– Mala Vida
Gossip– Where The Girls Are
Jackson Five– Dancing Machine
Jamiroquai– Canned Heat
Jump, Little Children– My Guitar
Kanye West– Stronger
Lady Gaga– Bad Romance
Lady Gaga– Paparazzi
Le Tigre– Nanny Nanny Boo Boo
M.I.A.– Teqkilla
M.I.A.– Bamboo Banga
Madonna– Deeper and Deeper
Marvin Gaye– Got To Give It Up (Part 1)
Michael Jackson– Bad
Michael Jackson– Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
Miss TK and The Revenge– No Biterz (DMNDAYS Remix)
N.E.R.D.– She Wants To Move
Outkast– Bombs Over Baghdad
Otis Redding– Love Man
Pat Benetar– Heartbreaker
Peaches– Mommy Complex
Peaches– Tombstone, Baby
Prince– Baby, I’m A Star
Prince– Computer Blue
The Prodigy– Smack My Bitch Up
Queen– Bicycle Race
The Red Hot Chili Peppers– Higher Ground
Rihanna– Rude Boy
The Roots– Web
Spank Rock– Loose
Sleater-Kinney– Dig Me Out
Sleater-Kinney– Entertain
Tobacco– Backwoods Altar
Unk– Walk it Out (Remix)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs– Date With The Night
My Name Is Jessamyn, Not Jasmine 
I can’t go anywhere without music, either. It’s particularly helpful at the gym to distract me from thinking “Is that bitch looking at me? I think that bitch is looking at me. Oh man, check out *that* guy. Please don’t look at my ass, pleasedontlookatmyass!!” It kind of keeps me focused and feeling kickass!
Warmup/warmdown music is just as essential to me as my actual workout jams. It has to have the right tempo. I like “Breathe” by Telepopmusik and “Boom” by Anjulie, among others.
Otherwise, my favorite workout songs include
Marcy Playground — Comin’ Up From Behind
Matt & Kim — Cinders
Matt & Kim — Daylight
Hot Chip — I Feel Better
Hot Chip — Ready For The Floor
Radiohead — Idioteque
MGMT — Kids
MGMT — Time to Pretend
MGMT — Electric Feel
Pretty much anything by Lady Gaga
Kid Cudi & MGMT — Pursuit of Happiness
There’s lots more, and I’m with you on the Daft Punk and Peaches! I gotta listen to some Girl Talk.
Take care!
Sam S.
This list is so perfect, and I can’t believe I didn’t list MGMT or Matt and Kim or freaking HOT CHIP at all. You are definitely right- this list seems like it could get anyone amped.
I’m so excited to add your songs to my running playlist!
Here are some of my favorites:
Black Eyed Peas – Pump it
KT Tunstall – Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
Mika – Grace Kelly
Mika – Lollipop
Mika – Love Today
OK Go – Here We Go Again (I always think of the treadmill video!)
OK Go – Don’t Ask Me
OK Go – You’re So Damn Hot
Outkast – Hey Ya
Far East Movement – Like a G6
Oh No! Oh My! – Walk in the Park
Patrick Wolfe – The Magic Position
Pink – Cuz I Can
Pink – So What
Rihanna – Pon de Replay
Scissor Sisters – Laura
Simon & Garfunkle – Cecilia
The Vines – Get Free
The White Stripes – Icky Thump
Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Y Control
I listened to these podcasts when I was doing Couch to 5k: http://www.kissmyblackass.org/podcasts/
Also, I found this article (“I’m not really running, I’m not really running”) incredibly helpful when I first started using a treadmill and didn’t own an mp3 player: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/health/nutrition/06Best.html?ref=running