Running Music.

 

Just to avoid doing actual productive writing, I’m going to babble about music. Mostly because I want to play guitar but haven’t had a chance to sit down much today, and so I have music on the brain but am not ready to actually play right now.

In some kind of descending order some of the best songs for surviving 20km in 35 degree weather (or-15 degree weather):

 

 

 

Almost any Iced Earth song can fit in here . . . Jon’s right-hand asshattery is insane and conducive to taking out any deep seated rage on your ankles and knees. I picked this one because the right-hand asshattery is especially ridiculous in this song. Unfortunately it does suffer from the dreaded sagging middle, like a lot of Iced Earth songs (and fantasy novels), but the sheer awesomeness of the main riff easily makes up for that.

 

 

This might seem corny at first, but when you’re running, it’s fucking truth. That’s all besides the fact that Rush is actually the best band in the world. The 7/8 solo section always smacks me in the face and makes me focus, which is kind of opposite of what you’d think given that it’s awkward to the human ear. Awkard = interesting to prog fans and people with any taste whatsoever. The bass riff is amazing.

 

 

Erm. It’s Slayer. Instant norepinephrine shot. That is all.

 

Again, odd time signatures and emotional depth. Having Henry Rollins yelling at you in the middle makes this long proggy piece unexpected fuel for runs or weightlifting.

 

 

More techincal awesomeness. The time signatures keep me on my toes, and this is probably the quintessential Death song. I’m biased because I’m a fellow May 13 Taurus. R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner. Anyway, one of the solos (Paul Masvidal, I think?) is both one of the best metal and jazz solos I’ve heard. By chance, this song often comes up on my sony walkman (oh yeah, I just said that: I have a walkman, not an i-pod. 2 of them actually) during the last few kms and it helps get the wuss out quite fast.

Just plain awesomeness. Not complicated but has the perfect industrial edge for running . . .

 

Again, Henry Rollins. Needs no explaination.

 

This is just a plain vitamin suck-it-up-princess. It makes me stop worrying about blowing up my heart or having a stroke and just keep fucking sprinting.

 

 

Remember like ten years ago when every commercial on Canadian TV had this in the background? Well, it’s actually a pretty cool song. OKAY it almost sounds like another Vancouver Nickelback clone, but these guys actually seem to have a bit more going on. At any rate, when you’re running, lameness takes a back seat to whatever will help you avoid curling up in the gutter and crying. This song does exactly that.

 

The most kickass song for running, however, is this.

 

 

Industrial is probably the genre most suited to running. This is the ultimate music. I mean come on. Left-2-3-4. It doesn’t get more running-y than that. You’re going to fucking keep going, or be a goddamn fascist pussy. Nobody with any trace of testosterone is going to allow themselves to drop below their target pace with this fucker playing.

 

Yeah. I mean I guess I’m dating myself with this list, but I don’t care. There’s not a lot of music these days suited to actually doing or caring about anything all that important.