Music for the gym

I usually do a playlist with a mix of speed metal, upbeat electronic/lounge music, and a touch of cheesy eighties pop music/70's disco.

...for heavy squats, bench and military presses, and barbell presses.. nothing beats..IMHO.. Metallica.

Metallica's entire "Justice For All" or "Garage Days RE-revisited EP" albums....songs: Blitzkrieg, Whiplash, Dyer's Eve, Master of Puppets, Damage Inc, Die Die My Darling.. etc.

System of a Down's "Chop Suey", "Shame on a Nigga", and Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" are pretty good songs too... have you heard Eminem's "Without Me"?...and Slayer's "Reign in Blood" album.. is for acquired tastes.

As for cheesy eighties/disco... lately:

A-ha "Take on Me"
Human League "Don't You Want Me"
New Order "Blue Monday"
Depeche Mode "Strange Love"
Prince "Kiss"
U2 "Two Hearts Beat as One", "New Year's Day"
Eddie Grant "Electric Avenue"
Anita Ward "Ring My Bell"

Not that familiar with electronic, but what I like so far is:

Koop "Waltz for Koop"
Thunderball "Scorpio Rising"

The electronic stuff and a "new school" blues outfit called the Black Keys "Magic Potion" and "Chulahome: Songs of Junior Kimbrough".. are excellent for cardio.. kind of hypnotic... also excellent for playing Texas Hold'em.. when you gotta sit tight for the good hands.

..... and by the way.. I pay my taxes, am gainfully employed and no I am not 17....

...that sounds like a wicked mix turner.. I forgot about all the industrial stuff..

.. you should look into some Ministry and Nine Inch Nails like Turner suggested as well... I find that the heavy droning, punctuated by metal ripping guitar riffs and double bass drums help with the pain..lol.

I know what you mean about "guilty" pleasures... whatever gets you going. The only thing I find with pop music is that it gets a bit too refined (over produced) and thus tedious to listen to for good workouts..

Don't know how you get your "software", and of course one should always support artists by buying their stuff... eventually.., but I go to Mininova to search for stuff to try out and use Azureus to acquire it because you can select specific songs...then I look for it on Vinyl if I really like it...

I'll look into Dvork.. sounds interesting. Is that like the heavy metal equivalent of classical...lol.

You've probably heard of them... but in case you haven't, you might like Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures". Probably sound awesome on your system...(New Order after the lead singer's suicide)... kind of a haunting, bass/snare drum heavy, dripping with emotion sound.

There's a movie that just came out about the lead singer called "Control"..probably be a really good movie to watch on your HT setup.. everyone from U2 to Nirvana to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Killers cites them as a major influence.

.. speaking of which.. I've been really digging the new Red Hot Chili Peppers stuff... "Californication" and "Stadium Arcadium"...kind of like a road trip in California, driving down Route 66, around dusk in a convertible mid August kind of vibe..

For new music, especially cool electronic stuff, you might want to (if you haven't already) check out Tone Audio. The Club Mix section... I know nothing of this genre without this column.. it's a free online audio mag.. but it's real value is in their music section. The second in command at Rolling Stone is their music editor.. and it's Free.

http://www.tonepublications.com/

..sorry for the novel...