I am not a happy camper.  I planned on taking most of Thanksgiving week off and then getting back to it this week.  We went to New York for Thanksgiving and I never quite adjusted to the time change when we there and when we first returned.  Between that and a bunch of late night activities, I came back tired.

This week was just lousy.  I worked out some but missed a few days and I am pissed at myself.  Maybe my crappy mood made me notice the crappy music in the gym.  I swear there is some unspoken assumption that gym music just has to be the worst.

I don’t even recognize most of what gets played.  Thanks to my daughters I did recognize a Jonas Brothers song and something by Billie Eilish.  JFC.  I’m supposed to workout to that?  I don’t know if I heard the song but a voiceover in the gym told me they played something by Shawn Mendes.  Also thanks to my daughters, I know his music is terrible.

The last time I regularly heard good music in the gym was when I was an undergraduate.  The late, lamented WBCN was what that gym played.  Their motto was something like “three hundred sixty degrees of rock n roll.”  That sure as hell worked for me.

​​When I’m working out, particularly when I’m lifting, I want music that makes me feel like I can ram my head through concrete.  If it can’t do that then at least make me feel like I want to involuntarily bang my head.

It’s pretty common.  Some of it was commercially popular. You can find more great put-your-head-through-the-wall-music on the same album.  The last one takes a moment to warm up but then it kicks ass.  Sometimes you want something that just moves you from moment one.  Something that starts fast and keeps on going. Maybe you want something from Texas.

When I lose myself in a workout, I can get contemplative.  There’s great music about the afterlife, politics, the drug war, or more on the drug war.  Sure, the last one has a weird interlude but that’s the time to rest between sets.  

If I need some inspiration to workout there’s music that reminds me of my mortality or why I started in the first place.  Remembering the video doesn’t hurt either.

When I’m done working out, I’m typically famished.  I’ve got to eat. There’s music for that too.

I’m just unconvinced gyms have to play crappy music that’s as likely to put you to sleep as it is to make you wretch.  Maybe you IP lawyer Glibs know something about the licensing aspect of this that will clear up my confusion.  Let me know in the comments.

In short, fuck shitty gym music.  Play something hard and fast

I’ll be up before 5 AM today driving to daughter 2’s volleyball tournament so I’m not sure how available I’ll be to comment. Since I may not be around, I’ve got three things to say here. Mojeaux can thank me later, that loud sploosh you heard came from MikeS, and yes I made a Texas music reference without it being a Digby-roll.