Calling all iPeople!
Look what I got!!
And now I need to put music on it. Running music! (That is, music that I can run to.) So, what do you all recommend? Back in the day, when I last ran to music, I liked a little ABBA. Okay. Stop.
Full confession: I don't claim to have good taste in music. All of you people who listen to Cutie Monkeys or Death Cabs to the Arctic or whatever else has replaced Ben Folds Five for cool white people these days... I laugh at you and your pretentious listening habits. Like this: Ha ha.
(Speaking of white people, you simply must look at this website, if you haven't already. And, speaking of the self-conscious Five, I did pretend to like them, like 10 years ago, and I even saw them in concert! Small venue, of course. But truthfully, I think it's just a whole lot of whining and get over it already.)
A little respect? You know, by Erasure. A good one for running? I do love me some bad music from the 80s. (In seventh-grade, our class took a public vote: Culture Club or Duran Duran. I knew that DD was much more coolio, but truthfully, I did really like the former George O'Dowd. So I abstained.) Some of the 70s might do too. I want you to want me, for example. Still, I'm probably more of a Bon Jovi than BTO gal.
Oh! Oh! I Don't Want Your Freedom!
There may have been a short window in 1994 when I was a little more cutting edge. I had Meat Puppets and Poi Dog, and Lyle Lovett seemed a little more art school before he married Julia. I had lots of Lilith Fair kind of stuff, long before the teenage lesbians in white wife-beaters were screaming her name. (Oh boy, do I have a story about Lillith Fair and the women's bathroom! But that's for another day.) And I have always liked U2, from the very very start. Although I'm mostly over Larry Mullins, Jr. And they've never stopped being cool.
Don't Stop Believing!
I also like music that many of the coolest 10-year-old's like. Kanye's Gold Digger, for example. A must-have, no? And I like that paralyzed song, whoever it is. Good for running, I think! And I do like country music -- and not just Lyle and Willie and all the small-chested, sequin-free women, but the crappy cowboy hats too. I can't see running to it though. (I can almost hear Bird's sigh of relief from here.)
Radiohead! Ha. Just kidding.
Good for running, in my opinion, should be peppy (the Go-Gos, maybe?), motivating (Kanye's Stronger, perhaps?), or evocative. That last one is harder for others to recommend. Since not everybody spent every Friday night 1990-1993 at the Irish Times on Capitol Hill, not everybody is going to hear, "Come on out and dance. Come on out and make romance," and lose their spot for a few minutes.
Anyway, I need your help.
P.S. I do have good taste in books. I do believe John Banville is the greatest living writer -- and not just because he's Irish. I read the New Yorker, all of it! And I just finished Paul Theroux's latest book. (Has anybody warned the Indian tourist board about that??) What I'm saying is, while I might aspire to be Queen of the Desert, I am not a total Philistine, thankyouverymuch.
And now I need to put music on it. Running music! (That is, music that I can run to.) So, what do you all recommend? Back in the day, when I last ran to music, I liked a little ABBA. Okay. Stop.
Full confession: I don't claim to have good taste in music. All of you people who listen to Cutie Monkeys or Death Cabs to the Arctic or whatever else has replaced Ben Folds Five for cool white people these days... I laugh at you and your pretentious listening habits. Like this: Ha ha.
(Speaking of white people, you simply must look at this website, if you haven't already. And, speaking of the self-conscious Five, I did pretend to like them, like 10 years ago, and I even saw them in concert! Small venue, of course. But truthfully, I think it's just a whole lot of whining and get over it already.)
A little respect? You know, by Erasure. A good one for running? I do love me some bad music from the 80s. (In seventh-grade, our class took a public vote: Culture Club or Duran Duran. I knew that DD was much more coolio, but truthfully, I did really like the former George O'Dowd. So I abstained.) Some of the 70s might do too. I want you to want me, for example. Still, I'm probably more of a Bon Jovi than BTO gal.
Oh! Oh! I Don't Want Your Freedom!
There may have been a short window in 1994 when I was a little more cutting edge. I had Meat Puppets and Poi Dog, and Lyle Lovett seemed a little more art school before he married Julia. I had lots of Lilith Fair kind of stuff, long before the teenage lesbians in white wife-beaters were screaming her name. (Oh boy, do I have a story about Lillith Fair and the women's bathroom! But that's for another day.) And I have always liked U2, from the very very start. Although I'm mostly over Larry Mullins, Jr. And they've never stopped being cool.
Don't Stop Believing!
I also like music that many of the coolest 10-year-old's like. Kanye's Gold Digger, for example. A must-have, no? And I like that paralyzed song, whoever it is. Good for running, I think! And I do like country music -- and not just Lyle and Willie and all the small-chested, sequin-free women, but the crappy cowboy hats too. I can't see running to it though. (I can almost hear Bird's sigh of relief from here.)
Radiohead! Ha. Just kidding.
Good for running, in my opinion, should be peppy (the Go-Gos, maybe?), motivating (Kanye's Stronger, perhaps?), or evocative. That last one is harder for others to recommend. Since not everybody spent every Friday night 1990-1993 at the Irish Times on Capitol Hill, not everybody is going to hear, "Come on out and dance. Come on out and make romance," and lose their spot for a few minutes.
Anyway, I need your help.
P.S. I do have good taste in books. I do believe John Banville is the greatest living writer -- and not just because he's Irish. I read the New Yorker, all of it! And I just finished Paul Theroux's latest book. (Has anybody warned the Indian tourist board about that??) What I'm saying is, while I might aspire to be Queen of the Desert, I am not a total Philistine, thankyouverymuch.
posted by Mary Ellen at
4:03 PM
9 Comments:
-The Killers- Hot Fuss for your 80's fix and Sam's Town get's me going at the gym almost every time
-Motion City Soundtrack- Commit This to Memory
-Eisley- Room Noises, not for running, just because
A quick view of the iTunes file, which has plenty of 80s fodder thanks to Forrest, and I'd recommend a little Adam Ant, ABC, The Cure, 99 Luftballoons (Did Nena record anything else?),and oh yes, we've got ABBA on the iPod, and Fleetwood Mac. Are we hopeless?
Very cute picture, Erin!
You guys are excellent (and way more cooler than me.) Great suggestions, thank you!
Some essentials from my iPod running mix (all of which you can pilfer from me b/c it's on my computer here) which has gotten me through various 5Ks and a half-marathon:
Tombstone Blues--Richie Havens (doing uptempo Dylan)
Not Ready to Make Nice--Dixie Chicks
Heart of the City--Jay-Z
Sinner Man--Nina Simone (Yes, the full 10:22 version)
I'm Shipping Up to Boston--Dropkick Murphys (Very Irish!)
Kings of the Wild Frontier (Adam & the Ants-pre "Adam Ant", just like Shelly C!)
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree--KT Tunstall
The Girl's Attractive--Diamond Nights
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood--Santa Esmeralda
Church--Lyle Lovett (See, you can run to him! And it's about food!)
Wolf Like Me--TV on the Radio
Fergalicious--Fergie
Since You Been Gone--Kelly Clarkson
Fighter--Christina Aguillera (Hey, don't knock those last three until you've run to them.)
And close it with the greatest running song ever: Lose Yourself--Eminem
I agree on the Killers-- and Green Day!! Old school punk.
Shockingly, I'm agreeing with old school rappers that hard rock has the best beat. Bon Jovi and Aerosmith---perfection! I have to go online and get more songs, but I'm thinking the music I would have rather have died than listen to in the 80s is perfection (Twisted Sister-- would be so perfect!!)
Yippee! You guys are the best! This morning, I was carried away by Smokin in the Boys Room. (You think I'm kidding, but I'm not...)
So... I come to SnacksPlease for the witty repartee, and what do I find but my darling wife (Shelly C) airing all of my 80s-pop guilty pleasures for all the world to see.
She neglected to say that the iTunes file also has Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Cash, and a few Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. I think the neuron that is supposed to govern taste in music is seriously mis-firing - we're all over the map. (No Nine Inch Nails yet, but don't we need some of that, too?)
Anyway, Mary Ellen, you definitely need some New Wave/post-punk. I say Adam Ant (Goody Two Shoes) and The Cars (Just What I Needed & You Might Think).
But that other stuff is Michelle's, right?? (At least that's what she told me at lunch the other day...) No really, you all are very well-rounded. (Don't forget to bring them to work on Monday!)
You need some Outkast, like "Hay Ya!" That's a good running song.
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