The key to a good spin/workout mix is having a variety of sounds and genres. I have a variety of genre of people in my class, so I try to match my music to them. I used to not have a lot of hiphop, because in Iowa my classes were 100% Caucasian, kinda earthly and hippy kids, which was cool with me. Plus, hip hop has gotten a lot better since I’ve moved from Iowa. Anyway, I had one class with a bunch of older white dudes, so I played a lot of classic rock, which they loved. And then I had another class with a lot of white college girls, so I played a lot of indie and alternative. After I moved to PA, I found that 1/4 of my class could be African-American at times. It just depended if they had to get their hair did that day or not. So I put in some hip hop and top 40. They are very appreciative of not being exposed to “White Girl Music” for an entire hour and my spin mixes are a lot better because of it. A lot of the times, half my class is men, the other half women so I try to pick pretty unisex songs or have a good balance between “girly” and “manly”. Though I try to please everyone, I always keep the integrity of putting on just good music in general, which is why I found myself in the pickle I found myself in. (See previous post.) I usually keep within the limits of alternative, classic rock, indie, top 40, electronic and hip hop. I don’t put in anything I wouldn’t normally listen or dance to, which basically rules out country, scary death metal and anything cheesy or stupid.
I also try to mix in familiar songs with the lesser known songs, just to keep people going. It’s always motivating when you can sing along with the song while you’re spinning, which people do all the time. Including me. But I always throw in some of my own stuff too, which can make some people come up to me afterwards and say “You remember that one song that went like “blahblahblah”? Who was that?” which is always nice when you can spread the love around. Also, every song must have a driving beat, whether it’s fast for a sprint or slow for a climb. A strong bass is imperative; it’s what keeps everyone going. Well, that and the fact that I'm yelling at the top of my lungs at them.
The point of this post is in response to several emails I received requesting good music to work out to. Here are a bunch that are fun that I pulled from some of my favorite spin mixes – all types of different generes.
-American Boy - Estelle with Kanye West
-Feeling Alright – Joe Cocker
-Daft Punk is Playing at My House – LCD Soundsystem
-The World Should Revolve Around Me – Little Jackie
-Great DJ – The Ting Tings
-Superstition – Stevie Wonder
-Gone Daddy Gone – Gnarls Barkely
-Pocket Full of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield
-Backfire at the Disco – The Wombats
-Renegade - Styx
-Such Great Heights – The Postal Service
-Lust for Life – Iggy Pop
-Funk Soul Brother – Fat Boy Slim
-Bom Bom Bom – Living Things
-Feedback – Janet Jackson
-Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) – MIKA
-Viva la Vida – Coldplay
-The Ballroom Blitz – Sweet
-Pressure Point – The Zutons
-Shake It - Metro
-Rockin’ In The Free World – Pearl Jam with Neil Young
-Ooh La La – Goldfrapp
-Catch My Disease – Ben Lee
-Burning – Whitest Boy Alive
-Oh What a Night – Four Seasons
-Wolf Like Me – TV on the Radio
-Stronger – Kanye West
-Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
-Its Tricky – Run DMC
-Cheap and Cheerful – The Kills
-Walk Like An Egyptian – The Puppini Sisters
-Funky Bahia – Sergio Mendes
-Sabotage – Beastie Boys
-More Than A Feeling – Boston
Ok, I leave tomorrow morning. I have a million things I don’t want to do that I need to do before I leave...like pack. That would be an important one.
7 comments:
ok you forgot my second favorite one (since BIG GIRLS is my favoritest one if you remember haha) - A little less conversation - elvis presley...
those were beautiful times. that would always come on inthe hardest sprint of your class. i miss cycling with you. i miss coming down in the summer. its so hard not to be there this summer.. but ill see you guys soon!!
When you play "Ballroom Blitz" or "Sabotage", are you thinking: 'redgreengreenredyellowredredgreenyellowgreengreenred'? Just wondering.:)
Mandy, how did you think I knew how to sing "Ballroom Blitz" so well that night? ;) And I will never, ever NOT think of you whenever I hear "Sabotage." Your song has upgraded from "On Top of Spagetti" to "Sabotage."
This is random, but I met with a new possible doula client and her family today and her husband is an Art grad student at Iowa. And I could only relate to him (he was super nice tho, and put up with my lamo art questions) and his 'thing' because I used you as an example of a friend who's also an artist. Thanks Annie!
Ha ha! But really, I'm a professional singer and my song was "On Top of Spaghetti?"....dang, I was hoping it was something by Puccini or Mozart. I'm slowly realizing that I'm definitely not as classy as I am in my mind. The Day of the Diva is definitely over. On that note, here's a big Beastie Boys "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!?". Seriously, though, I think you have me pegged. When we were first married, Dan thought it was so funny that Metallica's "I Disappear" was the song I'd put on every time I was preparing for an opera gig.
Good music list, although starting our with American Boy required the rest of the list to have to redeem itself. It does have a good beat though. I like to work out to anything Muse. That music gets my adrenaline pumping.
Since you're so hip, I'm in desperate need of a good song for my brother's wedding slideshow. I've got 3 great ones, but I need one more. It's for the part of the slideshow with pictures of his wife growing up, so something about a girl, or a beautiful girl, or something. I want to use "You're So Beautiful" by Flight of the Conchords, but I don't know if its appropriate since it refers to a high class prostitute and talks a lot about their friend Dave.
Great. Now I have American Boy stuck in my head.
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