1. JOE SATRIANI: "Summer song" (5:01)
   162,33 SPM - 162,33 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
   
   

   For the first time in three years and only the third time in all I have a new favourite track to top this list. Making its debut last time it was the first fully instrumental piece to ever break into the list at all, one helluva good guitar heroism tune/orgy from an artist unknown to me until someone (I'm sorry I didn't take down the name/alias) on the Runners World Music forum started to plug for it and lured me into downloading it via Limewire. Now I say that without shame because initially that was the only way I was able to get my ears on any Joe Satriani stuff at all, back then I was not able to buy it here in this godforsaken part of the world, the biggest local online retailer had one album listed (which I of course ordered almost immediately) but for months they weren't able to live up to that and actually deliver it. Today his popularity is up here too, those early problems are water under the bridges (or should I say miles under the shoes) and I'm the proud owner of several Joe Satriani albums that I've bought legit. So to summon up I'd say that "Summer Song" is a track I knew first I heard it (and before I had even used it for running the very first time) that it had something extra, it has continued to grow on me since and now in the summer of 2008 it's my new number one!

   ---

2. AT VANCE: "Only human" (5:16)
   170,00 SPM - 85,00 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
   
   

   At Vance from Germany is one of all these European bands claiming they want to resurrect traditional hard rock, but in contrast to many others in that genre this group formed around guitarist and songwriter Olaf Lenk actually deliver more than hot air and their music is filled with influences from the classics in the 70s, Heavy Metal in the 80s and excellent guitar work all over as well as coming with a modern production sound. Now I find it hard to believe that pacing as perfect as their drum section can be done by a man, and zero-zero digits to the BPM count are all over the place on the rest of their songs too, so they probably use a drum machine in studio, and as we all know there are critics aplenty out there with negative opinions on those, but as a serious runner I can only approve and say thanks when the result turns out to be as brilliant as in this case, it has been my number one favorite running song for three years and it's still my second favorite.

   ---

3. U.D.O: "24/7" (3:57)
   150,05 SPM - 150,05 BPM   -   Hear a version of it on YouTube
   
   

   Back in the 80s German band Accept was one of the big pioneers of Heavy Metal, when they split up front man Udo Dirksneider formed his own band U.D.O and continued, but after their third album, one that I at the time didn't like very much, I kinda stopped following them, hence I've up until now missed the great ass kicking tracks they've supplied over the last ten years. After having heard "24/7" on mp3 the first time early in 2008 I've already punished myself and my wallet by paying up for all those missed albums, seven in total, and I've been listing songs for running from them since and will until everything essential has been tried at least three times. This track called "24/7" is so far the favourite but I'm afraid the live YouTube version doesn't do it real justice, go buy the superb album version!

   ---

4. NICKELBACK: "Animals" (3:05)
   153,99 SPM - 153,99 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
   
   

   Thanks to this hobby of mine I sometimes find myself reevaluating an artist or a band that I've previously come to dislike, like Nickelback, I found their early stuff to be too much of everything and at the same time not enough of anything; hard but not hard enough to be real metal or real rock, moody but not moody enough to be real grunge, well produced but to flirty with nu-metal and top list appeal to feel like a real band rather than a record company studio product, and furthermore it didn't help that they're from the same country where her record company labeled Avril Lavigne's music Punk Rock (all of England is still laughing). But that's water under the bridges now, the song "Animals" is as heavy as a ton of bricks and would not shame itself on a Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Motorhead or maybe even an early Metallica album, and as for running it keeps you pushing much harder than almost everything else at this SPM/BPM.

   ---

5. GOTTHARD: "All we are" (3:39)
   179,16 SPM - 89,58 BPM   -   Hear a version of it on YouTube
   
   

   As one Swiss band (Samael) and their great for running song about Valkyries left the list here in the autumn of 2008 an even better one from the same country emerged and took off right into top ten. I gotta admit though that I don't know very much about the band Gotthard and that's why I here now need to fill part of this space by ripping my own previous phrasing to the previous listing of Samael about how listing a song and a band from Switzerland on a Swedish slash Scandinavian site is a risky recipe for possible misunderstandings about origin. Well, almost a hundred ones down that still didn't take me as long in words as the song itself has taken me in meters, but the conclusion is simple and can be summoned up in one single sentence and another twelve words: This song was my favourite running find during the summer of 2008!

   ---

6. RAZED IN BLACK: "Too fast for love" (4:16)
   150,25 SPM - 150,25 BPM
   
   

   This is an amazing techno cover version of Mötley Crue's early hit and it was the biggest 2006 comet on this list. There's still a small amount of uncertainty as to the performing artist, I first got it sent to me stating it was by the 80s band Faster Pussycat, something I despite diligent googling haven't been able to verify. There is however on a tribute album not available here in Sweden a version mixed by Razed in Black where Taime Down (once upon a time the singer for Faster Pussycat) allegedly delivers the vocals. The sound is unmistakably Razed in Black's though so until I can get the full album I'll list this song as his, but with the above reservation.

   ---

7. THE POODLES: "Streets of fire" (3:23)
   170,04 SPM - 85,02 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
   
   

   If my outspoken appreciation of studio drum machines (as opposed to live drummers) hasn't already killed all of whatever cred I at best ever had with anyone at all in the hardcore heavy metal fanbase of Sweden then listing a track by this band this high up on my list surely will have the remains exterminated right on sight. Bang! Ouch! The reason for that is that The Poodles have sold out, not only once but twice, and allowed themselves to be the hard rock alibi for the organizers of the Swedish leg of the European Song Contest, where over the last years the meekest of the meek in every genre has gone up against the blandest of the bland in every other genre in a cultural middle-of-the-road snorefest resulting in some dancing deodorants being declared winners and sent off to somewhere best forgotten in the former eastern block to fight for approx twentieth place in the orgy of bad taste that is the final European final. But a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, or say, and it is this Peter's opinion that this track kicks ass and that every runner should give it a try! Please just remember that it's called "Streets of fire" and don't mix it up with "Line of fire" because that's one of those two songs that will have the band members themselves running away at record pace when sometime in the future it's Saint Peter's turn to deal with their cred.

   ---

8. AXEL RUDI PELL: "Land of the Giants" (10:29)
   179,86 SPM - 89,93 BPM
   
   

   Axel Rudi Pell is yet another of those German guitar heros that I suspect uses drum machines in studio now and then - but as a runner I don't mind that a bit! Not sure about this early song from him on that accout though, but later stuff surely is. I discovered him in 2006 and I now have more than fifteen of his songs steadily parked in my running music collection. This particular ten minutes long song was quickly added to a special track list I have for an especially hard 10K run I try to do once per month during the summer, and I hadn't done the best of those runs as fast in six years as I did that year.

   ---

9. EDGUY: "Lavatory love machine" (4:25)
   160,00 SPM - 160,00 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
   
   

   Germany seems to be the country number one for runnable heavy metal and techno. On this top list I now have songs from At Vance, Axel Rudi Pell, Scooter, Steeler, Skew Siskin, Rammstein, U.D.O and Edguy here, and I still have ever more under evaluation as I'm continously locking in the German Power Metal direction, so it's almost a safe bet that there will be even more to come. As for this particular song I claim it to be the first in the subgenre Runners Mile High Club Music (and if you from that hint can't figure out what the text is about you better avoid this song and stay with the lyricswise politically correct European Song Contest instead).

   ---

10. HEAVY METAL KIDS: "Viva New York" (3:26)
    145,07 SPM - 145,07 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    Big City Marathons' Official Soundtrack CDs. I've said those six words before and I'll keep advocating the idea until the piracy panic paralyzed music industry realises that this new jogging boom with iPod- and mp3-using runners have opened up a whole new event business opportunity for them and that what they lose on the swings they can gain back on the roundabouts. Here's how: Marathoners all over the world proudly wear official marathon t-shirts (heck, they even proudly show the scars they have from old bleeding broken blisters and they love to talk and/or write about how they overcame hitting the wall on that special day) surely en masse they would like to have the official memorabilia Xxxx City Marathon CD up front in their stereo corner book shelf as well. And just as an example the perfect song for five hour runners in the New York Marathon - and such a CD - would be this song called "Viva New York" by reformed English rock veterans Heavy Metal Kids. Big Apple bands should of course be able to do it just as well themselves, but until then this is the track to set the standard...

    ---

11. SANDALINAS: "No matter what" (3:47)
    150,00 SPM - 150,00 BPM   -   Hear it on MySpace
    
    

    "No matter what" by Spanish progressive rocker Jordi Sandalinas is a track that first time I used it prolonged my ongoing Long Slow Distance trip with half an hour because I had to hit repeat and hear it again, over and over, and it has been used over and over since, all throughout the spring and early summer. Lyrics are in English, except a short spoken part in the middle that I can only presume are in Spanish, and after the short intro it's a solid rocker for running all through. Great, great stuff!

    ---

12. FOREIGNER: "Soul Doctor" (4:52)
    151,13 SPM - 151,13 BPM   -   Hear a version of it on YouTube
    
    

    As far as I know Foreigner was a pretty big name on the American side of the pond in the 80s and possibly the 90s. That was not the case over here and I've pretty much missed/avoided them up until I somewhere on the net picked up on someone's listing of this song as a great song for running. Compared to much stuff I've listed previously it was pretty easy to get hold off so I gave it a chance and guess what, that someone was not only right, he/she was dead on! (Unfortunately I've lost track of the original source of that suggestion but if you read this and have more suggestion for Foreigner songs suitable for running please mail me).

    ---

13. BLACK SABBATH: "Time machine" (4:15)
    162,96 SPM - 162,96 BPM
    
    

    The lyrics to this song starts like this; "Oh, what are you gonna do, when there's a part of you that needs to run with the wind", how could you resist a song that starts that way and also have a great beat for running? The answer is that you can't! And the fact that the rest of the song has lines like "the pain is only there to exercise your mind" is just a bonus to top it off. Ronnie James Dio's second sojourn as a singer and songwriter for Black Sabbath went by pretty trackless (no pun intended) during the grunge era but this song from that period will exhaust not only your legs but the finger you use to press the replay button. It was the first song to ever top this list of mine and it's still today my third favorite. In a nostalgia reflection I must also add that "Time Machine" was one of the tracks on the home mixed cassette that in the 90s first made me aware of the BPM/SPM correlation, in retrospect probably the most important one of those for that, though the song by Celtic Frost further down this list was also on the same cassette during that for me memorable run.

    ---

14. DE LA SOUL: "Oooh" (3:34)
    183,96 SPM - 91,98 BPM
    
    

    I can't really pinpoint why this song is so good but I know one thing for sure, if I'm doing a hard 5K run at maximum speed and I start to struggle it has so far always lifted me back up again. I'll even use it twice during such a run if I need to, something I'm normally reluctant to do with most songs. Had it been a little bit slower I could also have used it for the hard 10K mentioned above and then it might even have topped this list. I wish this band had more running music but I haven't found any yet, as far as both quality and quantity goes they seem to be pretty unpredictable.

    ---

15. GAVIN ROSSDALE: "Adrenaline" (4:15)
    200,24 SPM - 100,12 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    This is the perfect song for warm-ups because it has sort of a double beat that lets you use it for both running at approx 150 SPM early on and for really fast rushes at the given 200 SPM towards latter stages. And using the 150 beat it's really great for long slow distance running too. It's from the soundtrack to the movie "xXx" with Vin Diesel and has a text boosting ones running and a polished yet rough sound that I really do like. Due to its triple usability it quickly became one of my favourite songs for running, though the later to follow old school grunge album as "Institute" was a disappointment in that area, running that is, as grunge it was OK.

    ---

16. SILVERCHAIR: "Anthem for the year 2000" (4:07)
    177,08 SPM - 88,54 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    Silverchair was never held to be among the creme de la creme of grunge in the 90s but it's still an unanswered question if any of the bands in the genre (Nirvana and Alice in Chains included) ever did a better song than this one. There's a short slacking section towards the middle and without that it would place even higher on this list but as a general booster for hard 5 and 10K runs it's a must and it was never any doubt in my mind that it should be among the top ten on the initial list. I'll also recommend any hit hungry rapper that happens to see this to sample the beat immediately.

    ---

17. SCOOTER: "Move your ass" (3:52)
    161,25 SPM - 161,25 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    Ever since I started to surf the Internet I've on and off gone googling for recommendations to new running music, initially without finding anything else than short lists of favourite artists rather than songs, short forum discussions with at best something like ten posts (of pretty much the same kind) and since last year also the occasional blog post. The only two factors those three things have had in common is that the two German bands Rammstein and Scooter kept being mentioned everywhere, especially Scooter's song "Move your ass". I totally dig why and I therefore declare that if one single song deserves being "knighted", given the title "a true classic" and elected as number one into a Running Music Hall of Fame it must surely be this one!

    ---

18. HALFORD: "The one you love to hate" (3:11)
    183,34 SPM - 91,67 BPM
    
    

    I did some really great runs to this song during the last part of the summer of 2006 when last I was in top form. It's a song from Rob Halford (singer in Judas Priest) who with this solo project got helped out in the studio by Bruce Dickinson (singer in Iron Maiden, and they both sing on the song). They've accidentally come close to the ideal pace for hard running, 180 SPM, and one can't do anything else than simply love "The one you love to hate". The Godfather of Heavy Metal is back to show all wannabes how it's done!

    ---

19. BLOODHOUND GANG: "I hope you die" (3:39)
    160,05 SPM - 160,05 BPM
    
    

    I have previously listed another song from this album but because I've come to take a liking to this extremely crazy band I decided to support them and buy the full CD (and as a guy how could I resist an album titled "Hooray For Boobies"). Anyway, that was well spent money because I soon found out that I liked this particular song even more, and now it's on this list. Apart from that story there's only one more thing to add here, that it needs the same reservation as the other one now pushed down a bit, that listeners should be aware that Bloodhound Gang takes pride in excelling in bad taste lyrics, if you have a problem with that this is not a song for you.

    ---

20. NIGHTWISH: "Wish I had an angel" (4:06)
    159,01 SPM - 159,01 BPM
    
    

    As a Swede I have probably been a bit prejudiced towards music from Finland. OK, I discovered Oz in the 80s and no-one on this side of the pond could have missed the great stuff from the (also) commercial geniuses Lordi last year but beyond that I've pretty much let bands from there fly peacefully under my radar, up until now and Nightwish. Some people call this Gothic Metal or Symphonic Metal but I think the term Opera Metal is also a good description, and this particular song is great, apparently so great that it has already been used in both horror movies and television series. It cannot be described, if you're not familiar with the genre already it's got to be heard.

    ---

21. BIF NAKED: "Let down" (2:43)
    160,01 SPM - 160,01 BPM
    
    

    This song has a really great beat for running but didn't make this list during it's first six months in my running music collection, I'm not sure why but maybe because the lyrics aren't the most uplifting. Anyway, this song has continued to grow on me since and because approx 160 steps per minute is also one of my favourite cadences (it's top frequency for my long slow distance runs nowadays, mid frequency for 4-5 percent uphill training on treadmills and low frequency for warm downs after hard intervals) it has gotten some additional chances to earworm it's way in. I also like it because even though it has a feel of classic punk music it doesn't overemphasize that underproduced this-stuff-we-deliberately-recorded-in-our-rehersal-garage-because-polished-sounds-suck shit cliché that has made most of the genre predictably boring, taking the real rock attitude out of it by trying to hard to show the opposite. I can live with that kind of punk too, but this is how I want it to sound like anno 2008.

    ---

22. SAM: "Spectator game" (4:03)
    180,00 SPM - 90,00 BPM
    
    

    He's not singing in Swedish but in English, he doesn't call himself a rapper and the music isn't full fledged rap but that tag comes closer than anything else I can think of, he's only been allowed to do one album despite having a local semi hit with "Mr. President" on first try and any way you look at it he must be the Swedish music scene's best kept, if not secret then at least recordingswise least used talent. (And no, I don't know him). "Spectator game" has been steadily rooted on my playlist for those especially hard 10K runs mentioned above ever since I tried running to it for the very first time.

    ---

23. SKEW SISKIN: "Shake me" (4:34)
    154,00 SPM - 154,00 BPM   -   Hear a version of it on YouTube
    
    

    There are many unwritten rules in the rock business and some of them are different for women than for men, one of those is that when a woman is the leader of a band where the rest of the musicians are men it should always be named so as to make her look like a solo artist (Lita Ford, Doro Pesch, Nina Hagen, Gwen Stefani, Joan Jet, you name'em). One of the few exceptions to the rule is Nina C Alice and her band Skew Siskin, an' effing brilliant name for a band fronted by a woman with vocal cords of rusted barbed wire fixed up just barely by gargling strong whiskey. She has been supported for like ten years now by Motörhead's front man Lemmy Kilmister, who surely has handpicked more than his share of rising stars in his days including Girlschool and Wendy O Williams, but are finally starting to come into fame in her/their own name, though of course it doesn't hurt that Lemmy also still supports them by penning the occasional lyrics and/or doing discrete background chorus growling on songs like this one. (Can you imagine Bono, Prince or Madonna doing the same thing without telling the whole world about it loudly?). That said I do have a problem with Skew Siskin's music, it makes me wanna toss away my Long Slow Distance bottle of Red Bull and replace it with a bottle of Jack Daniels - and I fear should I start to give in to that urge it might seriously hurt my running. ;-)

    ---

24. SKEW SISKIN: "Metal in your face" (4:28)
    167,38 SPM - 83,69 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    One of the two big heavy metal magazines here in Sweden reviewed this song as "the heavy metal anthem that Lemmy of Motorhead forgot to write himself". Now given what I've given away above about Lemmy's involvement with this band it could be that he's been in on it, for one the bridge at 1:35 has a big MH vibe to it, but then again he's not credited for it the way he is (for contribution to the lyrics) on some of their other tracks on at least the four last albums, so I guess not. Not that it matter, this is already one of my favourite heavy metal tracks for running of all time and because their latest albums have all been rock solid they are now on my "buy next CD without even downloading to check it out first" list for their next release, whenever that'll be, soon I hope!

    ---

25. PAIN: "I'm going in" (3:16)
    159,97 SPM - 159,97 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    Peter Tägtgren is probably the coolest dude on the Swedish music scene, who else would manage to make weapons grade plutonium rock hard industrial metal right up there with Rammstein and above Nine Inch Nails and at the same time without losing any fans claim that old fart euro techno rocker E-type is his main influence and hero? I can't think of anyone. It's an integrity thing I guess, for one when he finally was offered a wild card to household fame by Swedish state controlled television as the(ir) heavy metal alibi team captain in the prime time music contest Körslaget (Battle of the Choirs) he turned it down and suggested they should offer it to Joacim Cans of Hammerfall instead (who then against all odds went ahead for months and won the whole damn thing). The only thing I have against him is that the very best song on each album is never runnable, but then again there's always at least one (and on the new album "Cynic Paradise" it's five) so me and my legs can't really complain. "I'm going in" is my new favourite running song from him, with a bullet.

    ---

26. ANBERLIN: "Ready fuels" (3:38)
    168,64 SPM - 84,32 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    This is a great song with a much better than usual production for an indie rock band. I'll give credit fifty-fifty to two sources for introducing me to them, one is Bob Marcus over at www.jogtunes.com who was first with finding a runnable song from them, the other is Runners World's Music Debate Forum where this specific song was (to my knowledge) first mentioned. Now I don't have a name on the poster of the second, but however you where; thanks - I love this song and it was one of four that was played more than once when I used a 167-172 SPM playlist and ran a new personal best just sub two hours on the half marathon late in the summer of 2008.

    ---

27. QUEENSRYCHE: "Empire" (5:24)
    159,57 SPM - 159,57 BPM
    
    

    Queensryche could have become one of the biggest and most popular bands in the world had they not forgotten that little but very important thing called melodies and dipped down into the soundscape quagmire some bands hid in during the grunge era, though before that happened they managed to write this song that was not only a big hit on MTV at the time but also one of the best metal songs of all time, not to mention one of the best runable songs of all time. Apparently they're trying to make a comeback now and though I've not heard anything this impressive yet I still hope they'll manage to get their act back together and create another riff like this.

    ---

28. BON JOVI: "Last man standing" (4:37)
    174,96 SPM - 87,48 BPM
    
    

    Bon Jovi may be best known for his ballads and "Living on a prayer" and I'll admit I've probably always kinda underestimated him. Not so any more since I've discovered that there's a smoker hidden on basically every album, with this one from "Have a nice day" being the best of them all. It's a great song for those moments when you wanna control your speed and go fast, but no too fast, yet feeling that the music helps you get a definitive drive.

    ---

29. SUGABABES: "Stronger" (4:00)
    150,28 SPM - 150,28 BPM
    
    

    It seems that the disco gals of Sugababes and their producers manages to squeeze out at least one good running song for every record they release, maybe it's the sometimes pacingwise atypical drumbeats that separates them from the nowadays mostly boring standard disco tunes, I don't know, but I do know that this particular song has been a favourite of mine for a couple of years, that it still holds up and that even though it's basically a ballad it has an uplifting chorus for the latter parts of long slow distance runs.

    ---

30. SHAWN MULLINS: "Lullaby" (5:29)
    160,05 SPM - 160,05 BPM
    
    

    This is yet another ballad that actually works out great for running, especially since it has a very runable secondary beat to aid its primary and in itself also runable BPM. It was a big hit over here a couple of years ago when I first discovered it and though it falls somewhere in between the perfect paces for tempo runs and long slow runs (at least for me) it has remained a favourite that I keep returning to now and when. For a while I also used it during warm-ups and it's good for that too.

    ---

31. WOLFSBANE: "Kathy Wilson" (3:47)
    160,29 SPM - 160,29 BPM   -   Hear a version of it on YouTube
    
    

    This isn't really a new song on my list, I've had it on cassette for a number of years long before I bought my first mp3-player. Despite the lead singer being Blaze Bayley (he was after this recruited to Iron Maiden and replaced Bruce Dickinson on two albums) this old vinyl album has never been released on CD in Sweden and apart from a sucky live version it has been a beeatch to get hold of as an mp3-file, but it was and is worth the time one might have to put in asking around for it since apparently record companies aren't willing to offer it for sale anywhere I know off.

    ---

32. DISTURBED: "Down with the sickness (clean fix)" (3:40)
    179,92 SPM - 89,96 BPM
    
    

    If there's ever a prize instated for being the world's angriest punk band it's a safe bet that Disturbed will be among the nominees. As for this particular song the original version has a section that is basically intolerably aggressive and though punk purist may like stuff like that I prefer the "clean fix" version that to the best of my knowledge was recorded so that it at least should have a theoretical chance for airplay in the states. There's also said to be a different version of it recorded for the soundtrack to the remake of the zombie movie "Dawn of the dead" from a few years back, I can't vouch for possible runability of that version but as for selecting it for that it seems kinda fitting since if there's one thing you don't feel like when this song takes off after 30 seconds it's a staggering zombie, no matter how tired your legs were before.

    ---

33. STEELER: "Hunter or hunted" (3:40)
    146,42 SPM - 146,42 BPM
    
    

    Steeler was Axel Rudi Pell's band before he opened business under his own name and it was through this song that I discovered him and started buying those albums too. This is a great song for long slow distance and I'll probably never get tired of the way the guitar riffs move over the steady beat. Dating back to the mid 80s I guess it can be pretty hard to get hold of though, but it's worth taking the time to seek it.

    ---

34. ROSE TATTOO: "It's gonna work itself out" (3:57)
    147,90 SPM - 147,90 BPM
    
    

    Rose Tattoo was (or is) an Australian band best described as a crossover between Sweden's Kennet and the Knutters and their own countrymen in AC/DC. Among several smoking rock tunes from their repertoire I hold this one to be the very best. Simple Rock & Roll straight up. I'm holding both thumbs hoping that singer Angry Anderson is putting his acting career (that peaked with "Mad Max beyond Thunderdome" anyway) on hold to reform the band, and rumor is that he is doing just that.

    ---

35. HINDER: "Last kiss goodbye" (3:49)
    165,96 SPM - 165,96 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    American band Hinder first caught my ear with the unleapable legmover "Get Stoned" from their first album, they almost made my top fifty list here with that song already. Now they're back with a new album with even catchier choruses, this particular song got stuck in my head for more than a week after I first heard it and I've used it for running far more than three times already. Musically the new album as a whole is everything I hoped the new Nickelback album would be but wasn't, and with Mick Mars guest playing on one of the tracks I guess it's safe to say that those of you into Mötley Crue's more melodic side will probably feel pretty much the same way.

    ---

36. CELTIC FROST: "(Once) they were eagles" (3:45)
    165,28 SPM - 82,64 BPM
    
    

    This is probably the most obscure song on this list, probably much due to the original cover art being so doggone ugly that it has been voted the ugliest heavy metal album cover of all time (the picture on the side here must be from a reissue). I got my copy of that vinyl album for free at a sale when I bought two other albums for ten Swedish kronor each and from a running music point of view that's probably my best spent twenty bucks ever! It's said that the band themselves are ashamed of the album and the songs, being too commercial and not heavy enough, still I wish they'd allow such a remastering of it because there are additional songs with running potential on it.

    ---

37. STATIC X: "Push it" (2:33)
    150,00 SPM - 150,00 BPM
    
    

    I'll have to admit that I don't know very much about this band, from the songs I do know and/or have heard I'd say they're a punk band that can be compared to the more famous Disturbed, and that's not a bad starting point. Regarding the song "Push it" itself I'd say it's a failsafe tempo holder at the end of long slow distance runs when your legs want to call it quits.

    ---

38. THE GREAT LUKE SKI: "Holding out for Hiro" (3:56)
    149,80 SPM - 149,80 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    I'm guessing that some of you might have shortened the URL for this page and found my main home page, and thus that my other hobby besides running is to write parody songs for the site www.amiright.com. I'm not a recording parodist but through some of the other amiwriters that are I found www.thefump.com and this song that now makes the list despite the fact that I don't even follow the television series Heroes and the adventures of Hiro (apparently that is what the new lyrics are about). Musically it's based on Bonnie Tyler's "Holding out for a hero", a song that in itself almost made this list on the last update six months ago.

    ---

39. CRASHDIET: "Queen obscene / 69 shots" (3:45)
    152,02 SPM - 152,02 BPM
    
    

    Glam/Sleaze Rock and hair bands might be on the rise again and IMHO this is a band you oughta check out if you're among those that have missed all that since the 80s. Founded by front man Dave Lepard they set sail in the early 00s, a period of time when that sub genre was as popular as slipping in dog poo on a late evening run and not a single reviewer thought there was ever again a valid excuse to be made for its existence (and that's just what they thought about the music, don't get me started on their opinions on the genre's mandatory dress code). Then when the tides and their luck started to change in 2005/2006, making it possible for them to release a studio album, have some minor local hits and get continuously growing airtime, i.e being on the brink of a major breakthrough, Dave killed himself for unknown reasons! Normally that would have been the end for a band that already defied the odds by their sheer existence, but the remaining members was already so used to fighting such odds that they decided to find a new singer and continue. They found one in Finland and came back in 2007 with a new album, from which I've also started to list songs, but this one is from their first.

    ---

40. MARKOOLIO: "Rocka på" (3:01)
    174,04 SPM - 87,02 BPM   -   Hear a version of it on YouTube
    
    

    When it comes to sports Markoolio is best know for having written two of the best soccer championship tunes for the Swedish national team, the second as per request after the first one saleswise had kicked the shit out of the official song from whoever the artist was who had failed to come up with a singalong tune. This one is not one of those two but has the same Markoolio trademark, humor and a strong chorus.

    ---

41. WILMER X: "Blind mans bluff" (3:15)
    165,02 SPM - 82,51 BPM
    
    

    Wilmer X is the favorite band of Sweden's best known sports/music journalist Mats Olsson. Initially I must have come across the wrongs songs from this band and for a long time I thought that all these Swedish athletes that named this band as one of their favourites had just a brownnosing MO thing going on, but then I more or less accidentally happened to run to "För dum för pop" listed below and got hooked.

    ---

42. WILMER X: "För dum för pop" (3:13)
    163,11 SPM - 163,11 BPM
    
    

    Wilmer X was the first band to have two different songs listed among my top fifty favorites. I've put them after each other because I really can't judge them apart, they're equally good, maybe I've counted the lyrics against this one a little, "a life spent on the back is my melody" requires some sort of reversed psychology to kick in just right while out running.

    ---

43. MARY J BLIGE: "Family affair" (4:11)
    185,80 SPM - 92,90 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    This is a song from an artist far under my normal radar, I got it from a friend and I don't really know squat about it or the artist beyond what's on Wikipedia, so for once here on the list I'm gonna take the easy route home and just quote the highlights from that page (the upside is that'll save you from my bad puns on this particular review). It was a 2001 hit song for Mary. It was produced by Dr Dre. Mary and her Brother Bruce Miller contributed the lyrics and melody. The single topped Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks. In 2008, for Billboard magazine's 50th Anniversary, it was listed as the 79th best single of all times on the Hot 100. That's it, I'm as done as after using it for running sprint intervals.

    ---

44. SABATON: "Ghost division" (3:51)
    176,32 SPM - 88,16 BPM   -   Hear it on YouTube
    
    

    Some bands become overnight sensations for no apparent reason whilst others for years have to try to tour their way to fame and have a down to details well thought out strategy. Sweden's Sabaton is in the latter category but with their latest album "The Art of War" things have started to light up, especially down in Germany (the most important market for a European metal band). As for strategy they've made a point of writing all their lyrics about wars, with historical accuracy as far as melody and rhyme scheme etc allows it. A lot of metal bands write about war, yet this approach is new and different in a good way. You may also find some smart details hidden in their songs, just listen to the tinge/flavor of classic German opera that is an important part of the atmosphere that makes "Ghost Division" a song far above average metal.

    ---

45. GREEN DAY: "Holiday" (3:52)
    146,50 SPM - 146,50 BPM
    
    

    Green Day has been around for a while but admittedly I'm one of those persons who has discovered them kinda late. But better late than never, if they continue to make songs as good as this one they can count on me being in their fan base for a long time coming. Also I already have some of their older songs under evaluation so they also have a retroactive chance of getting more songs in on future updates to this list.

    ---

46. EMINEM: "White America" (5:24)
    149,99 SPM - 149,99 BPM
    
    

    Speaking of Eminem I don't think I'll ever use the word fairytale on a stand alone review of one of his songs and this one is a cornerstone in his quest against American music censorship, so be warned. Now the main point here is after all not that but runability and it's really good for running, I do think that the beat sways a little but the aggression of the song makes up for that at the end of long slow distance run, and keeps you running. And that is the main point.

    ---

47. RAMMSTEIN: "Asche zu asche" (3:51)
    169,99 SPM - 169,99 BPM   -   Hear a version of it on YouTube
    
    

    I'm not sure how it happened but this song has been a favorite of mine for short time upwards outdoor trail running (when the hill is not too steep) for several years. It's also quite good for 5 or 10K tempo running somewhat below max because of the driving sound. I don't understand a word of German but Rammstein are very popular among runners over here because of that special distinctive sound of theirs.

    ---

48. SHERYL CROW: "Steve McQueen" (3:25)
    170,00 SPM - 85,00 BPM
    
    

    Too many really good female rockstars are labelled with genres that more reflects the sound of the singles that their record companies have chosen rather than the big picture, after a number of country and half country ballads that destiny has befallen Sheryl Crow (at least over here). I strongly recommend all runners to ignore that, this particular song is so phat that it could make an out of shape truck driver go an extra mile or two when trying to change that.

    ---

49. TOM PETTY: "Running down a dream" (4:23)
    169,90 SPM - 84,95 BPM
    
    

    It's probably a pure coincidence that this driving song has a chorus that makes you think of running, but then again that's no minus for the bigger picture. It's one of my long time favourites from an artist that has been around since like forever. I also know straight from the source that Bob Marcus who runs the site www.jogtunes.com has this song as his absolute personal favourite.

    ---

50. SPARKS: "Progress" (4:44)
    152,92 SPM - 152,92 BPM
    
    

    Another song from another band that no longer occupies the big charts, I don't make it too easy for you, do I? Well, at least this one isn't metal but synth so there's some variation to the task of tracking them down. Sparks were pioneers of the synth genre in the 70s and did albums at least through the 80s and 90s, I'm not a big fan of the band but again I had a couple of vinyl albums that I picked up cheap on sale and that way I took a liking to especially this song, that also turned out to be runable back when I started using music for that purpose.

If you're new to running with BPM/SPM correlated music I suggest that you start with songs from my Top 50 List above. Then if you want more than that there's also my full list of running songs here below, all sorted by Steps Per Minute in ascending order, every one a solid pacekeeper, every one personally and carefully verified by foot during various training by me, myself and I - and then listed here for your convenience. How I go about this is that ever since back in the days of music cassettes when I first discovered the BPM/SPM correlation I've had this personal rule of trying out new candidate songs at least three times before I ad them to the master list (or surefire running cassettes as it was back then). I guess you could say that rule came from the sort of necessity that emerges when re-taping sixty or ninety minutes to add from a try out cassette, or change the order on a surefire one, was almost a full evening's work. That part is easier now, with mp3-files, but testing songs three times before recommending them to others here still makes sense IMHO.

Post June 2009 Running Music Blog Type Note: So far there has been almost no disco on this list except for the occasionally added eurotechno track by E-Type and some by now troglodytic goatrance, in part because disco used to gravitate towards 120 BPM (i.e too slow for running) and in part because there's simply a limit too how many genres a person can keep track off. However it seems that disco has been moving up towards the 140-150 BPM zone lately and now that I have found the site www.hofo.se that on an almost daily basis gives away legally free tracks from young semiprofessional artists I guess that will start to change, it's one of my top bookmarks at the moment and I will continue to list my favs here as they enter my keepers list. (Since it's a free site there's nothing to stop you from going there yourself and be ahead of me on that, also as I'm kinda hard to please at 140-145 BPM (maybe I'm getting picky since I turned 1000 ;-)) there are already more tracks than those I've listed now if that's a speed of your desire). On another note - my favorite track this month is the song "Z28" from the new Static X album "Cult of Static" - A top 50 candidate!