Music to escape the zombie apocalypse

December 28, 2012 12:05 PM

Help me create a workout playlist that is themed to work especially well with the booming exercise trend: running away from zombies!

I just downloaded an app for my phone that turns walks, jogs, and runs into an interactive game where you're trying to run away from zombies. The app has audio cues, but allows you to use your own playlist to fill in the gaps.

I think I'm hoping to find heartpumping music, that includes a touch of dread.

Song suggestions?

posted by Unsomnambulist to health & fitness (34 answers total)

My "Zombies, Run!" playlist includes:

Re: Your Brains, Jonathan Coulton
Cold War, Janelle Monae
Everywhere With Helicopter, Bob Pollard
We Know All About You, Ebony Bones
Dead Souls, Joy Division
Bad Romance, Lady Gaga
Time Travel, Blouse

And a bunch of tracks off the soundtrack of the Bollywood movie Endhiran. I dunno why those work, but they totally do.
posted by like_a_friend at 12:20 PM on December 28, 2012

Jeffrey Lewis - If you shoot the head you kill the ghoul!

One of my favourite songs of all time - Homeboy by Adorable, inexplicably has the lyrics "I wanna cut you up I wanna watch you bleed ever so slowly".
posted by backwards guitar at 12:25 PM on December 28, 2012

I don't have a specific playlist, but I used the Zombies, Run app while listening to Spotify radio and M83's Reunion came on just as I got to the first settlement, which was kind of awesome.
posted by sweetkid at 12:27 PM on December 28, 2012

Is that the Zombies, Run! App? Love it and use it. I typically go for whatever I'm listening to at the mo. But depending on your tastes, I find Vitalic is both heartpumping and a bit dread inducing. The video to Poney and stamina are brilliant.

Poney
You prefer cocaine
Stamina

posted by Smegoid at 12:29 PM on December 28, 2012

Yeah, "Zombies, Run."
posted by Unsomnambulist at 12:31 PM on December 28, 2012

Infidel Zombie by the Dickies?
posted by malocchio at 12:38 PM on December 28, 2012

Author & Punisher has all the post-apocalyptic dread you can handle. It's not fast, but it's very tense.
posted by wolfnote at 12:42 PM on December 28, 2012

Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation, obviously.
posted by empath at 12:42 PM on December 28, 2012

"Back to the Grave" by Howler comes to mind. Although you might be running toward the zombies with that one.

On that theme, any of the "Back from the Grave" CDs from Crypt Records would be a great zombie escape soundtrack. Not available as MP3 downloads from Amazon, but where there's a will.
posted by Currer Belfry at 12:45 PM on December 28, 2012

Can't find a good link from here, but my favorite warmup song is "Damn These Vampires" from the most recent Mountain Goats album, All Eternals Deck. I always imagine myself patrolling a post-apocalyptic neighborhood waiting for the monsters to wake up.
posted by Etrigan at 12:49 PM on December 28, 2012

Seconding "Damn These Vampires!"
posted by like_a_friend at 12:59 PM on December 28, 2012

Brynna Campbell - "Undead" for sure!

"Damn These Vampires" is an excellent choice, as well is another Mountain Goats song: "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" (the latter is much more high-energy).
posted by rhiannonstone at 1:03 PM on December 28, 2012

Why, I know a song perfect for this purpose!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 1:12 PM on December 28, 2012

Thirding "Damn These Vampires" but with the addendum that All Eternals Deck is not the latest Mountain Goats album. Transcendental Youth is the latest Mountain Goats album and is actually rife with zombie-running-appropriate songs, particularly "Amy aka Spent Gladiator I" and "Harlem Roulette"
posted by shesdeadimalive at 1:13 PM on December 28, 2012

'Life During Wartime' by Talking Heads
posted by dumdidumdum at 1:19 PM on December 28, 2012

I listen to a lot of Trampled by Turtles on my running playlist just because I love Trampled by Turtles, but their song "It's A War" would be my choice for a Zombies, Run playlist based on its furious tempo and somewhat ominous theme.

(In case anyone didn't realize, that would be Zombies, Run! by MetaFilter's Own^TM Adrian Hon and co.)
posted by drlith at 1:34 PM on December 28, 2012 [4 favorites]

I also downloaded Zombies, Run today and am working on a playlist! The best one on my list so far is Yeasayer's Reagan's Skeleton.
posted by GastrocNemesis at 1:51 PM on December 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

I asked this question that was more "WE HAVE TO DO THIS SPY THING" than "ZOMFG ZOMBIES", but maybe it'll help?
posted by Lucinda at 2:04 PM on December 28, 2012

Metric's "Help, I'm Alive", while not strictly zombie-related, has always had a zomb-pocalypse feel to me, along with great energy.
posted by hanov3r at 2:18 PM on December 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hotline Miami soundtrack.

Soundcloud full soundtrack

Wikia listing (almost but not quite the same as Soundcloud listing? but with useful weblinks and details )

almost all the songs can be bought via bandcamp. a few by Amazon. a few are harder to come by. there is supposed to be a full official soundtrack at some point
posted by Bwithh at 2:38 PM on December 28, 2012

Ooh someone brought up Talking Heads, which reminded me that I keep meaning to add "Stay Hungry" to my zombie playlist.
posted by like_a_friend at 2:41 PM on December 28, 2012

You Can't Keep Me by Amy LaVere, though it is technically about running away from a bad relationship and not a zombie, has a pretty good tempo and includes the repeated line "I'll run like hell," which always seems particularly satisfying to me when it comes on while I'm running.
posted by jessypie at 3:43 PM on December 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

For dread+heart-pumping running-from-zombies music, you can't do better than Don Abandons Alice, from the 28 Weeks Later OST. Here's the scene it accompanies in the film (music starts at 2:15min).
posted by hot soup girl at 3:55 PM on December 28, 2012

"Remove Ya" by The Eternals. It's a little slow; maybe it'll work for your warmup.
posted by hydrophonic at 5:50 PM on December 28, 2012

Don't Stop Me Now by Queen.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:02 PM on December 28, 2012

...and The Eternals' "War's Blazing Disciples" is more urgently uptempo, if not about zombies.
posted by hydrophonic at 6:04 PM on December 28, 2012

Morning After Dark by Timbaland? A bit more vampires than zombies, perhaps, but I feel like the mood is right.
posted by sigmagalator at 7:03 PM on December 28, 2012

I think I'm hoping to find heartpumping music, that includes a touch of dread.

Obligatory, and perfect for ramping up from a slow trot to a full-on run-for-your-life sprint: John Murphy's "In the House, In a Heartbeat" (the theme from the 28 Days Later series)
posted by Rhaomi at 7:45 PM on December 28, 2012

Marian Call has a song We're out for Blood.
posted by lorimt at 8:48 PM on December 28, 2012

Damnable cell keyboard chopped off the last bit of that link; here's the right one:

"In the House, In a Heartbeat"
posted by Rhaomi at 12:09 AM on December 29, 2012

Just about every track on the remix album (TKOL RMX 1234567) for The King of Limbs, most especially this track.
posted by dubusadus at 11:27 AM on December 29, 2012

Pearl Jam's Do the Evolution

Let us know if you put an online playlist together!

Nick Cave's Murder Ballads album might have some treats for you.
posted by jander03 at 12:34 PM on December 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh man, this is great. So my ZR playlist, as shown in the Runner's Guide (warning: big PDF) which has a lot of our team's recs as well, is:

1. The Execution of All Things 
by Rilo Kiley
2. Queen Bitch by David Bowie
3. Walk On by U2
4. Immigrant Song 

by Trent Reznor & Karen O
5. Theme from the Graffiti Artist 
 by Kid Loco
6. TRON: Legacy and Reconfigured (the albums)
7. Gimme Shelter 
by The Rolling Stones
8. A New World by DeVotchKa
9. Here it Goes Again by OK Go
10. Apotheosis by Austin Wintory
11. Rebellion (Lies) 
 by The Arcade Fire
12. Moulin Rouge End Titles
13. Portions For Foxes by Rilo Kiley

Lately I've been listening to the Django Unchained soundtrack, which is awesome. Also: Mashup Manifesto and Mashup Manifesto II.
posted by adrianhon at 2:47 PM on December 29, 2012

Oops, my link upthread didn't work.

The Eternals - Remove Ya, War's Blazing Disciples
posted by hydrophonic at 2:34 PM on December 30, 2012