EYE OF THE TIGER!

July 3, 2006 9:53 AM

Give me anything, anything else during any other time of the day, but for my workouts nothing seems to get me revved like cheesy, overdramatic, high-beat 80's pop-rock. Being entirely unfamiliar with this area, I have no idea where to start. Can anyone recommend songs or bands that follow this pattern? To give you an idea of my tastes, the few tracks I have are part of the

My meager playlist is as follows (please don't laugh):
Europe - The Final Countdown
Jasper McVain - Revv Me Up (yes, Brock's workout song from the Venture Brothers)
Fire, Inc - Nowhere Fast (from Streets of Fire!)
Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out for a Hero

and of course it wouldn't be complete without:
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger

Does anyone have ideas for what to add to my playlist? Thank you!

posted by schroedinger to sports, hobbies, & recreation (47 comments total)

Blondie - Call Me
posted by Espy Gillespie at 9:58 AM on July 3, 2006

Pat Benatar all the way. Love Is a Battlefield, Shadows of the Night, Invincible.
posted by milquetoast at 10:00 AM on July 3, 2006

You need You Got The Touch by Stan Bush, from Transformers: The Movie.
posted by Danelope at 10:05 AM on July 3, 2006

Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Right Round
posted by hangashore at 10:06 AM on July 3, 2006

Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer
posted by jedrek at 10:07 AM on July 3, 2006

Revv Me U by Jasper McVain from The Venture Bros.
posted by riffola at 10:08 AM on July 3, 2006

Have you tried dropping those tracks into Pandora?
posted by empath at 10:08 AM on July 3, 2006

Up
posted by riffola at 10:08 AM on July 3, 2006

Er I am careless, yes you did mention it. I guess if others want they can get it too.
posted by riffola at 10:12 AM on July 3, 2006

Saga - "On the Loose"
Def Leppard - "Photograph"
posted by runtina at 10:16 AM on July 3, 2006

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Body Workout is just what you're looking for.
posted by horsewithnoname at 10:16 AM on July 3, 2006

Believe it or not, a similar question has been asked before.
posted by O9scar at 10:22 AM on July 3, 2006

Demolition Man by Def Leppard ('90s)
Let's Get Rocked by Def Leppard ('90s)
Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard
Make Love Like A Man by Def Leppard ('90s)
Bounce by Bon Jovi ('00s)
It's My Life by Bon Jovi ('00s)
Unbreakable by Bon Jovi ('00s)
Raise Your Hands by Bon Jovi
You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi
Highway Star by Deep Purple ('70s)
Fireball by Deep Purple ('70s)
Action by Sweet ('70s) or Def Leppard ('90s)
posted by riffola at 10:23 AM on July 3, 2006

I work out to Shadows of the Night by Pat Benetar also.

Here are some more songs I run to on my Ipod:

Big Time - Peter Gabriel
My Sharona - The Knack
Wouldn't it be Nice - Beach Boys
Catch My Disease - Ben Lee
My Maria - Brooks and Dunn
Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen
Bush - Machine Head
Bush - Come Down
I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan
Best of My Love - Emotions
Santa Monica - Everclear
I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett
Betty Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Gloria - Laura Brannigan
Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest
Holiday - Madonna
Angel - Madonna
Lucky Star - Madonna
Sugar Pie Honey Bunch - The Temptations
Shadows with the Night - Pat Benetar
What Have I Done to Deserve This - Pet Shop Boys
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Anything you want - Roy Orbison
Jump - Pointer Sisters
We'll Be Together - Sting
Hard to Beat - Hard Fi
Feed the Tree - Belly
Beverly Hills - Weezer
All These Things that I Have Done - The Killers
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
Blinded by the Light - ELO
Do You Want my Love - ELO
Send Me an Angel - Erasure

I have many, many more like this. I can post more if you are interested.
posted by LoriFLA at 10:25 AM on July 3, 2006

Tear It Down by Def Leppard ('90s)
posted by riffola at 10:27 AM on July 3, 2006

How about I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, or the very good cover by Cake. A bit early, but definately up your street.

As a side note, there's a guy who every year during the Baltimore Marathon, which runs past my house, dresses in a tiger suit and plays Eye of the Tiger for about 3 or 4 hours straight. This is right at the corner of 30th & Guilford. It moves from kitschy to annoying to surreal to sublime back to annoying during that time of endless repeat, and makes of cheering the runners on the kind of endurance event usually reserved for the participants themselves.
posted by OmieWise at 10:28 AM on July 3, 2006

Yazz - The Only Way Is Up
Baltimora - Tarzan Boy
Van Halen - Jump
Trance Dance - You're gonna get it
Kevin Paige - Don't shut me out
Bananarama - Venus
Opus - Live is Life
KISS - I was made for loving you
Irene Cara - Fame
Communards - Never Can Say Goodbye
Pet Shop Boys - It's a sin
Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
posted by martinrebas at 10:30 AM on July 3, 2006

Survivor - No Easy Way Out
Tina Turner - Simply the Best
Nas - Hate Me Now
posted by dorisfromregopark at 10:39 AM on July 3, 2006

Walk This Way
posted by matteo at 10:59 AM on July 3, 2006

The Clash-Train in Vain

(Man, I love giving that as the answer to any workout mix question. Never gets old.)
posted by sourwookie at 11:00 AM on July 3, 2006

Journey - Separate Ways
Foreigner - Juke Box Hero
Foreigner - Dirty White Boy
Surrender - Cheap Trick (get the Budokan version)
posted by pdb at 11:06 AM on July 3, 2006

Nicki French's remix of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart". (Yeah, the remix is from the 90's but the original is 80's. The remix is a lot faster and gets me moving like nothing else while working out.)
posted by rhiannon at 11:08 AM on July 3, 2006

I'm a big fan of the Top Gun soundtrack for working out. The Footloose soundtrack is kinda fun too.
posted by whatideserve at 11:23 AM on July 3, 2006

80s music I run to (with my cassette Walkman):

I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls
Identity Card by Kissing the Pink (when they were KTP)
Vienna and Sleepwalk by Ultravox
Echo Beach by Martha and the Muffins
Major Tom by Peter Schilling
Take On Me A-Ha
Atari Baby by Sigue Sigue Sputnik
Crash by the Primitives
Going Down to Liverpool by the Bangels
Vacation by the Go-Gos

Of course there's way more "overdramatic, high-beat 80's pop-rock" (like, try some Erasure) but I'm listing only those tracks from the genre I've found which match my running rhythm.
posted by Rash at 11:24 AM on July 3, 2006

Asia - Heat of the Moment (good for the warm-up)
Billy Idol - Mony Mony
Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
The Commodores - Brick House
Huey Lewis And The News - Power of Love
Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
Phil Collins - Easy Lover
Genesis - Land of Confusion
Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream
The Who - Baba O'Reilly

All great for a workout and sure to bring a smile to your face from the classic/cheesy value of all the songs!
posted by galimatias at 11:31 AM on July 3, 2006

Pat Benatar all the way.

Indeed. Don't forget Heartbreaker!
posted by ludwig_van at 11:44 AM on July 3, 2006

Joe Esposito - You're the Best Around
DVDA - Now You're a Man
Pat Benatar - Invincible
Paul Engemann - Scarface (Push It To The Limit)
Immortals - Mortal Kombat (May not fit the theme, but if you can listen to this without getting pumped then you're a better man than I)
Marvel vs Capcom - Theme of Captain America
posted by hamhed at 11:53 AM on July 3, 2006

"Gonna Fly Now" from the original Rocky. Plays unrequested in my head every time I go jogging.
posted by teleskiving at 12:05 PM on July 3, 2006

Erik Prydz - Call On Me.
posted by inigo2 at 12:08 PM on July 3, 2006

Meatloaf.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:08 PM on July 3, 2006

"We Built this City", Starship. "Don't Stop Believing", Journey. And it's not really cheesey 80's pop, but I have a soft spot for "Whoever You Are" by Geggy Tah. It's funky and it promotes defensive driving.
posted by maryh at 12:20 PM on July 3, 2006

There is an amazing version of "Rock You Like a Hurricane" which the Scorpions recorded in 2000 with the Berliner Philharmoniker. If you have iTunes, you can listen to a sample here. It absolutely rocks — it's a rock version still (not a symphonic niced-up classical version), but you've got brass and violins backing it up and it basically is this massive onslaught of '80s anthem power rock sound. Quite fun.
posted by WCityMike at 12:51 PM on July 3, 2006

Some terrible oversights, still, folks:
Sly Fox - "Let's Go All the Way"
Billy Squire - "The Stroke"
The Cars...
posted by bendybendy at 12:59 PM on July 3, 2006

Too Much Time on my Hands - Styx
Stop Dragging My Heart Around - Stevie Nicks with Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers
Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
Rock the Casbah - The Clash
White Wedding - Billy Idol
The Stroke - Billy Squier
The Reflex - Duran Duran
Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money
Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
Brass in Pocket - The Pretenders
Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townsend
Addicted to Love - Robert Palmer
She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals
Here Comes the Rain Again - Eurythmics
Simply Irresistible - Robert Palmer
Let's Dance - David Bowie
Dance the Night Away - Van Halen
Stray Cat Strut - The Stray Cats
Radar Love - Golden Earring
posted by LoriFLA at 1:00 PM on July 3, 2006

The Stroke - Billy Squier

within a minute!
posted by bendybendy at 1:02 PM on July 3, 2006

Journey!
posted by tkchrist at 1:07 PM on July 3, 2006

"Winner Takes It All," by Sammy Hagar from Over the Top.
posted by Cyrano at 1:22 PM on July 3, 2006

I love running to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." Also "Blitzkreig Bop," "Dancing with Myself," "Running Down a Dream," and "I Wanna Be Sedated."
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 1:48 PM on July 3, 2006

SECONDING Joe Esposito - You're the Best!

also the Robert Tepper track from Rocky lV
it's the Rocky montage when Adrian says "you can't win!!!!" and Rocky takes out the ferrarri for a cruise

You Tube Goodness
posted by stavx at 2:10 PM on July 3, 2006

I read 'em all, and not one mention of "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy. Shame on you people!
posted by gnomeloaf at 2:11 PM on July 3, 2006

Lunatic Fringe - Red Ryder
Send me an angel - Real Life
Hollyann - Boston
Jeanny - Falco
High Enough - Damn Yankees
Here I go again - whitesnake
owner of a lonely heart - yes
goodbye to you - scandal
hazy shade of winter - bangles

And a third for Joe Esposito's You're the Best - That Karate Kid soundtrack is just awesome!
posted by sciatica at 3:00 PM on July 3, 2006

Prince - 1999.
posted by flod logic at 4:29 PM on July 3, 2006

The soundtrack of Starlight Express.
posted by SPrintF at 5:50 PM on July 3, 2006

Hollyann is too slow! It's a ballad!

Der Kommisar
(You Can Still) Rock in America - Night Ranger
Surfing with the Alien - Joe Satriani
Crazy Train - Ozzy (or just for fun, try the Tuft's Beelzebubs a cappella cover)
Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
Legs - ZZ Top
posted by plinth at 6:30 PM on July 3, 2006

Check out what dj steveboy is doing with podrunner ^{(xml subscription link)}. He creates Also give fitpod a look.
posted by geekyguy at 6:37 PM on July 3, 2006

@plinth - I will give you Hollyann is a ballad - but it's a BOSTON POWER BALLAD(tm) with some nice cheese. I guess Cool the Engines would work in its place...and that Night Ranger is spot on. Now which Der Kommisar? ATF or Falco?
posted by sciatica at 7:03 PM on July 3, 2006

I am guilty of the same thing, and I also don't know a ton about '80s music, so I turn to soundtracks from '80s movies. Footloose, Flashdance, Top Gun -- all are definitely '80s, and fast with the exception of a couple songs per album.

("Holding Out for a Hero" is on the Footloose soundtrack, IIRC.)
posted by booksandlibretti at 10:07 AM on July 4, 2006