An Hour Of International Superhits

Equipment: Elliptical
Time: 40 minutes (plus 10 on the walk-in-place thing)
Calories: 800-plus
Special Notes: A far wider selection is now provided via a 16 gb iPod nano. Now, I'm strapping on something like 1,800 songs on a gym visit versus my previous nano's 800-song capacity.
Mode: Shuffle. Of course.

Bruce Springsteen “From Small Things, Big Things One Day Come”
Marketing works! All the Super Bowl hype inspired me to dust off a CD of b-sides and rarities. Incidentally, I thought the E Streeters played great in the half-time thing.

Kid Rock “Half Your Age”
The title could continue to include “and twice as hot.” It’s a gleeful slap at Pam Anderson, Kid’s wife of five minutes or so. Not sure if it played on country radio, but it sure could have. Just enough bass drum to be helpful on the elliptical.

The Stooges “Gimme Danger”
A lot of times bands suffer when the drugs they’re taking are out of synch with the drugs the audience is taking. Even without the drugs, The Stooges are spooky, frantic, nervous and angry—making them more relevant to my ears today than they probably sounded to anyone in the early 70s. They're like a pre-punk Gaugin. By that, I don't mean to imply in any way that they suffered from venereal disease. I'm trying to put them in the category of a great artist who was appreciated by almost no one during his life time. Most of the Stooges remain alive, of course, but will be revered even when they're not.
P.S.: R.I.P. Ron Asheton.

Motorhead “No Class”
What better music to listen to while exercising than Lemmy Kilmister’s hammering bass and post-binge vocals. He’s like the anti-Jack LaLane (and pretty much the same age) and continues to serve as an inspiration to so many.

Jethro Tull “Cross-Eyed Mary”
Still not sure if it was a mistake to load a two-CD best-of set onto the iPod. I really enjoyed this, though. There’s a reason they won the first Heavy Metal Grammy award, isn’t there?

Green Day “Minority”
If you’re participating in any form of iPod-aided exercise and don’t yet have a copy of “International Superhits,” you’re operating at a severe disadvantage. Do yourself a favor, spend the $7.99 already (or borrow my copy).

Bad Co. “Silver, Blue & Gold”

Thin Lizzy “Roisin Dubh; The Black Rose”
So you like “Jailbreak,” do you? Well, the Lizzies made at least a dozen songs that were even better, and this is one of the best of those. Stay tuned for a full breakdown of my Irish Sweepstakes playlist. I’ll put it up in plenty of time for St. Patrick’s Day.

Iggy Pop “The Passenger”

ELO “Share A Little Love”
It’s wonderful how the Electric Light Orchestra was able to bring to full fruition what the Beatles had only begun to explore. If only John, Paul, George and Ringo had stayed at it a bit longer, they might have achieved the likes of this.

The Donnas “Hot Pants”
My theory: The Ramones wrote this, knew it was a great song, but didn’t want to the dudes that sang about this subject matter, hot pants. The Donnas, as well as us listeners, were the beneficiaries of that gift. This is not, by the way, the James Brown song of the same name, but is almost as good.

Keith Richards “You Don’t Move Me Anymore”
Nothing the Stones recorded since “Some Girls” comes close to equaling this song from Keith’s first solo album. Keith, I'm sorry to say that I, as a listener, feel a bit cheated that you spent so many years as a drugged-out wastral when you were capable of work like this. Might have been worth it to you, but I'd have preferred a bit more nose to the grindstone and a bit less of your inhaling God knows what

Fountains of Wayne “Stacy’s Mom.”
Do you think of a specific neighborhood mom when you hear this? I do. She was then up to five years younger than I am now, probably.

David Bowie “Hang On To Yourself”
My 10-year-old song latched on to “Ziggy Stardust” as his favorite album from pretty much the first time he heard it. He’s got excellent taste.

Jet “Cold Hard Bitch”

The Who “Quadrophenia”
Had a friend in high school (Conrad Payne—Are you out there Conrad?) who drove hundreds of miles every night delivering pizza. He only owned one tape, “Quadrophenia.” For at least a year, he only had that one tape. Now, I don’t think I could get by for any length of time with just one album, but if I were forced to, this might also be the one I’d pick.