I've finally found a use for dance/trance/electronic music

Back when I was a child and was earning (well, I say earning, more like given) pocket money, I decided I would try and get into music. I was about 5/6 at the time, give or take, and I had no interest in music at all…..and that is not an exaggeration. I didn’t have a single CD, didn’t listen to music and just wasn’t at all interested.

Like most kids, I listened to the radio and based my opinions on what was good music from that. My parents were convinced I would turn out to be gay because my first four CDs were “The Best Dance Album in the World Part 3,” 2 Unlimited’s Greatest Hits, an Eternal CD (can’t recall the name) and a CD by Wham………I can’t say I really blame my parents for thinking I was gay at that age…..infact it took until my late teens until they stopped asking if I was gay (that’s a story for another blog).

But anyway, as I grew up I became more aware of other types of music and around 16 I started to listen to rock music and it became my preferred genre of music by quite some distance. Dance/electronic music took a bit of a backseat, I didn’t hate it to be honest but I had no real need for it.

Skip forward to right now. I’m 27 years old and currently dieting to try and lose at least 1/3 of the 257 pounds I have accumulated so far in my life. Now the problem with liking rock music is that if you’re aiming to lose weight, it’s not the best music to exercise to, hence why dance music has crept back into my life like a stalker in the dark.

Now, I would stress that I still don’t like dance music much. I don’t dislike it but my main problem with dance music has always been that it is EXTREMELY repetitive. A lot of DJs seem to create five seconds worth of track and just loop it for 3/4/5/however many minutes. I never thought that would prove useless until now. Music like this is similar to a metronome in many ways, having a regularly repeated beat helps regulate you and you can pace yourself so efficiently that you can go much longer.

Rock music is not like that at all, so despite loving rock and having a passing indifference to dance music, I am now finding myself downloading dance music onto my iPhone, let me give you some examples, as well as some songs I had before hand anyway;

Anomaly by Libra Presents Taylor (although to be fair I did always like that song)

The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang (a rock band that produced what is effectively a dance track, go figure)

Breathe, Smack my Bitch Up, Omen and Voodoo People by the Prodigy

Flux by Bloc Party

Hello by Martin Solveig

House if Falling Down by Hadouken

No Ordinary Morning by Chicane

Operation Blade by Public Domain

Poppiholla by Chicane

Teardrop by Massive Attack

And that’s it. Ok, when I say I’ll give you some examples, I didn’t imagine I’d list them all, but figured I might as well as the list isn’t extensive.

Am I turning into a dance music freak? Fuck no! As soon as I stop exercising, whenever that might be, I’m dumping most of the above songs very quickly. As I started, they pace me and work like a metronome, whereas rock music doesn’t…..and let’s face it, certain rock songs aren’t exactly motivating at the best of times……I’m looking in your direction Blue October.