Here's what most running playlists get wrong: they think tempo equals motivation. They throw in some 170 BPM garbage and assume your legs will follow. Alkaline Trio understands something darker and more useful—running isn't about inspiration, it's about outrunning what's chasing you. This playlist is sixteen tracks of Chicago gothic punk that knows the difference between running toward something and running because stopping means facing the thing you've been avoiding.
Start with the curse. "Is This Thing Cursed?" through "This Could Be Love"—that's Vagrant Records-era Trio, Jerry Finn's production making basement darkness sound radio-ready. The tempos hit that sweet spot where heartbreak becomes aerobic. Matt Skiba's voice carries the weight of someone who's been haunted so long he's started keeping the ghosts company. You're three tracks in and you've already accepted the premise: this run is happening in the dark, literal or metaphorical.
Then the Asian Man years kick in—"Private Eye," "Fall Victim," "Kiss You To Death." This is Alkaline Trio before anyone told them they needed to choose between punk and emo. Dan Andriano's bass lines sound like your conscience losing an argument with itself. The songs are short, brutal, efficient. You're at mile two. The endorphins haven't hit yet. Good. You don't deserve them.
The Berlin cover "Metro" sits right where it should—that moment when you realize whoever you're waiting for isn't coming, but you stay at the platform anyway. That's followed by "Burn" and "She Lied To The FBI," which is the most Alkaline Trio title imaginable. Underground and waiting. That's the whole aesthetic.
Then Epitaph hits with "Blackbird" and "Back to Hell"—the label that defined a generation giving Trio the budget to make Chicago winter audible. This is where the playlist earns its darkness.
"Continental" sets up the wall breaker, and then "Fatally Yours" arrives at track thirteen with Jerry Finn making Derek Grant's drums sound like a heartbeat trying to restart. This is the moment the vampire metaphor clicks: you're not running from the curse, you're learning to live with it. No hope offered, just momentum. That's more honest than any inspirational bullshit.
The final three tracks—"Sweet Vampires" to "You're Dead"—are Alkaline Trio's version of a happy ending. Which means no resolution, only commitment. You accept the haunting. You keep running. Forward motion is the only answer when you're cursed from the start.
This isn't a playlist for casual joggers. This is the soundtrack for your run through Hell, and Hell is just another Tuesday in Chicago.
