Indie rock

For people who remember when The Strokes changed everything

By Rob Gordon

Here's the thing about indie rock and running: I either love this music or I love who I was when I found it. And out on the Lakefront Trail at mile four, when my legs are telling me one thing and my head's telling me another, that distinction doesn't matter anymore. It all becomes the same propulsive force.\n\nIndie rock works for running because it's built on tension. TV On The Radio shows up in four of these playlists because they understood something fundamental: you can be anxious and propulsive at the same time. "Wolf Like Me" doesn't resolve your problems—it gives you a tempo to run through them. That's what indie rock does better than almost any other genre. It doesn't promise you'll feel better at mile six. It promises you won't feel alone there.\n\nI've spent twenty-five years defending guitar music to people who think it died in 1994, and here's what I know: the Yeah Yeah Yeahs aren't on two of these playlists because they're nostalgic. They're there because Karen O understood that sometimes you need to scream while maintaining a 8:30 pace. That's a very specific thing.\n\nThe BPM sits right where you need it—most indie rock lives between 120-150, which is that sweet spot between easy run and tempo work. But it's not just about numbers. Dayglow gives you sunshine when you're grinding through a Tuesday maintenance run. TV On The Radio gives you art-school anxiety when you need to process something while your feet are moving.\n\nFourteen playlists. MIXTAPE 1, PISSEDOFFEDNESS, COMPUTER LOVE SONGS—each one is somebody working something out. That's what indie rock gives runners: a soundtrack for working things out. Not solving them. Working on them. There's a difference, and if you've ever made it to mile eight with the right song on, you know exactly what I mean.

32 playlists

Top 10 Indie rock Running Songs

These tracks appear across multiple curated indie rock running playlists.

  1. 1. Hot Rod — Dayglow
  2. 2. TenTwentyTen — Generationals
  3. 3. Weekend Friend — Goth Babe
  4. 4. 1940 - AmpLive Remix — Amp Live
  5. 5. 302 — The Lippies
  6. 6. 6's to 9's — Big Wild
  7. 7. 80's Men — Bummers
  8. 8. A Heavy Abacus — The Joy Formidable
  9. 9. A Pack Of Wolves — Black Eyes
  10. 10. A&W — Lana Del Rey

Frequently Asked Questions

What pace does indie rock actually work for?

Most indie rock sits between 120-150 BPM, which translates to anything from easy runs to tempo work—roughly 7:30 to 10:00 per mile for most people. TV On The Radio works when you're pushing threshold. Dayglow works when you're supposed to be going easy but can't quite get your heart rate down because you're still thinking about that email. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs work for both, depending on which song. Don't overthink it. If it makes you want to move, it's the right pace.

Is indie rock too slow for interval work?

Look, if you're doing 400-meter repeats, you probably want something faster and dumber. But for longer intervals—800s, mile repeats, anything over two minutes—indie rock is perfect because it gives you narrative arc. You're not just surviving the interval, you're experiencing it. That said, some tracks work: early Strokes, anything where the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are angry, the urgent stuff from TV On The Radio. But true speed work? Maybe grab some garage rock or post-punk instead. Both are related categories here for a reason.

Where do I start if I'm new to running with indie rock?

Start with TV On The Radio—they're in four playlists because they're the perfect intersection of art and propulsion. "Wolf Like Me" if you want immediate gratification. Then hit the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for when you need rawness without losing the beat. Dayglow if you want something that won't make you feel like you're drowning in your own thoughts. Check out the MIXTAPE 1 playlist first—it's got 22 tracks and it'll give you the range. Then go to PISSEDOFFEDNESS when you're ready to feel something specific.

What's the difference between indie rock and alternative for running?

Alternative is a meaningless corporate radio term from 1995. Indie rock is a specific thing: guitars that matter, lyrics that don't insult your intelligence, production that serves the song instead of smothering it. For running purposes, indie rock tends to be more propulsive, more rhythmically consistent. It's music made by people who cared, and you can hear it. That matters at mile seven when you need something real to hold onto. Check the related categories—garage rock, post-punk, power-pop—they're all more specific and useful than "alternative."

Why does indie rock work better for running than listening at home?

Because running adds the physicality these songs were always implying. TV On The Radio sounds urgent in your living room, but on the trail, your footsteps turn that urgency into forward motion. The anxiety becomes kinetic. The yearning becomes distance covered. Indie rock was always about tension without resolution, and running is literally that: you're uncomfortable the entire time but you keep going anyway. The music doesn't have to convince you anymore—your body is already doing what the guitars were suggesting. It's the difference between understanding a song and inhabiting it.