noise rock

For when your legs hurt and clarity isn't the point

By Rob Gordon

A kid came into the store last month asking for something "like punk, but heavier." I handed him Lightning Bolt's "Dracula Mountain" and watched his face do that thing – confusion, then recognition, then something like relief. That's noise rock. It's not heavier in the metal sense. It's heavier in the sense that it refuses to get out of your way.

Here's what I've learned running the Lakefront Trail with Osees and Thee Oh Sees in my ears: noise rock works for running because it doesn't try to motivate you. It doesn't build to some triumphant chorus that's supposed to make you feel like a champion. It just churns. And sometimes – especially around mile 6 or 7 when your brain starts listing every reason you should stop – churning is exactly what you need.

The rhythm section in a Guerilla Toss track doesn't lock into some predictable 4/4 that you can zone out to. It keeps you present. It demands attention. That's good for running because running, despite what Instagram wants you to believe, is not meditative for most of us. It's uncomfortable and repetitive, and the only way through is forward. Noise rock gets that. It's built on discomfort and repetition.

Dick and Barry think I'm insane for running to Dr Sure's Unusual Practice, but they don't run. They don't know what it's like when your pace starts falling apart and you need something that sounds like it's also falling apart but somehow keeps going anyway. That's the whole genre. Controlled chaos. Beautiful ugliness. The musical equivalent of gutting out the last two miles when everything hurts.

These thirteen playlists aren't background music. They're not going to make running easy. They're going to make it make sense.

13 playlists

Top 10 Noise rock Running Songs

These tracks appear across multiple curated noise rock running playlists.

  1. 1. Rolling On — The Murlocs
  2. 2. 1000 Answers — The Hives
  3. 3. 302 — The Lippies
  4. 4. A Pack Of Wolves — Black Eyes
  5. 5. A&W — Lana Del Rey
  6. 6. About A Girl — Nirvana
  7. 7. Alexa! — The Cool Greenhouse
  8. 8. All The Time — Radium Dolls
  9. 9. Apocalypse Morning — The Black Queen
  10. 10. Attitude — Misfits

Frequently Asked Questions

What pace should I run to noise rock?

Look, if you're trying to match your footstrike to a Thee Oh Sees track, you're missing the point. This isn't disco. Noise rock works best for tempo runs and harder efforts – say, 7:30 to 8:30 pace for most people – but not because of the BPM. It works because the intensity of the music matches the intensity of the effort. I've run easy pace to this stuff and it feels wrong, like wearing a leather jacket to brunch. Save it for when you're actually working.

Is noise rock too chaotic for interval workouts?

Depends on the intervals. Short, nasty 400s or 800s? Absolutely perfect. You need something that embraces the brutality. But if you're doing structured mile repeats where you're trying to hit precise splits, maybe pick something with more obvious structure. That said, I've done tempo intervals with Osees and it works because the chaos keeps me from overthinking the pace. Sometimes you need music that won't let you negotiate with yourself.

Where do I start if I'm new to noise rock?

Start with Osees – they show up in two playlists here for a reason. They've got the aggression but enough melody that you won't feel completely lost. Then move to Guerilla Toss if you want something weirder and more propulsive. Dr Sure's Unusual Practice is deeper catalog stuff – save that for when you're committed. And honestly? Just pick one of these thirteen playlists and run with it. Noise rock isn't something you ease into. You either get it or you don't.

What's the typical BPM range for noise rock running music?

It's all over the place, which is kind of the point – anywhere from 130 to 180 BPM, sometimes within the same song. But that's not a bug, it's a feature. Your stride rate stays consistent while the music lurches and shifts around you. It creates this weird tension that actually helps on hard runs. You're the steady thing while everything else is chaos. Feels appropriate for the last miles of a long run when your form is shot but you're still moving forward anyway.

Why does noise rock work better than metal for running?

Metal wants you to feel powerful. Noise rock just wants to exist, loudly and uncomfortably. When you're six miles into a bad run, feeling powerful is a fantasy. But existing loudly and uncomfortably? That's real. That's what you're actually doing. Noise rock doesn't try to transform the experience into something epic. It matches what running actually feels like most of the time – grinding, relentless, occasionally transcendent, mostly just forward motion with distortion.