Punk

Three chords and the truth about mile 6

By Rob Gordon

Did the music shape this or did I find music that matched what was already there? I've been asking myself that question for twenty years, every time I lace up and queue up The Clash or Misfits on the Lakefront Trail. Here's what I know: punk rock doesn't make running easier. It makes it honest.

Running hurts. Around mile six, when your quads are screaming and that voice in your head starts negotiating—*maybe just walk for thirty seconds*—you need music that doesn't lie to you. You need music that says yeah, this sucks, now keep moving. That's punk. Three chords, two minutes, no bullshit. The Menzingers aren't going to tell you to "find your zen." IDLES aren't going to help you visualize success. They're going to meet you exactly where you are: pissed off, tired, and still going.

The tempo thing is real, but it's not the whole story. Sure, most punk sits in that 160-180 BPM sweet spot—perfect for tempo runs or intervals when you need your legs to turn over fast. Teen Mortgage and Off With Their Heads nail that pocket. But what makes punk essential for running isn't just the speed. It's the urgency. Every punk song sounds like it might fall apart at any second but somehow holds together through sheer force of will. That's exactly what mile eight feels like.

I keep coming back to punk for running because it's the only genre that acknowledges the fundamental truth of distance running: you're choosing to suffer, and that choice is a little bit ridiculous and a little bit noble. The Clash understood that contradiction. Alkaline Trio gets it. Even Taking Back Sunday, on their best days, tap into that energy—the defiance that says *I'm here, I'm doing this, it hurts, so what.*

Punk works for running because both require the same thing: showing up when it's hard, not because it's fun, but because not showing up feels worse.

40 playlists

Top 10 Punk Running Songs

These tracks appear across multiple curated punk running playlists.

  1. 1. Attitude — Misfits
  2. 2. Big Lizard — The Dead Milkmen
  3. 3. Clear The Air — Off With Their Heads
  4. 4. Death Train — THE BOBBY LEES
  5. 5. Ghost Town — The Specials
  6. 6. Keep On Knocking — Death
  7. 7. Liar (It Takes One To Know One) — Taking Back Sunday
  8. 8. Los Angeles — X
  9. 9. Mental Hopscotch — Missing Persons
  10. 10. Nightlife — Off With Their Heads

Frequently Asked Questions

What pace should I run to punk playlists?

Tempo runs and intervals—that's where punk lives. Most of this stuff sits between 160-180 BPM, which translates to somewhere between 7:30 and 9:00 pace for most runners, depending on your stride. But honestly? If you're trying to run easy recovery pace to IDLES, you're going to blow up your heart rate and trash your legs. Save punk for the days when you're supposed to hurt a little. The Clash works for threshold efforts. Misfits works when you need to get through a bad interval session and your brain is trying to quit on you.

I'm new to punk—where should I start for running?

Start with The Clash. London Calling, Combat Rock—they've got enough variety that you'll find your entry point. Then move to the Misfits if you want it faster and dumber in the best possible way. If you want something current, IDLES will punch you in the face and make you run faster whether you're ready or not. Teen Mortgage shows up in five playlists here for a reason—they understand the assignment. Avoid the temptation to start with pop-punk; that's a different animal. We're talking about the real stuff here, the kind that sounds like it was recorded in a basement because it probably was.

Does punk work for long runs or just short, hard efforts?

Short, hard efforts—that's the honest answer. Punk is a sprint, not a marathon. Most punk songs are two and a half minutes of concentrated fury, which is perfect for intervals or a 5K when you need to empty the tank. For long runs, you're going to get fatigued by the relentlessness of it. That said, I've used punk strategically on long runs—save it for miles 8-10 when things get hard and you need a shot of adrenaline. The Menzingers have enough melody to carry you through a rough patch without completely redlining your heart rate. But a full 90-minute run of nothing but hardcore? You're braver than I am.

Why is the BPM so consistent across punk playlists?

Because punk drummers discovered the perfect tempo for human urgency and then never left. It's not accidental—160-180 BPM is fast enough to feel dangerous but controlled enough to sustain for three minutes. That range maps almost perfectly onto tempo pace for most runners, which is why it works. The Clash, Misfits, Alkaline Trio—they're all circling the same BPM territory because that's where the magic lives. It's fast enough that you can't think, only react. Your footstrike starts to sync up with the snare hits and suddenly you're not negotiating with yourself anymore, you're just moving. It's Pavlovian, and I'm fine with that.

What's the difference between punk and pop-punk for running?

Punk has teeth. Pop-punk had teeth and then got braces and a production budget. Look, I'm not saying pop-punk doesn't work for running—Taking Back Sunday shows up here, and they've got enough edge to earn the spot—but real punk is rawer, meaner, less polished. It's the difference between something that sounds dangerous and something that sounds like it wants to be on the radio. For running, that rawness matters. When you're at mile six and everything hurts, you don't want polish. You want the Misfits sounding like they might explode at any second. You want IDLES yelling at you. Pop-punk will get you through a workout. Punk will get you through a war.