What BPM is best for general running?

RIOT RUN v1 features an average 140 BPM, ideal for general running workouts.

RIOT RUN v1 - Running Music

The playlist opens with "We Called It America" by NOFX—Fat Mike's snarl cutting through before I've even hit a quarter-mile. This isn't background music. This is Riot Fest 2024 condensed into a portable rebellion device, 25 tracks of three-chord refusals designed to drown out every biological plea for mercy. Past Me built this with surgical precision: punk, ska punk, melodic hardcore, emo, folk punk all crashing into each other like a festival crowd surge. The genre collision isn't accidental—it's the point. When your legs start drafting resignation letters around Mile 4, you need more than one flavor of defiance.

The early miles blur through NOFX's barking social commentary—"Murder The Government" is 45 seconds of pure adrenaline injection—before Fall Out Boy's emo theatrics arrive like a tonal shift at a festival's second stage. "Sugar, We're Goin Down" hits at Mile 2, Pete Wentz's bass line providing melodic relief without sacrificing momentum. This is the playlist's secret weapon: genre diversity that mirrors a festival's controlled chaos. Face To Face and Strung Out bring melodic hardcore's technical precision, guitars spiraling while I'm trying to remember if breathing is supposed to hurt this much. The tempo stays relentless but the textures shift—ska upstrokes, hardcore breakdowns, pop-punk hooks all serving the same master: forward motion when the body's filing formal complaints.

Mile 6. Lagwagon's "The Cog in the Machine" detonates exactly when my quadriceps start negotiating early retirement. Joey Cape's vocals are caffeinated desperation set to music, the kind of energy that refuses to acknowledge physical limitations. Then The Offspring arrives like headliners taking the main stage—"Genocide" and "Something to Believe In" are three-and-a-half-minute arguments against quitting, Dexter Holland's voice cutting through the cardiovascular mutiny. This is punk running: DIY ethos applied to distance. No expensive gear, no optimization algorithms, just raw energy and the stubborn refusal to stop when every muscle fiber suggests otherwise.

The Dead Milkmen's absurdist humor provides late-run relief—"Bitchin' Camaro" is gloriously stupid at Mile 8, exactly when I need to remember this is supposed to be fun. "Punk Rock Girl" follows, all accordion and self-aware charm, before the playlist closes with NOFX's "Drugs Are Good"—satirical, chaotic, utterly perfect. Sixty-five minutes compressed from festival stages into portable fuel. The Riot Fest spirit isn't just the bands—it's the ethos. Show up, suffer willingly, call it art. Turns out that applies to running too.

RIOT RUN v1

Riot Fest 2024 Spirit Trapped in 65 Minutes of Three-Chord Warfare

Tracks

Featured Artists