Pump-Up Songs: OH YEAH!

There are always those songs out there that you know took absolutely no musical talent to create, yet still somehow appeal to you. I group some of these songs under the general category of “pump-up songs”. They serve nothing more than to pump you up. They provide a rush of adrenaline and the urge to move/dance that others songs just cannot match. The reason why other pieces of music cannot match this capability of a true pump-up song is that the pump-up songs only have one purpose: to be insane, wild and catchy. Given that they don’t need to fulfill any musical elegance, there’s a lot more “wiggle room”.

In my opinion, pump-up songs are actually very limited in their actual style of music.  They lack depth of lyrics or any at all. They have repetitive melodies and basic tunes. And a lot of the times, they are heavily computer-generated. Now, I’ve always insulted the dub-step genre of music, so in this blog I’m going to sound somewhat hypocritical. I think I’m trying to show that these styles of music are appealing in small doses and use at the correct time. I only listen to pump-up songs at certain times, like right before a competition. They are high-energy, high-intensity pieces of music that blow a listener’s mind away. But, on a daily basis, I don’t recommend listening to these songs; you’ll probably begin to get a massive headache.

Beware: these songs don’t sound like anything else I’ve blogged about. I just thought I would highlight a different realm of the “music” world. I put music in quotes because some of these songs are basically just screeches of computer-generated sound that goes in time with a sick beat. You’ll see what I mean later on, but for now, time for some pump-up songs! I hope you’re ready!

Let’s start with a song I think sounds more middle-of-the-road. It’s not too extreme (as to not scare you away), but it illustrates accurately the different aspects of what I call a pump-up song. The song, by Calvin Harris and Ne-Yo is “Let’s Go”. You will either love this song or utterly despise it. That’s a common trend with these pump-up songs. A lot of them are hit-or-miss based off of each individual listener. Anyway, “Let’s Go” is probably the perfect song to listen to when you’re running on a treadmill or riding a bike because it is like a little man sitting on your shoulder yelling encouraging words at you! While there are lyrics, they are not very in-depth and most of them are “let’s go” over and over again. What fuels this song into stardom is the beats and high energy sounds that are so typical of pump-up songs. I feel that this song is one of the milder types of pump-up songs because it still has basic singing and doesn’t rely as heavily on computer-generated noise as some of the later songs I’ll highlight. The song is very repetitive and can get old pretty fast, but it makes me just want to stand up and start dancing! Check it out. I dare you not to tap your foot to the beat!

The next song is epic and one of my favorite pump-up songs ever. There is no song that gets my competitive edge on more than this. If you’re an athlete I highly recommend this song. While there are legitimately only three lyrics in the entire song, it is somehow empowering and more importantly energizing! “I Can’t Stop” by Flux Pavillion is probably one of the few pure dub-step songs that I can tolerate. And not just tolerate. The drop in this song is off the hook and when it comes, about 34 seconds into the song, it gets wild. The beginning goes by slowly and seems to lack any melody or sounds whatsoever. When the drop comes though, there is no holding back. It sounds like organized white noise and a seizure of sounds that somehow mesh together in a way that adds flame and fury to this pump-up song. No other song is as intense as this one. Check it out (if you get bored at the beginning, just fast-forward to 30 seconds in):

The last pump-up song that I’d like to highlight before I stop praising dub-step, is “Bass Cannon” by Flux Pavillion. If you enjoy dub-step music AT ALL, you will do a double back flip when you hear this song. Once again, the beginning is rather dull and sounds like an old dial-up modem but when the drop comes, this song brings it. There is a limit to how much I can talk about this song because it lacks much depth at all (this one only has TWO lyrics). This is basically the musical arc: There are a bunch of sporadic sounds at the beginning. Flux says “Bass Cannon” a couple times to a beat and then the drop comes and the whole earth feels like its shaking.  Repeat cycle. And that’s it! But, once again, pump-up songs are made to pump you up, not satisfy a craving for good harmonies or melodies. Go listen to some Beatles for that. But for now check out this song. Who knows, you might just think it’s insane enough to sound good!

So while pump-up songs don’t necessarily possess any discernible strengths and skills, I feel that they serve their purpose of building up insanity and supporting a massive adrenaline rush. I apologize if this didn’t mesh well with your tastes but it’s good to try something new every once in a while too. And pump-up songs are definitely that.