SummitPost.org

Hey, does anyone here have any favorite music that they associate with hiking/mountains? Sure, you could listen to NaS on the trails, but a song like "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 just sounds like you're on top of Mount Rainier. It seems like listening to a favorite album literally on the peak of a mountain would be a euphoric experience, although I've never done this. So my question is: does anyone feel that music fits in with/enhances your mountainous adventures, and if so, what artists are the best for this? Of course, one would have to save music for safer parts of a route or during breaks. My personal "mountain music" favorites are U2, Radiohead, and the Fleet Foxes.

eliotjg wrote:My personal "mountain music" favorites are U2

Good choice. "Where the Streets have no name" has for a long time been one of my favorites. The radio always plays the stripped version.

Anyways here's one I liked called "Tainted Memories":

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6awtyZ3cT4[/youtube]

Catamount took the words right out of my mouth.

Alabama = one of the greatest bands ever!

Creed - Higher

Up high I feel like I'm alive for the very first time
Set up high I'm strong enough to take these dreams
And make them mine
Set up high I'm strong enough to take these dreams
And make them mine

Can you take me higher?
To a place where blind men see

http://youtu.be/N5Iy_bubYWU

by Lindsay Buckingham (the original one from National Lampoon's Vacation - not the lame live version, though I have that on my phone, too). I usually listen to it at least once on the drive, if not on the approach.

I like "The Mountains Win Again" by Blues Traveler also.

Alabama = one of the greatest bands ever!

I respect you in so many ways but I can't stop rolling on the floor after this one

I don't think I've ever had an earbud in while hiking or climbing.

For me, Jakob Dylan, "Everybody's Hurting":

http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=65392675&ac=now

Now we'd sell this valley if we could
Go north where the sun sets
Dripping buckets of gold

Through snow-topped thunderheads
And rows of moving clouds
Coming down this mountain
How sweet salvation sounds

With our hands high
Like lowly pilgrims
As the old men dissolute
The young ones in

Already know what
We're just learning
That's everybody
Everybody's hurting

Not with earbuds, though--I sing it to the bears and they keep far, far away.

Tonka wrote:

Alabama = one of the greatest bands ever!

I respect you in so many ways but I can't stop rolling on the floor after this one

I've told you I like BOTH kinds of music - country and western!

No, seriously...I also like metal, hair rock, contemporary jazz, mullet/arena rock...

But yes...Alabama is, indeed, one of the greatest bands ever. Listen to Dixieland Delight, and you'll understand.

I'll go out on a limb and suggest Kate Wolf.

She's not good for the mind while gripped climbing per se.
She's good for the rainy or snowy day off in the cabin.
Her music stirs the soul (much like those good mountains).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Wolf
http://www.katewolf.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Kate-Wolf/e/B000A ... mus_teaser?

Her Red Tail Hawk song (studio version) should be the state song of California.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udRFQOsrjpU

I only have two songs that when I hear them, instantly take me back to a particular moment while in the wilderness.
I think it's rare to have a multitude of factors line up at a [very] specific moment in time to where, a song is
directly connected to a random place in the mountains/wilderness. It's all about feeling/mood. But it does happen.

For me:
"Following the Sun" (Enigma): I remember after summiting Snowmass Mountain in a blizzard (consequently, also my 14er finisher),
the walk out through 6"-8" of fresh snow in the Elks under blindingly blue and white terrain, I was listening to this song as Steve and I walked across the lower ponds.

"Brokedown Palace" (Grateful Dead): I was solo coming back from Half Peak. It was dusk, just cold enough to see my breath and I was able to watch three moose in the willows/creek as I walked down the trail. The upper valley is very wide and open. For whatever reason, I was just in an exhilerated mental state and the melody was perfect.

More often than naught, for me, it's NOT the lyrics that make the moment. It's the melody, notes, music that create the association.

...And yeah, Alabama rocks!

I don't listen to music in the mountains, except for sometimes on the drives to and from the trailheads.

Catamount wrote:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw9i-ixcrSA[/youtube]

How could one answer the thread title any better? My kids will hear that one on a roadtrip someday and hear about how grandpa used to play it for his kids.

Sarah Simon wrote:I've told you I like BOTH kinds of music - country and western!...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSZfUnCK5qk[/youtube]


I'm more into blues and classic rock, but some country and western is just good music.

Surprised no one mentioned this yet!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfbF44UeRBY[/youtube]

Or this...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzUEL7vw60U[/youtube]

Yeah I guess I wasn't really thinking of the music of West Virginia when I posted this. Also I've never actually listened to music while hiking either--guess I associate music more with majestic images than actual climbing. More favorites of mine: "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin and "Subterranean Homesick Alien" by Radiohead. Former is especially potent if you're actually in California.

Oh trust me Matt, I was tempted to post the Simon & Garfunkel one. But I like taking obscure ones and let other folks get the famous ones.

I like Midnight Oil, and there are some musical similarities to U2. Lots of their material is related to the Australian outback, and contains a lot of references to plants and animals of the region. They also do a pretty good job arranging their albums, which makes it good to listen to hiking.
One you may recognize: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E[/youtube]