Justin Bieber, Slash and Lionel Richie select your running tunes

In 2014, I published a book entitled Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now. Not sure if you people are movie fans, but Jesse Eisenberg, from Zombieland and The Social Network, said it was “equal parts inspiring and practical.” At the time, I was covering music for the National Post and got into the habit of asking every musician I interviewed to recommend some running tunes. For the next week or so, I’m going to share some of my favourite responses.

JUSTIN BIEBER

Bieber lifts five times a week for 45-minutes each session, and spends every other day working on his abs, according to Men’s Health. When I met him, he had a security guard the size of a cyclops and there were screaming fans outside his hotel. These are his two picks:

Dirty Diana, Michael Jackson. “Michael’s definitely my biggest influence and this song’s good for its crazy energy. This song’s really special, up-tempo, and it’s my best pick for a great running tune.”

You Make Me Wanna, Usher. “I think almost everything Usher makes it great. This is one of my favourite of his jams.”

SLASH

“I hate running,” Slash told me. “I run, but I hate it. I run to get it over with. I hate exercise.” Still, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist was generous with his time and picked songs that are guaranteed to get your heartbeat up.

Reign in Blood, Slayer. “That’s my favourite Slayer record, but any of them will do you well.”

Lamb of God & Mastodon. “These are really heavy musicians. If you want to run up a mountain, I’d plug into either of them.”

[Note: that image isn’t the real Axl and Slash. That’s runners in costume running in England; plus, I don’t think the guys spend time together when they’re not being paid.]

LIONEL RICHIE

Lionel Richie is a runner and he said, “When I’m running, I see the world differently. It’s like there’s a fog, but when I get out there, the fog opens up.” Richie listens to Johnny Cash, Cream and Marvin Gaye when he runs. But he has one favourite running song of all time.

Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin. “It changes and keeps going—it has no restrictions and keeps opening up. When I’m running through the prism of that music, like the song, I feel like I can keep going for days.”