Pump Up the Jam

As an athlete, I have always wondered why we use certain types of music to “pump” us up. I get images in my mind of girls with their faces buried under their hoods with tiny strings attached to their ears. Crouched in the dark athletes crave the idea of listening only the songs of their choice, not the voices of other people. I am definitely one of these people who rely on the various playlists to get me pumped up for my race, but that doesn’t keep me from wondering why I am that way. It is weird to think of where such an interesting idea first originated from. I am not sure if we just caught on to a piece of history or if it was since created with the rising intensity of sports and the increasing popularity among them.

Depending on the type of person that you are, the music genre tends to vary somewhat. Some prefer the original gansta rap songs that get your adrenaline and heart rate up. Others like the religious songs that encourage them to fight and believe in all that they can do. Some people are attracted to hard rock where the earsplitting rhymes can get your heart jumping up and down, literally. Finally there are the people who enjoy the slow, country, tangy music; the songs that help you find deeper meaning in yourself.

While some people enjoy the loud bangs of instruments and high screeches of music, some people find their inner selves by simply sitting in complete silence. I think that we use music as a way to connect to something so that we can then feel like that one song was meant for us. (everyone has thought this) When we hear these specific songs, they encourage us, push us, and get us anticipating the future.

I wonder if it is simply the concentration that allows these songs to get you pumped up, or if it really has no correlation. Really I am quite unaware of how you can measure “pump” and whether there is a set number for being either pumped up or not. The problem is that the entire situation varies depending on each individual person and their needs. This is a topic that will go through controversy for a long time but I do believe that there is something else behind music. It is there to entertain us, distract us, and possibly pump us up.

Maybe we all incorrectly attribute music to pumping us up but that doesn’t disprove the ideas that music serves as an importance in sporting events. Why do baseball players have walk up songs? Why do arenas play music during the commercials and time-outs? Music has a huge importance. All of this does not mean that there are not other ways to get pumped up, but for the time being, let the music pump up the jam.