I think it depends on location. When I lived in DC the gym I went to played mostly techno. Since I lived in a gay neighborhood and many of the people at the gym were gay, this made sense (even if I hated it). I know live in a smaller town and the gym plays a variety of music, depending on who is at the front desk. Sometimes they play XM’s top 40 station but lately they’ve been playing XM’s classic hard rock station (AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, etc.). I’m perfectly happy with that.
I work out at a military gym. They actually do an okay job of playing hard rock and alternative music with the odd hip hop or dance song. They play too much Top 40, of course, and ballads have no place in the weight room. But they do ask for suggestions and you can’t please everyone. Despite the high numbers of Maritimers in the Canadian military, I’m glad they stopped playing so much “Great Big Sea”, which used to be continuous. I prefer my MP3.
so glad to have found this group of gym users who have similar complaints about music. I thought I was the only one who hated the wailing divas shrieking on a playlist of soul destroying pop noise. I too ave complained directly and on facebook about this problem. I also observe most gym users are adults, which begs the question, why the children’s music ?.
To most of my complaints I get, "we"ll look into it “, which is euphemistic for " bugger off”
I do notice that by far the youngest individuals I see in the workout area are the employees, which may explain their reluctance to play anything but bland top 40 rubbish.
I persist however, my next plan is to take a survey, for which I will need the gym management cooperation.
Best answer in my view. No music at all. It would reduce my teeth grinding .
My gym used to only play the Bach partitas, someone in the corner endlessly tinkling away on the old harpsichord. Well, a group of the three of us all got together and demanded to the management that there should at least be some cello OH GOD
FOR FUCKS SAKE IT IS A GYM. THERE IS MORE THAN ONE GYM. YOU ARE ONLY SLIGHTLY DELAYING YOUR INEVITABLE AND FOR THE REST OF US WELCOME DEATH ANYWAY.
Cello,?, I dream of cello.
Bach?, where is your gym?, I’m joining
LA Fitness has been pretty good about providing a balanced, eclectic mix. Some days it’s shitty Top 40 hip-pop, and sometimes it’s “club remix” versions of shitty Top 40 songs from 5-10 years ago.
I’ve pleaded with staff to play my Tuvan Monastery whale songs, but it’s always the same excuse: “we don’t have a way to play cassette tapes.” Right. Pull the other one.
My favorite gym music is anything by Rob Zombie. 
No. Emphatically so.
my brief foray into “research” ( I asked around), suggests that older people are better at tolerating what they don’t like, while often being too embarrassed to ask for the pop music to be turned down or off.
Older people have spent their lives refining what quality means, understanding it, how good music affects them, how it lasts in their hearts, increases their will to live.
Quality is not defined by a single genre. It is defined by the nuances, the stories, the effort and meaning , the style, the majesty the character of the music.
Some styles are doomed to the dustbin of history, few survive.
Old people are survivors.
Metal all the way for me. I work out and run only to Slayer, Iron Maiden, In Flames, Motorhead, Sepultura, Pantera, Megadeth, Soil Work, Dimmu Borgir, acts like that.
I also like running to The Cult, but they’re not really metal.
Every military gym I have ever been in has been music free. Instead, CNN is on at the loudest setting.
Zombie or not, every gym I have ever gone to has been music free. The only sounds you hear are of the treadmills whirring and the weights clanking, with an occasional grunt here and there.
If you want music, you bring it yourself.