Sometimes you’re in the middle of a paper, your roommate gone and your frustration mounting, when the adrenaline strikes and you just need to jump around your room for a little bit, and you know what? That’s okay! It’s a lot more fun when you’ve got the perfect song though, and for that reason I have put my hard-earned faux PhD in Bounceology to use.
Together with a team of serious bouncing experts, I have compiled here a definitive list of the top ten songs to bounce around your room to when you have a sudden burst of energy and don’t know how else to expel it. Spoiler alert: there will be sea shanties.
10. Little Letters – Paper Aeroplanes
For when you don’t need to be tearing up the floor with your mad bouncing skills, here’s a subtler song. This is more suited to tapping your foot along with, and the slow build-up to the beat makes it a great song for easing into the bouncing mood.
9. Beneath the Brine – The Family Crest
A more musically dramatic song, the strings might turn attempts at bouncing to a clumsy attempt at a highly energetic single-player waltz. If you can stay seated while listening to it, you’ll almost certainly have to sway along, quite possibly with both feet tapping along.
8. The Mob Song – Beauty and the Beast soundtrack
If you didn’t jump in time to the beat during this song as a child, did you really even watch the movie? There’s something about the frenzy of a mob getting more and more worked up that just demands bouncing along, preferably making sure to land as hard as possible each time in order to emphasize that you, too, are an angry member of the mob.
7. Love Runs Out – OneRepublic
As proof of this song’s energetic nature and potent bounceability, this is what my mom plays on long drives to help her stay awake! Kicking off with a strong drumbeat, this song is excellent for jumping in time to, but unfortunately the ending is much less satisfying by comparison, landing it at number 7.
6. Lake Pontchartrain – Ludo
This song is a rollicking adventure musically, but it also has a narrative to it for an extra layer of entertainment. Its fast pace and storytelling lyrics seem to make it the perfect bouncing song, and for those with high energy levels it very well may be – however, trying to keep up with it can leave the average bouncer out of energy halfway through.
5. High Barbary – Storm Weather Shanty Choir
Most sea shanties are prime bouncing material – having been created specifically to set a certain rhythm for sailors to work in time to. This one has the added benefit of having one of the best types of moment any song can have: the single extended note, during which you can test your lung capacity after having spent the rest of the song jumping along.
The song additionally ends with a decisive set of two beats which are incredibly satisfying as a way to finish out your jumping session if you can time your landing just right.
4. Glitter and Gold – Barns Courtney
Also good for punching the air along with, this song is high energy and offers a brief interlude for you to catch your breath if you need. While this one is also potentially a fight anthem, it is an infinitely preferable experience to hop around to it, possibly while spinning if you want to amplify its already-dizzying exuberance.
3. A Drop of Nelson’s Blood – Storm Weather Shanty Choir
As previously stated, nearly all sea shanties are peak for bouncing – however this one takes the cake with its enthusiasm. A little bit raunchy but a lot of fun, this shanty just can’t be beat in its genre for a truly enjoyable bouncing experience.
2. All the Pretty Faces – The Killers
Let’s be real, a lot of The Killers’ songs are perfect for leaping around in the dead of night and yelling along to when you’re full of emotion – and maybe running into a wall because you’ve thrown off your equilibrium, but that’s neither here nor there.
This song is a perfect example of that, the combination of heartfelt lyrics and music creating an excellent environment for bouncing.
1. What’s New, Scooby Doo? – Simple Plan
Here it is: the ultimate bouncing song. What words can describe the truly primal experience of flinging your entire body around the room at the mere opening chords of this song?
This is a song that not only facilitates leaping recklessly along, but requires it. Just over a minute long, this song is also the perfect length for unleashing all your energy without running out before the song ends.
And there you have it, the top ten best songs to bounce to. Although this list was compiled using very scientific methods, there must here be a disclaimer – as bouncing is a highly subjective activity and finding the perfect soundtrack for your midnight frenzy of jumping from one foot to the other for between one and five minutes at a time must be considered a very personal experience. With that in mind, go forth – and happy bouncing!