Shred Tunes

If I asked you what the best part about snowboarding is, what would you say? You probably say “Everything. duh!” Well, you’d be correct. However, there are a few aspects that stand out more to me, personally.

One of my favorite things about snowboarding is the freeing feeling. Nothing can stop you when your riding – well, besides large trees and children.

However, the thing I love most about snowboarding is the incredible feeling of stoke you get when one of your favorite song graces your ears. It’s just a perfect combination of music and pow. That being said, I’ve decided to post my Shred Tunes 2k13-14 playlist. It doesn’t get much more self absorbed than this, does it?

In no particular order:

1. Anything Can Happen – Ellie Goulding
2. Sympathy For The Devil – The Rolling Stones
3. What’s my Age Again – Blink 182
4. The City – The 1975
5. Crooked Smile – J. Cole
6. Figure 8 – Ellie Goulding
7. Girls – The 1975
8. Heart Out – The 1975
9. Joy – Ellie Goulding
10. My Blood – Ellie Goulding
11. Feeling This – Blink 182
12. Settle Down – The 1975
13. Sex – The 1975
14. She Way Out – The 1975
15. Talk Dirty – Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz
16. First Date – Blink 182
17. Does He Know – One Direction
18. Jump Around – House of Pain
19. ***Flawless – Beyonce
20. Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix
21. Burn – Ellie Goulding
22. Haunted – Beyonce
23.  Wake Me Up – Avicii ft. Aloe Blacc
24. Started From The Bottom – Drake
25. We’ll Be Fine – Drake
26. Headlines – Drake
27. We Can’t Stop – Miley Cyrus
28. Underground Kings – Drake
29. Make Me Proud – Drake
30. All The Small Things – Blink 182
31. Menswear – The 1975
32. Goodbye Copenhagen – New Politics
33. Baba O’Riley – The Who

You know how they say don’t judge a book by it’s cover? Well, don’t judge a snowboarding playlist by its boyband. Be advised, beginning boarders, no playlist can make you shred like Mark McMorris…

Image from funny-pictures-blog.com

STARTED.

I don’t have that much to say tonight. My apologies. Sometimes the words just don’t come, ya know? I’ve also been extremely preoccupied with the VMA’s this evening, which can’t possibly have anything to do with me not being prepared for this post (that is sarcasm, incase you didn’t pick up what I just put down.)

So in honor of the VMA’s, Drake, his ability to make dope shred tunes, my love for him and one of my favorite snowboarding memes of all time:

Image taken from twitter.com/SBG_probz

We shall return to business as usual tomorrow. I’ve got to go listen to some Drake.

Shred Tunes.

What makes a good shred tune? THIS is something your friends, probably, won’t tell you. None of mine did anyway. I like to think they did this as a way to allow me to explore the realm of snowboarding – shred tunes included – on my own. However, in a less philosophical way of thinking, they probably didn’t tell me because shred tunes are purely based on your opinion. Almost every snowboarding movie in existence will tell you M83 makes great shred tunes. And I’m sure they do, but they are not on my playlist. Snowboarding community, please don’t shun me for that comment.

That being said, here are my favorites to shred to. It’s not the entire playlist, but it’s my top five tracks. A word of advice to the (hopefully) newbies reading this – make sure you can successfully get off a chairlift before you start shredding to music. It just becomes one big traffic jam when you fall and then your headphones rip out of your ears. Not to mention, it’s embarrassing. I may or may not be speaking from personal experience. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

Kate’s favorite shred tunes (in no particular order):

1. First Date – Blink 182. I love shredding to Blink and this is by far my favorite song by them, so I figured why not?
2. Jump Around – House of Pain. I’m a U.N.C fan, duh! Okay, let me back up and drop some knowledge on you – Jump Around is, basically, U.N.C basketball’s theme song. It was made popular because the now-NBA-record-holding Danny Green would dance to it before tip-off.
3. Underground Kings – Drake. I wrote an entire post dedicated to Drake, so obviously I love him. This song just pumps me up a lot so it made the cut. You’re welcome, Drizzy.
4. What’s My Age Again – Blink 182. I turned 23 two months before last season started. I quickly realized that no one really does like you when you’re 23 and I decided to remind myself of this during every run on the mountain.
5. What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction. Don’t judge me, man. Not only do I have a massive soft spot for the British boyband, but one of my favorite memories from shredding Breckenridge was riding down a trail where all you could see was the beautiful blue sky and the mountains in the distance – just as Harry Styles’ solo hit my ears. It was a beautiful experience. No pun intended.

Here is proof I wasn’t lying about Danny Green. It’s not snowboarding, but it’s still pretty cool. And who knows, maybe Danny Green snowboards.

Drake + Snowboarding?

Since it’s July and I don’t have enough money to jet over to Chile or somewhere that is currently experiencing a cooler, more snowboarder friendly climate, I went to the beach. If you’ve met me in real life, you know that my obsession with Drake is as real as it gets. I don’t know why or how or where it came from but I love him. I would advise you not to make a wheelchair Jimmy reference right now, I don’t take them lightly.

That being said, I was spinning Take Care on the way back, completely zoned out (that’s really safe considering I was driving) and it took me back to my first snowboarding lesson. Ah-ha, there it is! You were probably wondering what Drake had to do with snowboarding (he also makes for good shred tunes, too).

My instructor was this dope 17-year-old kid who was just incredibly patient with me. Obviously, having someone who was five years younger than me teach me how to properly board was a shot to the ego, but it ended up being a great experience. Not only did he help me majorly progress with my riding but he was a Drake fan too. Yep. We were sitting at the top of a trail and he asked me if I ever saw the Shit Drake Says Video and I was like duh, do you know who I am? He then proceeded to do that extremely odd hand motion Drake always does. We have been best friends ever since. Okay, not really. But I did tip him well and I do hope I run into him someday again at my home mountain. Since I’m all about humor, and this post isn’t that funny, I wanted to combine two things I love into one: Shit Drake Says and snowboarding. You are so very welcome.

HERE’S SOME ADVICE: My snowboarder friends did advise me to take a professional lesson. So I’m advising you to take a professional lesson. Who knows, maybe your instructor will love Drake and you’ll become besties. Or maybe you won’t – maybe you’ll just become a better snowboarder. And whether you know it now or not, your board will soon become your best friend.