Olympic Playlists: What Johnny Weir, Gretchen Bleiler, Louie Vito and More Athletes Are Spinning
The Winter Olympics began in Vancouver Friday night with performances from Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado, k.d. lang and Sarah McLachlan, as well as the debut of the “We Are the World” remake. But music at the world’s biggest sporting event won’t end there — Rolling Stone asked some of the games’ best athletes what songs keep them motivated and got a wide range of responses: Lady Gaga, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Clipse, Bob Dylan the Strokes and A Tribe Called Quest all have a spot on playlists belonging to figure skater Johnny Weir and snowboarders Louie Vito, Gretchen Bleiler, Elena Hight, Torah Bright and Scotty Lago. Keep reading to find out who rocks TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me,” who kicks back to Lil Wayne and Led Zepplin, and how many times Ms. Gaga appears on Mr. Weir’s list:
Johnny Weir
1. Lady Gaga — “Bad Romance”
2. Edith Piaf — “Non, je ne regrette rien”
3. Roberta Flack — “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
4. Christina Aguilera — “Beautiful”
5. Igor Kornelyuk — “Gorod Kotorogo Nyet”
6. Brandi Carlile — “The Story”
7. Lady Gaga — “Poker Face”
8. Amy Winehouse — “Back to Black”
9. Sam Cooke — “A Change is Gonna Come”
10. Lolita — “Orientatsiya Sever”
Louie Vito
1. Gucci Mane — “Bingo”
“I just like this song. His new album is pretty good too.”
2. Da Underdawgz — “Gorillaz”
“B-Do kills this beat! I like their style and always gotta have love for Pimp C.”
3. Jay-Z — “Justify My Thug”
“Older Jay with a hard beat.”
4. Stunnaman — “2800”
“This song is catchy as hell. Stunna is my dude so gotta show him love on the playlist.”
5. Trouble feat. Stunnaman — “Cadillac”
“Trouble has a unique style which I back hard, throw in Stunnaman and the track goes to another level.”
6. Shyne — “Diamonds and Mac 10s”
“Love Shyne. This is just one of my favorite songs of his.”
7. Lil Scrappy — “Oh Yeah”
“Most tracks produced by Lil Jon go hard and get you ready to go, and add Lil Scrappy on there and I am definitely going to back that.”
8. 50 Cent feat. Eminem — “Patiently Waiting”
“Classic 50 with some Em. Verses are hard, beat goes hard.”
9. Dr. Dre — “Forgot About Dre”
“Dre has that drums and bass that hit. This is a childhood favorite for me.”
10. Juice — “Be Easy”
“Just a random song I got into a while back, but it never seems to get old.”
11. Clipse — “Popular Demand”
“Love Clipse new album. I have this and ‘Showin Out’ back to back but ‘Popular Demand’ got me some good results early this season!”
Gretchen Bleiler
1. TV on the Radio — “Wolf Like Me”
2. Dead Prez — “It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop”
3. Stiffed — “Your Voice”
4. The Strokes — “Heart in a Cage”
5. 50 Cent — “Ayo Technology”
6. The Offspring — “Session”
7. Run-DMC — “It’s Like That”
8. Bob Dylan — “Hurricane”
9. Beatnuts — “Watch Out Now”
10. A Tribe Called Quest — “Da Booty”
Elena Hight
1. Miley Cyrus — “Party in the USA”
“This has been the theme song for the season. Every day heading up to the hill for a contest or a practice day Greg [Bretz, fellow Olympian and her boyfriend] and I blast this in the truck to get excited and just let all the jitters out.”
2. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys — “Empire State of Mind”
“This song has a great beat to ride to… I love dropping into the halfpipe with this in my headphones.”
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd — “Sweet Home Alabama”
“This is one of my all time faves. I love singing along in my truck!”
4. Bjork — “99 Red Balloons”
“This song is in one of my favorite snowboard videos of all time, Gigi Ruff’s part in Happy Days, so every time it comes on when I am riding, I am inspired.”
5. Lady Gaga — “Just Dance”
“When I wake up tired and sore, this is the perfect song to put on to get me moving.”
6. T.I. feat. Rihanna — “Live Your Life”
“I love to compete to this song… It just always puts me in a great mindset.”
7. Led Zeppelin — “Fool in the Rain”
“When it’s time to just chill, this is perfect to just sit on the couch and relax to.”
8. Lil Wayne — “Mrs. Officer”
“A great driving song.”
9. Billy Idol — “Dancing With Myself”
“I always have a smile on my face when this song comes on, it makes snowboarding fun.”
10. Pat Benatar — “Heartbreaker”
“My favorite karaoke song to date.”
Torah Bright
1. Madonna — “Like a Prayer”
“This song make me get up to sing and dance… Love it!”
2. Royksopp — “What Else is There?”
“Stuck in my head from long road trips and plane travels.”
3. Kim Carnes — “Bette Davis Eyes”
“I love the oldies and this song just makes me happy!”
4. The Beatles — “Let It Be”
“Too many good Beatles songs to choose from, so this is here to represent the Beatles!”
5. Cat Stevens — “Lady D’Arbanville”
“In New Zealand this year we had one CD in the car. We listened to it everyday as we made our way to the hill.”
6. Pink — “Who Knew”
“When this song first came out, my little sister and I memorized every word and listened to it over and over!”
7. Regina Spektor — “Samson”
“Absolutely love Regina’s different sound.”
8. Basia Bulat — “Snakes and Ladders”
“I got sent this song by a friend saying it reminded them of me. Just love the feel of it!”
9. Andrew Bird — “Fiery Crash”
“Fun summer memories!”
10. Fleetwood Mac — “Go Your Own Way”
“This song came on in the car with my fiance and we both started singing our hearts out!”
Scotty Lago
1. Creedence Clearwater Revival — “Fortunate Son”
2. Guns n’ Roses — “Welcome to the Jungle”
3. AC/DC — “TNT”
4. Black Sabbath — “Paranoid”
5. Ozzy Osbourne — “Crazy Train”
7. AC/DC — “Back in Black”
7. Bruce Springsteen — “Born in the U.S.A.”
8. Neil Young — “Rockin’ In the Free World”
Find out when your favorite athletes compete and more at NBCOlympics.com and TeamUSA.org.