Marley Lynch

Contrary to what the very ripped personal trainer at the gym keeps screaming at you, sometimes the best motivation for working up a sweat isn’t the grunting encouragement of a stranger clutching a protein shake. Often, you just need the right song to get your blood pumping and your body moving. To help you on your fitness journey, we tapped our stable of music geeks – some of which are in much better shape than others – to scour their knowledge of hip-hop, pop, classic rock and for 50 high-energy motivators. Strap on the sweatband and get ready to move.  Written by Kristen Zwicker, Marley Lynch, Hank Shteamer, Gabrielle Bruney, Brent DiCrescenzo, Sophie Harris, Andy Kryza, Andrew Frisicano, Nick Leftley, Tim Lowery, Carla Sosenko, Kate Wertheimer and Steve Smith. RECOMMENDED:🏃 The best running songs💪 The best motivational songs🤩 The best inspirational songs🎸 The best classic rock songs⚡️ The best songs about power

Like movies and books centered around the Big Apple, the best New York songs are by artists who understand the things that make NYC great and horrifying are one and the same. A great New York song is tapped into the rhythms of the city and well aware of the incredible wealth of human experience happening simultaneously across its expanse. They are songs of triumph and heartache, success and failure, love and loss. They celebrate that iconic skyline, but aren’t afraid to descend to the gutter.  There are thousands of songs about New York, but only a select few are timeless. Here we collect our favorite odes to the Big Apple. You’ll find anthems by New York icons ranging from Lou Reed to Jay-Z. There are broadway showstoppers and dispatches from the birth of hip-hop. You’ll find disco, hardcore, pop, punk, jazz and folk penned by outsiders and lifers alike. And if sticking all those genres and personalities together on one list about the same city seems a bit scattershot, well, you’ve clearly never taken a rush-hour subway across town. Written by Sophie Harris, Adam Feldman, Steve Smith, Hank Shteamer, Marley Lynch, Andy Kryza, Sharon Steel and Jesse Serwer Listen to these songs on Amazon Music RECOMMENDED:🏙 The best songs about London, LA and Chicago🎶 The best ’80s songs🎉 The best party songs ever made🎸 The best classic rock songs🕺 The best pop songs of all time

To mark the much-anticipated return of Mad Men to the small screen (its sixth-season premiere airs Sunday, April 7 at 9pm on AMC), we’ve compiled the most quintessentially Gotham series of all time. What makes one of NYC’s best television shows, you ask? It could be a number of things—characters with particularly New York attitudes, nontouristy shooting locations, authentic period details—but we should note that we’ve excluded any locally shot news and chat shows. (Sorry, The Daily Show and vintage Conan.) If any omissions rub you the wrong way, like our decision to leave off Sex and the City (we’re kidding!), let us know in the comments.

We live in an incredibly photogenic city. So it’s no surprise that, as with films and, you know, photographs, New York has served as the backdrop for some of the most iconic music videos. From Michael Jackson’s 1987 video for “Bad” (directed by Martin Scorsese) to A$AP Rocky’s 2015 video for “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2,” artists have and continue to shoot the videos for some of their biggest hits in NYC. Watch our absolute favorites below, and be sure to check out the best movies set in NYC neighborhoods for more Gothamcentric cinema.

Most big-deal cocktail dens were launched by a singular personality (see: Jim Meehan of PDT, Phil Ward of Mayahuel). Toby Maloney—a bartending O.G. at the legendary Milk & Honey and Pegu Club—boasts enough star power to roll out a spot on his own. But the gifted drinks slinger, along with business partner Jason Cott, recruited top cocktail talents Joaquín Simó (Death & Company) and Troy Sidle (the Violet Hour) to form something of a booze-powered Fantastic Four. The team has set up pioneering bars across the country in places like Nashville (the Patterson House) and Chicago (the Violet Hour), as well as working on consulting gigs in Gotham. Pouring Ribbons marks the all-star squad’s solo debut in New York, with one of the year’s most exciting new drinks menus and a capacious teal-daubed barroom. DRINK THIS: The selection offers drinkers a fresh approach to picking their quaff (each $14). Each tipple is measured on two scales: refreshing to spirituous (how boozy do you take your drink?), and comforting to adventurous (do traditional or quirky flavors appeal?). In the mood for a potent classic? Try the Sweet Valley High—something of a martini-negroni mash-up built with refreshing Tanqueray No. Ten gin, sweet vermouthlike Cocchi Americano, a splash of bitter Campari and floral St.–Germain. Or for something that falls in the middle, order the crisp autumnal sipper Ragin’ Glory. Old Overholt rye whiskey and pear brandy form the cocktail’s base, which is brightened with lemon juice