ALBUM-OPENING SONG BATTLE

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

So while listening to The Evening Jones with Bomani Jones tonight, he made the claim that if there's anything he feels certain about The Life of Pablo, it's that Ultra Light Beam is as strong an intro as there can be. I don't know that I agree, but, I realized that I didn't have an answer immediately ready. Here's what I came up with.

 

 

(reasoning: it is a perfect warning of how weird this record is about to get)

 

 

GIVE ME YOURS. Please.

[MORELOCK]

 

 

 

[Brian Fowler]

A great song, and set the tone not only for the album, but entire generations of music.

[Vincey Greene]

 

 

 

just off the top of my head.

[Lawful Metal]

 

 

 

[Zimbra]

I could not pick just one New Pornographers song because they always start their records with fire.

 

 

 

 

 

[Death From Above]

I consider Disorder an acceptable answer but I'll also go for

 

 

Or

 

[CSC]

 

 

Not a song, but seems necessary.

 

A couple personal favorites, even though I'm sure they're nowhere near "best ever".

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Death From Above]

A couple of metal openers that blow me away every time.

 

 

[Curt McGirt]

[The Comedian]

 

 

 

 

[J.T.]

I thought I won the thread and then I saw Comedian and Vince's stuff.

 

 

 

 

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

Still working my way through a lot of these, but the Wolf Parade intro was a tremendous oversight on my part. Holy fuck that track is amazing. 

 

Also really, really liked Year Of No Light. I find a lot of metal intros are assuming you will immediately buy into their idea of grandeur/"epicness", and Year Of No Light instead worked on actually earning that sense of grandeur. I stopped there for now.

 

I was also reminded of two I'm exceptionally fond of while thumbing through my catalog

 

 

 

Drones especially. That first crescendo is Vonnegut-style proof of a higher power.

[Jrag]

No need for a YouTube video because everyone has heard it. Seven Nation Army.

Talk about setting the tone. That was Jack's "I know we're a duo, but our sound is going to be big now" moment. The rest of the album plays that way and is so tonally different from the first three Stripes albums.

[Lazlo Woodbine]

 

 

This is a cheat, as it was track 1 on disc 3 of a compilation (Ninja Tune 10th anniversary) I still vividly remember the first time I heard it though.

[GOTNW]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlC5CvDbS4A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2uDE0x62aY

I don't have any terribly obscure picks sorry.

[Jrag]

Thanks for the heads up on the Kanye Evening Jones episode, by the way.  Love it when Bomani talks music.

[Matt D]

This is as unobscure as you can get, but come on.

 

 

In high school, I did the scorebook for the baseball team. This was probably 96-97. I was a Sophomore and went to practice every day since I was quasi-manager too. And a senior would drive me the one minute from the High School to the Junior High where the field was. 

 

And Who's Next was always in the CD deck. And we made it through the first minute, minute twenty or so before the singing started and that was it, for about three months, every single day, and life was good.

[Burgundy LaRue]

I'm pretty sure it's not on YouTube, but I submit "Let's Go Crazy" from Purple Rain.

[Zimbra]

 

 

Not a song, but seems necessary.

 

Heh, that's why I put 5 in my post.

 

I forgot this was a track 1, it's definitely on my list:

 

 

My namesake song is also a track 1, but I'm actually not all that crazy about it.

[JLSigman]

[Raziel]

 

 

 

And

 

[Cole Miner]

First that comes to mind is Teenage Riot for sure. Their best album and best song. Set the tone for the rest of the album. I'd say Welcome to the Jungle was a perfect start as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKMD8vI1MaM

 

[Randy]

[Curt McGirt]

These both came to mind too