The best rock song intros ever
Oh Mark Caro, why must you suck me into distracting time wasters like this when I'm at work? Don't you know that there is a pile of work the size of James Gandolfini on my desk? I guess it will have to wait.
The topic is the best rock song intros ever. Caro hits on a lot of good ones, including my choice for the best intro ever, The Who's "Baba O'Riley." (Dum, dum DUM!)My pal, colleague and fellow degenerate music geek Tom Roz also made a ridiculously long list of hot intros on his blog recently.(That's two plugs in one day, Tom. You owe me.) But the guys miss some really obvious ones I will now pull directly from the top of my head with zero effort.
"Sweet Child O' Mine," Guns N' Roses: The first 15 seconds of this song rival the final 60 seconds of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" as the most sublime moments in pop music ever.
"Johnny B. Goode," Chuck Berry: It's only the most famous guitar riff ever, even though it was ripped off from Marty McFly.
"When the Levee Breaks," Led Zeppelin: Jesus Christ himself could not drum as loud as John Bonham on this song.
"I Heard it Through the Grapevine," Marvin Gaye: Oldies radio almost ruined this song and the amazing bassline, but just almost.
"Pretty Vacant," Sex Pistols: The "Sweet Child O' Mine" of fast guitar riffs.
"99 Problems," Jay-Z: "If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son I got 99 problems but a ..." whoops, sorry , this is a family newspaper blog.
"Hit Me Baby One More Time," Britney Spears: The intro will instantly bring back the days when you wanted to sleep with Britney. And don't bother denying it.
"Sweet Emotion," Aerosmith: If the lazy voicebox intro doesn't make you wish you were a teenager in the 1970s, nothing will.
"Stayin' Alive," Bee Gees: If the disco bassline doesn't make you wish you were a teenger in the 1970s, seriously, nothing will.
"Blitzkrieg Bop," Ramones: "Hey ho, let's go!"
"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man," Bob Seger: Big dumb drums are a great way to kick off any song. These are some of the biggest and dumbest.
"Moonage Daydream," David Bowie: "I'm an alligator, I'ma mama-papa coming for you." No idea what that means, just know it is awesome.
"Billie Jean," Michael Jackson: Greatest. Bassline. Ever.
"Under Pressure," Queen and David Bowie: Except maybe for this one.
"Leave Them All Behind," Ride: OK, it's not very obvious. An obscure pick for my music geek peeps.
"Soon Enough," My Bloody Valentine: The end of the world, and it rocks.
"Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan: Why didn't I think of this one sooner? Is it too obvious? Bruce Springsteen said hearing this song for the first time "was like busting out of jail." Try not to think of that quote the next time you hear that glorious drum crack.
I'm sure I'll think of more later. How about you dudes?
posted by Steve Hyden @ 10:40 AM
12 Comments:
Best intro ever: "One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head.
Possible second-place: Prince's "Batdance"
Great call on "Moonage Daydream," my man. I knew you'd fill in with the goods.
great basslines: another one bites the dust, no?
ok, so i didn't check the other postings, so maybe it is on one of them. but what about "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? Metallica's "One"? Or Elvis and "See See Rider"
(and is it C.C. or See See. Allmusic.com has both)
Jay-Z isn't rock, so that may disqualify him.
I'm gonna nominate "When Doves Cry."
Ched:
When Doves Cry is mentioned in Caro's blog.
At least your job doesn't require you to do research.
Like I'ma research a blog entry.
I'm too busy researching ... you know, other stuff. Important stuff, like ... you know. Stuff.
I totally forgot about "Song 2" by Blur. A terrible oversight.
"You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC, even though I like "Back in Black" much better.
"Rock 'n' Roll" by Zep.
"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour.
"Unchained" by Van Halen. Also, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."
"Seek and Destroy" by Metallica.
"Day Tripper" by the Beatles.
"You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC, even though I like "Back in Black" much better.
"Rock 'n' Roll" by Zep.
"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour.
"Unchained" by Van Halen. Also, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."
"Seek and Destroy" by Metallica.
"Day Tripper" by the Beatles.
There's no denying that the opening riff to Rush's "Tom Sawyer" is hot shit. Turn on a classic rock station now. You'll probably hear it.
Also, Eddie's shredding at the beginning of Van Halen's crap-tastic cover of "You Really Got Me" is hot shit.
You'd have to spend thousands on all these CDs if you were to get all these great rock intros on your own.
But thanks to "Under 30 Blog" by Time-Life records, you can get them all in one place.
Can you remember where you were when you first heard this one?
(insert "seek and destroy intro here")
No doubt, Greg Brady, and who can forget this bat munching favorite?
(Insert "crazy train" here.
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