My Favorite Side One, Track One Songs (Or, Best Opening Songs To Any Album)
Submitted by oramosvt on Mon, 11/03/2003 - 05:50
Tags:
- "I will Dare" the Replacements from "Let it Be" 1984
- "Airbag" Radiohead from "OK Computer" 1997
- "Let's Spend the Night Together" Rolling Stones from "Between the Buttons" 1967
- "Wouldn't It Be Nice" the Beach Boys from Pet Sounds 1966
- "Come Together" the Beatles from Abbey Road
- "Cherub Rock" the Smashing Pumpkins from Siamese Dream 1993
- "Whole Lotta Love" Led Zeppelin from II
- "Dock of the Bay" Otis Redding from "The Dock of the Bay" 1968
- "Welcome to the Working Week" Elvis Costello from "My Aim is True" 1977
- "London Calling" the Clash from London Calling
Author Comments:
I know some people would say some of these are obvious, but just because they are not all obscure doesn't mean they are not great songs. Each one essentially defined a great album, as most of these albums would stand up as greats on any list. If I had to rank one song highest, I would probably have to say wouldn't it be nice simply because it ushered in the greatest pop record of all time, not to mention the lyrics, orchestration and harmony were simply breathtaking
Some of my favorites are:
Teenage Riot/ Daydream Nation/ Sonic Youth
Tangled Up In Blue/ Blood on the Tracks/ Bob Dylan
Rocks Off/ Exile On Main Street/ Rolling Stones
Misunderstood/ Being There/ Wilco
Boy in the Bubble/ Graceland/ Paul Simon
Magical Mystery Tour/ Magical Mystery Tour/ Beatles
Seven Nation Army/ Elephant/ White Stripes
Race for the Prize/ The Soft Bulletin/ Flaming Lips
Everything In It's Right Place/ Kid A/ Radiohead
Tell Me Why/ Neil Young/ After The Gold Rush
I definitely forgot about Rocks Off, pretty epic beginning, the guitar part and the sound mix are phenomenal. I like a lot of the songs you have on the list, there really hasn't been a single Radiohead album where the first song is not great. I prefer "Fight Test" off Yoshimi to Race for the Prize, but either way they both are great.
I myself am a fan of "Baba O'Reilly", the first track off of Who's Next. Great opening number.
I agree, take off Welcome to the Working Week off my list and replace it with baba O'reilly. Talk about an oversight.
I thought of a couple others:
Thunder Road/ Born to Run/ Bruce Springsteen
Astral Weeks/ Astral Weeks/ Van Morrison