Top 50 Album Openers - 20 - 11
20. Two of Us - The Beatles (Let It Be)
Let it Be was the only Beatles record that I didn't fall in love with immediately. That's why it's so great. It takes a little while to let the genius of this record seep in. And Two of Us, with its country-western feel and lyrics about two friends reminiscing about their long life together, was a wonderful way to kick it off. According to lore, it originally began as a rocker. It was written for Paul's wife Linda, though it sounds at times as if it is addressing John Lennon, whose relationship with Paul was tense at that time. The song lost its rock leanings as Paul worked out the composition. It also features some of the sweetest vocal harmonies Paul and John ever created. – Jason Hancock
19. Astronomy Domine - Pink Floyd (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
People will get on my case if I write some cliché about how the first track on Pink Floyd's first album is fitting because it is a song about space by a space-rock band. The bottom line is, even though most of this startlingly captivating record is filled with Syd Barrett's whimsically bent nursery-rhyme tales, this entry point is what really first lures you into their world. It's also a (all-to brief) glimpse of what post-Barrett Floyd would immediately latch on to: epic-sounding, mood-specific textures, and unhinged exploration. This isn't simply a stunning album opener, but a great career opener as well. And the bottom line is, they couldn't have picked a more appropriate song for the dawning of that journey. – Robert Ferdman
18. Untitled - Interpol (Turn On The Bright Lights)
OK, this isn't a very IW choice. And the fact that the rest of the album is pretty much swill doesn't elevate it any further. But the opener on Turn On The Bright Lights is one of those songs that fills the room at any volume. When the bass and drums crash in after the jangly guitar riff is established, it is akin to the complete refreshment of jumping in a warm swimming pool. The nasal voice doesn't cloy either, instead adding a touch of needed swagger and poise to the strikingly satisfying riff. It's so dark, it's so NY, it's so good for a melancholy hangover. – Daniel Ross
17. Then Comes Dudley - The Jesus Lizard (Goat)
This may be The Jesus Lizards third record, but for those uninitiated with the band, this is where you start. And when you here the lurching bass line and powerful drums the moment you hit play, you'll know why. Everything about this song fits perfectly together, an ideal blend of David Wm. Sims' bass, Mac McNeilly's drums and Duane Denison's guitar. And when David Yow's drunken yelp enters the picture, you have quintessential Jesus Lizard. The song also shows off the perfect confluence of a band and its engineer, who not surprisingly is Steve Albini. – Jason Hancock
16. White Light/White Heat - Velvet Underground (White Light/White Heat)
Three minutes of pure garage buzz that starts off all innocent boogie and turns into an atonal drone-fest. Only in New York, people, only with the Velvet Underground. Pianos crash out chords and the guitar sounds like a strangled ostrich. About two minutes the band picks a not and settles on it, pounding away with both fury and perverse pleasure, inverting the tools of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry and turning them into weapons and drugs. Of course, the song is about Amphetamine Sulphate, a popular drug with the in crowd, and it's the same up-tempo and oppressively fast 'speedy' feeling that punk rock picked up on in the late 70's, but this was '68, Lou Reed was the only punk who wasn't in jail, and rock music, still so young, was being reinvented all over again. – Geddes Gengres
15. Little Dipper – Hum (You'd Prefer an Astronaut)
This was it for me. Many people can point to one or two albums that had the most effect on them during their formidable listening years… and this is mine. Many, many nights were spent with my patch-work stereo system (complete with salvaged speakers from the 70's with blown cones that I had to tape up with masking tape to keep from buzzing) and this album. I would turn off all the lights, sit on the couch, and let the sound wash over me. Hum was my gateway into shoegazer, and "Little Dipper" was the greatest drug I've ever taken. Glacier like in movement, this four and a half minute song shows the damage that can be done with a loud guitar a keen sense of pop melody. My Bloody Valentine might have been here first, but Hum infused it with pop like melody and blew some minds. – Jake Haselman
14. Human Behavior - Björk (Debut)
Coming off of her critically acclaimed excursions with the Sugarcubes, Björk had something to live up to. And something to say. Ten albums, four live discs, and countless other remixes and b-sides later, I think it's safe to say she got her point across. And not just because she's totally hot. But, first impressions can be a career-breaker. And "Human Behavior" is no exception. Easily one of her most sprawling pop tracks (and obviously one of her fans' favorites), it started off her first solo effort Debut with a swift kick to the face … with a smile. Kind of like that reporter. – Chris Gaerig
>13. Sitting On the Dock of The Bay - Otis Redding (The Dock of The Bay)
Fuck openers. Has there ever been a song that more precisely details the loneliness, hopelessness, and general malaise of the American dream? Hell, American life? Otis travels west (2000 miles more specifically), sets up shop on a dock and sits there to watch the waves. Why? Because nothing is going his way. And nothing is going to change. Land of opportunity? Western frontier? Otis knows: The West is the same as the East is the same as the South. But wherever you're from, you can relate. – Chris Gaerig
12. Rocks Off - The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street)
Here is an idea. Let's get the Rolling Stones in a hot room, have everyone play at once, and fade the vocals in and out like a drunk is running the soundboard? What sounds like a disaster is really the trademark for the loose, dirty, and classic Rolling Stones album, Exile on Main Street. The best thing about the Stones is that despite being one of the biggest bands of the time, they were still making music like raunchy juveniles. This song, about what sounds like the inability to, um, achieve satisfaction, kicks off a double LP of shit-scraping blues and does not get enough credit for being just about as punk as it gets. – Travis Hutzell
11. Prayer to god - Shellac (1,000 Hurts)
After leading off their second album, Terraform, with the twelve-minute, two note epic 'Didn't We Deserve A Look At The Way You Really Are...' Shellac decides to bust out on 1,000 Hurts lead track with two minutes and fifty seconds of three-chord rock. Well, actually, it's more like 2:28 once you get past the spoken intro that regales the interested listener with advice like "set reproducer for reference levels" (dude, my ipod doesn't have a reproducer), but lest you think they went spoken-word on you, don't forget this is Shellac. Albini's guitar sounds like a grand piano being guillotined every time pick meets strings. Todd Trainer drums like Lurch from the Adams family, and Bob Weston picks an ascending bass pattern that spirals around it all with his familiar mid-range crunchy sound. Everything sounds twice as huge on this record, and the band's policy of no overdubs makes every hit scary precise. Albini, between stabs at his strings, wishes death on an ex lover and her new man, deadpanning "Kill him, fucking kill him, kill him already, kill him" for the last half of the song, taking it from a wish, to a scream, and finally a cruel joke. Just do yourself a favor and buy it on vinyl. – Geddes Gengres
| 50 - 41 | | 40 - 31 | | 30 - 21 | | 20 - 11 |
- IW Staff | 2006-09-21
