Wilco “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlxH9-TYseY
Dinosaur Jr “Freak Scene” from Bug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV2kJ0rSfKU
REM “Radio Free Europe” from Murmur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7Dekd24kMM
Smashing Pumpkins “Cherub Rock” from Siamese Dream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbrfXDFuzu0
This is a great exercise. So many great openers.
Wow! I love this discussion. I tend to listen to albums as units, so opening tracks are always front of mind for me. I always want to put multiple opening tracks into any playlist I’m working on but it never feels right if I do. Anyway, these probably won’t go on the mount rushmore of openers compared to all the excellent suggestions above, but a few good ones jumped to mind:
Phoenix: Lisztomania is more popular, but Entertainment gets me going:
The Oh Hellos, if you’re into folk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sf7J8wXXa8
For the angsty middle schooler in all of us:
The rest of the album doesn’t live up to it, but this opener has it all, including tuvan throat singing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olTcJxQrkdw
Perhaps the best album opener that I’ve also witnessed as a concert opener:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzztt2NimXc
Maybe not as much love because the rest of the album is also so, so good, but the perfect table setter to perhaps my favorite album of all time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuZ4Zm3QcZk
Don’t care if @djpie doesn’t like JV, this song rules:
My favorite Gregory Alan Isakov song, which just happens to also be the opener to my favorite GAI album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz2qpnRB5_E
Ra Ra Riot!
The musical embodiment of a late-afternoon summer nap in a rocking chair on a porch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04F8Vv2JrAM
A college classmate of mine, who I regret never meeting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_a1hPwXiWw
Paper Kites!
10000+ for Attaboy, the official opening song of Autumn
Hard Day’s Night - Hard Day’s Night. The OG opening chord.
Gimme Shelter - Let it Bleed. Talk about a punch in the mouth…
Back in Black is okay too, I guess.
Got me thinking about Best Album Closers now, secret tracks not included.
YUP!
I don’t know I let us get this far without mentioning one of the greatest songs of all time off of one of the greatest albums of all time. THUNDER ROOOOOAAAAAD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdhkaPZtQF4
Fanboy pick almost had me putting a bunch of Death Cab track ones. Marching Bands of Manhattan, Bixby Canyon Bridge, and I Dreamt We Spoke Again are all excellent.
My wife took me to a Kacey Musgraves concert last year and I’ll admit I was indifferent going in. Slow Burn was the opener and I was hooked throughout the show - so good! Bought a t-shirt on the way out lol
This is the one I was thinking of, sets the tone for the album perfectly.
@bw72 Slow Burn is also a spot on opener for that album, chills me out as soon as it starts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbkqE4fpvdI
Let Herbie funk up your morning
That album is so much different than her earlier stuff. People should not write it off just because they don’t like typical country
I was a little late and came to them via Odd Soul. The songs Walking Paranoia and Cavalries on that album are so damn good. Worth the price of admission with those two alone.
Siiiiiiiiiiii::deep breath:: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick
Fucking finally. Last Exit, too
I haven’t listened to this album in probably 10 years.
Electric Warrior is masterful.
Cosmic Dancer is such a damn good song.
Slayer’s “Angel of Death” or “Metallica’s Battery” can’t be topped
This perfectly describes the thought process I had when listening to it for the first time.