Opening songs on an album

[S100HP]

I know what I'm trying to explain but not sure I've conveyed it correctly but I'll try...

Can you name a stronger opening 4 or 5 songs on an album than Slipknot's debut album (appreciate you probably need to like Slipknot to agree with this) but I don't think there is one. The first 5 songs are such a sonic assault on the senses and they just work together so effortlessly.

(sic)
Eyeless
Wait and bleed
Surfacing
Spit it out

I'm not sure there will ever be a start to an album that can beat this, for me.

Over to you. What is the best album start for you?

[zedx19]

Oasis - Definitely Maybe

Remember being amazed when it was released, a teenage me listening to it on repeat for weeks. I'm now 41 and it's still a weekly listen, the opening track sets off the entire album, utterly brilliant.

[dave123456]

Pixies Surfer Rosa.

[Rh14n]

Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours'.

1. Second Hand News
2. Dreams
3. Don't Stop
4. Never Going back again
5. Go your own way

[cookie1600]

Rh14n said:

Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours'.

Seconded here!

How about My Chemical Romance 'The Black Parade'

1."The End."
2."Dead!"
3."This Is How I Disappear"
4."The Sharpest Lives"
5."Welcome to the Black Parade"

Or David Gray 'White Ladder'

1."Please Forgive Me"
2."Babylon"
3."My Oh My"
4."We're Not Right"
5."Nightblindness"

[craig1912]

Springsteen “Darkness on the Edge of Town”

1. "Badlands"
2. "Adam Raised a Cain"
3. "Something in the Night"
4. "Candy's Room"
5. "Racing in the Street"

[Kuwahara]

S100HP said:

I know what I'm trying to explain but not sure I've conveyed it correctly but I'll try...

Can you name a stronger opening 4 or 5 songs on an album than Slipknot's debut album (appreciate you probably need to like Slipknot to agree with this) but I don't think there is one. The first 5 songs are such a sonic assault on the senses and they just work together so effortlessly.

(sic)
Eyeless
Wait and bleed
Surfacing
Spit it out

I'm not sure there will ever be a start to an album that can beat this, for me.

Over to you. What is the best album start for you?

Agreed it’s epic ,I would go Pantera Vulgar display of Power but switch track 5 with 6…

[MitchT]

Depends on your taste in music and what you're hoping to experience but I always enjoyed the way many of Jean-Michel Jarre's albums work as one cohesive body of work with a definite sense of "beginning" as the first track starts to unfold.

Eg. "Equinoxe" - slow, building intro. "Chronologie" - big, grandiose overture.

[johnpsanderson]

Purely going on the opening track I would say Smells like Teen Spirit as the opener to Nevermind takes some beating. So overplayed now it’s hard to imagine what it must have sounded like in ‘91

Likewise for I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor from the first Arctic Monkeys album. Edit: just realised it’s not the opener, and actually The View From The Afternoon comes first. Which is also quite the opening track…

Bombtrack on the first Rage Against The Machine album is quite an opener too…

Edited by johnpsanderson on Thursday 8th June 17:33

[Lost Soul]

Sheer Heart Attack by Queen

Brighton Rock
Killer Queen
Tenement Funster
Flick of the Wrist.



One of the few Queen albums i own

[Bairn]

Great question… first one that comes to mind is
Linkin Park - Meteora

Don’t stay
Somewhere I belong
Lying from you
Hit the floor
Easier to run

[dundarach]

Are we having concept albums?


Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (if you like the Floyd even a bit, this must be a contender)

Quadrophenia - The Who

Tommy - The Who

Operation Mindcrime - Queensryche


All never miss a beat in my book!

[General Price]

Appetite for Destruction

Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Nightrain
Out Ta Get Me
Mr. Brownstone

[Dragster]

Opening track on the The Cure's Kiss me Kiss me Kiss me is pretty special.
2. Catch
3. Torture
4. If Only Tonight we could Sleep.
5. Why can't I be You?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNTrm67-g8Q

Stones Roses' debut album opens with 'I wanna be adored.'
2. She bangs the drums
3. Waterfall
4. Don't Stop.

Edited by Dragster on Thursday 6th July 23:34

[S100HP]

To clarify, I don't mean the opening song, rather the collection of opening songs.

[Wacky Racer]

Led Zeppelin 3

Immigrant Song

Friends

Celebration Day

Since I've been loving you.

[sociopath]

johnpsanderson said:

Purely going on the opening track I would say Smells like Teen Spirit as the opener to Nevermind takes some beating. So overplayed now it’s hard to imagine what it must have sounded like in ‘91

Likewise for I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor from the first Arctic Monkeys album. Edit: just realised it’s not the opener, and actually The View From The Afternoon comes first. Which is also quite the opening track…

Bombtrack on the first Rage Against The Machine album is quite an opener too…

Edited by johnpsanderson on Thursday 8th June 17:33

As someone old enough to have been there, the fact is I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard it (January 92 in a cheap kings ski club chalet in serre chevalier) and remember just sitting there with my mouth open in disbelief.

Only other music to have had that effect was when I heard New Rose in late 76.

Yep I'm that old.

[JonnyWhitters]

General Price said:

Appetite for Destruction

Welcome To The Jungle
It's So Easy
Nightrain
Out Ta Get Me
Mr. Brownstone

This, all day long.

[cherryowen]

DSOTM by Floyd, obvs..............

But - for me - no. "On The Run", whilst appropriate for the conceptual idea for the album, ruins the first section of it.

However, the first five tracks on Pearl Jam's Ten are just dynamite

Once
Even Flow
Alive
Why Go
Black

I could have gone Superunknown by Soundgarden, but the opening tracks are hit and miss I think. Same with Rust In Peace by Megadeth.

[Polly Grigora]

Led Zeppelin IV

Forget track 4, everyone fks off for a long piss while that's playing

1 - Black Dog

2 - Rock and Roll

3 - The Battle of Evermore

Long Piss

4 - Misty Mountain Hop

5 - Four Sticks