The Best Intros Thread

[Mr Delicieux]

The Gaslamp Killer - Nissim
DJ Shadow - What does your soul look like (part 1)
Badly drawn boy - Chaos theory
The Goodmen - Give it up
Fela Kuti - Water no get enemy

Aaaaaand my YouTube app just crashed.

[Kevin S]

Blur were rather gifted at creating intros - here's an attempt at my top five:

1. There's No Other Way (Graham and Co give you two excellent intros for the price of one, from 0-16 seconds and 17-24 seconds)
2. Song 2
3. Girls And Boys
4. Country House
5. Out Of Time

[delicatemoth]

The opening 33 seconds of Welcome to the Jungle is not just an intro but a statement of intent.

I like it but in my head he sings "Welcome to the jungle! I hope you brought some salad!" I've no idea what the actual words are.

The intro to 'Repetition' by The Fall is a statement of intent that the group lived up to for the rest of its 40-year lifespan.

Also:-

'Leader Of The Pack' and 'Remember (Walking In The Sand)' - The Shangri-Las
Propaganda - 'P Machinery'
Cocteau Twins - 'The Spangle Maker' (the intro takes up 75% of the song and it's glorious)
New Order 'Perfect Kiss'

[Jah Womble]

Agree with New Dawn Fades and Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.

From the same year: Babylon’s Burning - The Ruts.

How Guns n’ Roses are so revered by seemingly intelligent people, I will never understand.

[Amor de Cosmos]

'Leader Of The Pack' and 'Remember (Walking In The Sand)' - The Shangri-Las

Oh yes! Also Give Him A Great Big Kiss. "When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love... L.U.V!

Actually spoken intros are almost a sub-category of their own. Most of which are owned by George Morton and The Shangri-las.

[Sporting]

Agree with New Dawn Fades

How about Dead Souls?

[Heliotrope]

"I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5
"Papa Was a Rolling Stone" by the Temptations

[Amor de Cosmos]

By mistake I left out the Temps' My Girl from my original post. It has to be near the top of any list. So, so simple instrumentally but with David Ruffin's vocal following it my heart jumps into my throat every time I hear it.

[Mr Delicieux]

"I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5
"Papa Was a Rolling Stone" by the Temptations

Two great shouts!

[Guy Profumo]

The Cure - Friday I'm in Love
Cast - Alright

[Sunderporinostesta]

Pretty Vacant- Sex Pistols
Do It Again-Steely Dan
I Cant Go For That- Hall and Oates
Grapevine-Marvin Gaye
Mr Tambourine Man-The Byrds
Sweet Child Of Mine-Guns n Roses
Tears Of A Clown-Smokey Robinson
Uptight -Stevie Wonder
Step On-Happy Mondays
Psycho Killer-Talking Heads
Being Boiled-Human League
A Song From Under The Floorboards-Magazine

[Billy Casper]

I was just about to put Pretty Vacant!

Anarchy in the UK instead then.

[Hot Pepsi]

Everything up to when Axl blows the whistle on Paradise City.
The opening 33 seconds of Welcome to the Jungle is not just an intro but a statement of intent.

Another classic "jock jam."

[jwdd27]

Agree with virtually everything on the thread (where I'm familiar with the tune).

My additions (with, by my definition, the intro ending when the singer starts):

Baba O'Riley - The Who
I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses
Elephant Stone - The Stone Roses (give the drummer some)

and breaking my own rule, a spoken/shouted intro leading us to the music:
One Step Beyond - Madness

[Sits]

What’s Going On? Marvin Gaye
Shaft Isaac Hayes

[Nocturnal Submission]

I was just about to put Pretty Vacant!

Anarchy in the UK instead then.

Surprised that no-one has mentioned Holidays In The Sun.

Or White Riot.

I Wanna Be Adored has gone, but two other personal favourites are:

When You Were Young - The Killers
747 (Strangers In The Night) - Saxon

[Cal Alamein]

Gonna go for some intros no one will have as I love it when a song just slams right into it from the beginning.

EMI - Sex Pistols
Neon Knights - Black Sabbath
Lights Out - UFO
Speed King - Deep Purple
7 and 7 is - Love

Other faves:

Drug Stabbing Time - Clash
Hush - Deep Purple (love the faint howling and crashing intro)
Ace of Spades - Motorhead
I Can See for Miles - The Who

*Loads of ZZ Top songs

*About any song off of Van Halen's first album

[Janik]

Strawberry Fields - The Beatles
Squelchy organ says OK, this is going to be different, be ready. Which was a spot on prediction.

Fade Away and Radiate - Blondie
Spooky and minimalist, and following an intriguing pattern of the intro starting with a fair amount of sounds and instrumentation and getting sparser until it's just a snare drum essentially beating time when the song proper starts as the vocals coming in.

[delicatemoth]

I Can See for Miles - The Who

This is a good one, its whole thing is 'this is really exciting and it's going to get even more exciting'

Others that get into it right from the beginning.

Pixies - 'Bpne Machine'
PiL - 'Albatross'
Kate Bush - 'Running Up That Hill'

[caja-dglh]

The Joubert Singers - Stand on the Word

[Simon G]

I've not seen many bands but an ex of mine was a fan of Razorlight, so I took her to see them at the NIA in Birmingham.

They started their set with In The Morning and the drum solo to start and build into the gig was absolutely outstanding - it was longer and better than on the album cut.

Other intros I like:

This Old Heart of Mine - The Isley Brothers
Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
Wouldn't It Be Good - Nik Kershaw
A Certain Romance - Arctic Monkeys

[Jah Womble]

How about Dead Souls?

Or Twenty-Four Hours. Heart and Soul. Isolation.

JD had plenty of 'em.

[Sits]

What about songs which start with vocals?

Fan Mail by Blondie being an excellent example.

And (IIRC) Message To My Girl by either late Split Enz or early Crowded House. Is that the one which starts “She came all the way from America”?

[Sits]

This Old Heart of Mine - The Isley Brothers

Yes! Goosebumps.

[Jah Womble]

What about songs which start with vocals?

Fan Mail by Blondie being an excellent example.

Does La Harry not also do this on Hanging on the Telephone? I believe that perhaps she does.

Another from the same era that does - in a very different way - is Ian Dury's Plaistow Patricia. My sister and I were laughing about that song t'other day: not because of the swears per se, but because you could sing them exactly to the sound of the church bells opposite our childhood home on a Sunday.