The Best Intros Thread

[Jah Womble]

We had a convivial drink together but that was it. IIRC we were both either in, or about to be in, other relationships at the time.

Ah. Something similar happened to me with a now-noted female singer who likes to perform in her kitchen.

The day of our 'date' (more of a drink, really), I discovered that I was going to be a dad...

[Sits]

The Stems - At First Sight
David Bowie - Changes, John I’m Only Dancing, Jean Genie... actually loads.

[DPDPDPDP]

Big Country - In A Big Country
Big Country - Fields of Fire
The Bathers - Kelvingrove Baby
Trembling Blue Stars - Cold Colouurs

[Sits]

Big Country - Fields of Fire

Good call. Tapped drumstick intros could be their own subset.

[Mr Delicieux]

Electric Six - Danger! High voltage.
Propaganda - Duel
Ian Dury and the blockheads - Dance of the screamers
Police - Bed's too big without you
Kool and the gang - Hollywood swingin'
Funkadelic - I got a thing, you got a thing, everybody's got a thing
Massive attack - Unfinished sympathy

[Lang Spoon]

Great call on Funkadelic. Personality Crisis by New York Dolls, Funhouse by the Stooges.

[Billy Casper]

I'm guessing no one has put...

Blockbuster - Sweet

... because it's just too obvious.

(About thirty years ago, we had an ongoing discussion in my family about musicians that each of us really liked. Buddy Holly, Sweet and Abba were the only three we came up with.)

[danielmak]

I don't know if this the best but it is perhaps one of the most recognizable and shifted the music landscape for 5+ years:

[Hot Pepsi]

It is one of the best.

[Guy Profumo]

Big Country - In A Big Country
Big Country - Fields of Fire
The Bathers - Kelvingrove Baby
Trembling Blue Stars - Cold Colouurs

12" version, I trust?

[Lymeswold Snork]

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

Though I saw the Boomtown Rats at the weekend (they're so twentieth-century, they're so 1970s), and so was reminded that "(I never loved) Eva Braun" begins "Are you really going out with Adolf"?

[Sits]

Though I saw the Boomtown Rats at the weekend (they're so twentieth-century, they're so 1970s), and so was reminded that "(I never loved) Eva Braun" begins "Are you really going out with Adolf"?

You saw them? As in they’re performing?

[Felicity, I guess so]

Poly Styrene introducing Oh Bondage, Up Yours!

[DPDPDPDP]

12" version, I trust?

Guy, I had to remind myself of the 12” version intrio I actually prefer the 7” / album intro. Either way, what a bloody, bloody great. I’m listening to it as I’m typing this and all of a sudden it’s the summer of 1983 again and I’m 20 years old. What a great time for music.

[Eggchaser]

Has anyone mentioned “Crazy Train?”

Me, at post no. 24.

My daughter asked for it as we were driving home from our Peak District holiday today. And my son knew the answer to "What does Ozzy say?" ("Bark at the Moon!") when he was 4. I believe this is known as good parenting.

[gjw100]

Pat Metheny's 'Roots Of Coincidence'.

[Lymeswold Snork]

You saw them? As in they’re performing?

At a free event in a Dagenham park. But I think Totally Blondie were much better at being Blondie than the Rats were at being themselves.

Not sure whether they've got anything else coming up, "tour dates" on here is blank for me:
https://www.theboomtownratsofficial.com/ .

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I'm sure we had an "intros that were better than the rest of the song" thread and if so I would have said this, but it stands up here as well - Remedy by the Black Crowes. It dies on its arse halfway through, and I never had any time for the rest of their output, but it is a glorious opening minute or so.

[Sits]

Guy, I had to remind myself of the 12” version intrio I actually prefer the 7” / album intro. Either way, what a bloody, bloody great. I’m listening to it as I’m typing this and all of a sudden it’s the summer of 1983 again and I’m 20 years old. What a great time for music.

This. The Crossing is still one of my favourite albums, not a bad track on it. Such a shame they never matched it, and how things ended up for Stuart Adamson.

[Sits]

U2 - The Fly

[jameswba]

This. The Crossing is still one of my favourite albums, not a bad track on it. Such a shame they never matched it, and how things ended up for Stuart Adamson.

They weren't the only ones who never matched it. Best album of the 80s I think. Wonderland is a fantastic song too and I liked Steeltown and The Seer, and played them to death at the time. But The Crossing is the one I'd always go back to.

[DPDPDPDP]

They weren't the only ones who never matched it. Best album of the 80s I think. Wonderland is a fantastic song too and I liked Steeltown and The Seer, and played them to death at the time. But The Crossing is the one I'd always go back to.

The Crossing is one of my favourite albums of all time. I can’t remember the last time I listened to it from start to finish though thanks to the joy and curse of technology- all my music is on playlists etc these days which is great for variety and for the surprise of not knowing what song is coming on next, but not so good for listening to albums all the way through, although the technology does make this easy, I think it’s just laziness on my part that I don’t.

Regarding “not matching the first album”, I think the same could be said of Aztec Camera (High Land, Hard Rain), Lloyd Cole (Rattlesnakes), orange Juice (You Can’t Hide), Deacon Blue (Raintown) etc. however I wonder if that’s really true. For each of those artists, and others, I’ve always listened to the first album way more than subsequent ones and the first album is virtually always the one I think of if I fancy just listening to that band. Strange, innit.

[anton pulisov]

Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World

[elguapo4]

The Crossing is one of my favourite albums of all time. I can’t remember the last time I listened to it from start to finish though thanks to the joy and curse of technology- all my music is on playlists etc these days which is great for variety and for the surprise of not knowing what song is coming on next, but not so good for listening to albums all the way through, although the technology does make this easy, I think it’s just laziness on my part that I don’t.

Regarding “not matching the first album”, I think the same could be said of Aztec Camera (High Land, Hard Rain), Lloyd Cole (Rattlesnakes), orange Juice (You Can’t Hide), Deacon Blue (Raintown) etc. however I wonder if that’s really true. For each of those artists, and others, I’ve always listened to the first album way more than subsequent ones and the first album is virtually always the one I think of if I fancy just listening to that band. Strange, innit.

ABC would be another in the 80s " never matched the first album ".

I haven't listened to any Aztec Camera stuff in years, I'll have to dig out my copies of " High land hard rain " and " Love", another terrific album.

[danielmak]

I'm sure we had an "intros that were better than the rest of the song" thread and if so I would have said this, but it stands up here as well - Remedy by the Black Crowes. It dies on its arse halfway through, and I never had any time for the rest of their output, but it is a glorious opening minute or so.

I'm a big fan of The Crowes but I think you're right with this one in that the song seems to repeat once the intro is over (ratio of choruses to verses is quite high--although I haven't done an A<->B). I still like the song, though.