The Best Opening Seconds in Recorded Music
Is there anything better than an awesome opening to a song? It's like a thrilling first line in a book, or that first sweet bite of a juicy nectarine, if you like nectarines. Not all songs with classic opening moments stay awesome all the way through. And sometimes books with promising starts become dull and you fall asleep, or nectarines end up all grainy or gushy. But blasting out of the gate with an explosion counts for something.What are the greatest opening seconds in recorded music? Here are some ideas. You'll surely disagree. I'm no music snob, more a hits guy. I'm picking radio songs. I like guitars. If some of the choices below seem obvious, they're obvious for a reason. You're not going to leave Abe Lincoln off the "Best Presidents" because it's not cool anymore to include him. He has earned his place in Cooperstown, with his awesome riffs. I invite all rock snobs and friendly freaks to share suggestions better than mine, in Comments. But it's about time we got this discussion started. I'll add to this intro-palooza as more ideas arise. (UPDATE: some selections from comments have been added.) You may need the Flash player installed to play the audio clips; may need to click twice on the arrow to play 'em, just to show you mean it.
The best opening 1 second in recorded music: I Feel Good, by James Brown
The best opening 2 seconds: A Hard Day’s Night, by The Beatles
The best opening 3 seconds: Blitzkrieg Bop, by The Ramones
The best opening 4 seconds: September, by Earth Wind & Fire
The best opening 5 seconds: Jumping Jack Flash, by The Rolling Stones
The best opening 10 seconds: T.V. Eye, by The Stooges
The best opening 11 seconds: The Magnificent Seven, by Elmer Bernstein/Henry Mancini
The best opening 12 seconds: Rebel Rebel, by David Bowie
The best opening 14 seconds: Theme from Shaft, by Isaac Hayes
The best opening 25 seconds: ABC, by The Jackson 5
Are these choices lame? Give me better ones!
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9 Comments:
The best three seconds: Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.
Five seconds: T.V. Eye by the Stooges
Best 7 seconds: It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll), AC/DC, 1975. Sterling example of that legendary guitar tone.
Try Best 4 - Magnificent Seven (Clash)
Best 9 - Magnificent Seven (Bernstein)
And it wasn't a radio hit but pretty well known, I think:
Best 1 second: "Found a Job" by Talking Heads ("Damn!")
Also, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" is a good 7-second opener (before the first repetition)... that if you're like me, you enjoyed the first 8999 times you heard it but somehow at 9000 started turning against the song as a whole, so that opener has become a bad harbinger.
If you like guitars, what about the first 6 seconds of "Clash City Rockers"?
And I know it's dreadfully uncool to even mention, but even when I didn't like any other Eagles songs I always liked the opening guitar of "Life in the Fast Lane."
Also, not guitar at all, but an undeniably arresting 4 seconds: "Is this the real life?"
Hey, thanks for putting Bernstein's Magnificent Seven in, even if you ignored my other selections, like, ahem The Clash's (can it be that you lack a copy of Sandanista?). But hey, WTF is Mancini doing in there? It's Bernstein's score. Does Mancini really not have enough hits to his credit that he needs to horn in on other peoples'? Really, now.
Back And Black by ACDC and Eye of the Tiger by Survivor for sure.
Everytime I hear the opening of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana its always fantastic. Very monumental for the early 90s.
add to the list - best 8 seconds: Revolution, by the Beatles
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