Top Ten Song Intro's

My good friend Chad likes to make top ten lists. Movies, soundtracks, etc etc. I used to watch those VH1 top 100: Rock songs, Pop songs, Bands, etc etc and often found their choices to be of poor quality. I almost went balistic when Blender Magazine had the top 50 worst bands and they included The Doors and Oingo Boingo... (Seriously? Are you nuts?) They did however redeem themseleves JUST SLIGHTLY by including The Insane Clown Posse and Creed.

I thought tonight that I'd float out a top ten list which I've been building in my mind for years.

THE TOP TEN SONG INTRO'S!

You know how sometimes the first 20 seconds or so of a song are just wicked cool and pull you in to the tune like a cowboy roping a steer? I'll start at 10 and work to one though I'm blogging on the seat of my pants here so not a lot of thought to the order.


10. Sound of Silence- Simon and Garfunkle
If you've seen the Graduate you know that this song is debuted as Ben is floating dumbly down the walkway at the airport. This song (as with many songs) sounds really cool if you listen to it at night. A few creepy notes followed by a perfectly harmonized: "Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk to you again...." So beautiful. Top 5 songs I've ever seen performed live.


9. What's the Frequency Kenneth- R.E.M.
All I can do is sing the first bar to you.. DA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAAAAAAAAA NA NAAAAAAAA NAAAA NAAAAAAAA BOOOM CHING What's the frequency Kenneth...
There is no better way to start a Saturday morning than with this song blazing in your car as you go off to do errands. Trick is that you must be alone. Having other people in the car is awkward cause let's face it, I don't know the rest of the lyrics so I just sing whatever comes to mind.


8. My Name is Jonas- Weezer
This was the first rock album I owned. I'll never forget the first time I fired up the huge stereo speakers in my brother's room and heard the cool little accoustic picking accelerate into an explosion of MY NAME IS JONAS DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN! I can't think of anyone who doesn't like Weezer. And if you don't like them, you at least love the Blue album.

7. People of the Sun- Rage Against the Machine
I saw this song performed live. Tom Morello is a crazy good guitarist, and he plays this riff with an Alan Wrench (sp?) After a few times of the "Dana na na NA NA Dana na na NA NA" the drums come in super strong beat and Zach de la Rocha hits the "yeah people COME ON!" What a great intro to a great song. I used to really like Rage, but then I got into politics and realized that though the music was great, they are way out in left field politically.

6. Welcome to the Jungle- Guns and Roses
Wish I knew how to post song intros, but I don't have to because you all KNOW this one. The guitar starts...and stops....STARTS...and stops...but then we finish the whole riff, Axel howls, and then DA NA NA NA NA NA SHA! We're into the main riff and we get "Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games..." I actually started answering the phone like that for a while.

5. When the Levee Breaks- Led Zeppelin
What? not Stairway? Nope, I think Stairway is nice and all, but the drums that start this song off are incredibly eerie. They recorded this song in an old haunted house. They put the drums in the hallway and put the microphones all around the house to get the effect. This one might not come to your memory quickly. If not, it's worth the download or the sampling. Point is, the first 20 or so seconds of this song are bad A!
4. Blind- Korn
DA NA NA NA..........DA NA NA NA......DA NA NA NA (dun dun dun dun BOOOOOM) DA NA NA NA.....DA NA NA NA (dun dun dun dun BOOOOOOM) DA NA NA NA...DA NA NA NA....DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DA NA NA NA DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DA NA NA NA DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DA NA NA NA ARRRRRE YOU REAAAAAAAAADY!?
Yeah I don't have to say anything more than what I just typed.

3. Personal Jesus- Depeche Mode
Ding Ding.....(echo builds slowly with Dave Gahan's voice) RRRRRRRREACH OUT AND TOUCH FAITH! And then that guitar riff pops in there with possibly the best guitar riff ever invented. Like all great Depeche Mode songs, this one just builds and builds and adds heavier beats and sounds until your head is just exploding with trying to comprehend what is going on. This is also top 5 songs ever performed live for me. It is an experience.

2 1/2. Dead Man's Party (best of Boingo Version) Oingo Boingo
I finished my list and realized that one of my favorite songs of all time is not on the list. There are two versions of this song. One is the original release which started with a cool guitar riff, the other, which I enjoy only slightly more, starts with the blaring Oingo Boingo horn section. DA NA NA DA NA NA NA.....Dun dun dun dun dun...da na na na. Then the guitar comes in....some odd drumb beats...and, "All dressed up with nowhere to go, walking with a dead man over my shoulder...and it just breaks into the dead coming to life and getting down like nobodies business. So amzaing. Great song to blast as loud as possible.


2. Today/Bullet with Butterfly wings/Zero- Smashing Pumpkins
K as you can see, this top ten list is skewed cause I'm a huge Pumpkins fan and these may not make other lists...well actually there is no denying that the opening of "Today" doesn't belong on everyone's list. The first 9 notes ring in like a beautiful chime and then crescendo (sp?) into a thunderous wall of "Boston-esque" guitars that forge that chime into an ocean of power and....
And I'm going to leave it at that. Let's just say that starting a song with, "The World is a Vampire" followed by scary bass and drums is perfection and the screeching melodious wrenching of the opening to Zero are a thing of beauty to disenchanted teens.


1. Break on Through- The Doors
This has been my number one pick in my head for years. Starts with the cool blues/jazzy symbols...moves seamlessly into the organ playing the killer riff of "Da na NA na NA nana NA na" The guitar hops in and then Morrison appears out of nowhere with, "You know the day destroys the night....Night divides the day...try to run...try to hide....BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE. And the song just goes freaking NUTS! I LOVE this opening. You'd be hard pressed to find a song to equal this one.


These are my top ten...I know I missed literally HUNDREDS of possibilities for this list. Usher's "YEAH"---- Metallica's "Sad But True"---- and so many more. But I had to get these down on paper...errr blog so that I could at least get a feel for it. Anyone else wanna chime in? Seriously which songs did I miss here. Baby got back? Beautiful day? Dig it- Reeves