Best LP/8-Track/Cassette/CD/ Digital/Opening Song

[Riley]

There's so many good ones I can't possibly keep it to three, but this is just off the top of my head:

1. Blitzkrieg Bop, Ramones, Ramones
2. Debaser, Doolittle, Pixies
3. If I Should Fall from Grace with God, If I Should Fall from Grace with God, The Pogues

Those are very good choices! (I'd probably substitute Bone Machine for Debaser myself, but it's a very close call. Two perfect albums.)
And now I realize I've seen each of those bands play those songs live! Great memories.

 

[Riley]

Saw them live on that tour at the Buffalo Memeorial Auditorium. Smaller indoor venue with an approximate capacity of 19,000. Probably one of the loudest shows I've ever been to.

Oof. Loudness can be bad, very bad.
I saw Smashing Pumpkins at Milwaukee's tiny The Unicorn in 1992(?) while they were working on Siamese Dream. It was so loud my ears were ringing 2+ days later.
I've brought earplugs to shows ever since, and was surprised/relieved a hearing test 2 years later showed no permanent loss.

 

[Parmandur]

Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath, on Black Sabbath.

War Pigs was a good track to open Paranoid, too.

Uprising, by Muse, on the Resistance is also iconic.

 

[R_J_K75]

Oof. Loudness can be bad, very bad.
I saw Smashing Pumpkins at Milwaukee's tiny The Unicorn in 1992(?) while they were working on Siamese Dream. It was so loud my ears were ringing 2+ days later.
I've brought earplugs to shows ever since, and was surprised/relieved a hearing test 2 years later showed no permanent loss.

I saw Soundgarden in 2011. We were in the front row pit section. It was so loud and there was so much feedback at points I felt like my brain was going to explode. I had to leave and stand on the side. Saw the Foo Fighters a year later and brought earplugs. I was so surprised how much clearer everything sounded. I have pretty bad tinnitus. Not to point where I have significant hearing loss but enough that if I don't have background noise, my ears constantly ring.

Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath, on Black Sabbath.

War Pigs was a good track to open Paranoid, too.

Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and Master of Reality are classics with great opening tracks, no filler on any of them. Don't get me wrong Vol. 4 is great too but that's when they started doing alot more cocaine and it showed.

 

[Riley]

Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath, on Black Sabbath.

It’s an incredibly bold opening!

(Luckily, it worked.)

 

[Ath-kethin]

It's funny how my musical tastes have changed since this CD came out and I probably haven't listened to this CD in its entirety in close to 30 years, maybe 1994. I was a casual fan of White Zombie and Rob Zombies solo stuff. Last CD I bought of his was the "Sinister Urge" which I liked and actually listened to quite a bit at the time but nowadays I'd really have to be in the mood to throw them in my CD player today.

I've discovered I'm more a fan of La Sexorcisto specifically; White Zombie's earlier stuff is hard to listen to (if noteworthy for its influence), AstroCreep felt like it had the edges sands off, and Rob's solo stuff mostly doubled down on what I didn't like about AstroCreep. Once he picked up John 5 as a guitarist and composer around 2005 his stuff got better for a while, but none of it matches La Sexorcisto IMO.

Can't say I'm familiar with either of these.

I've been a huge Cure fan forever, so I'm biased, but I think Underneath the Stars is a great song regardless. Of course, based on another couple.comments maybe it shouldn't count since it's the strongest song on the album by orders of magnitude.

Naked City pioneered what became known as Jazzcore - it was a group of top tier jazz musicians playing incredibly fast and loud. It's something else, for sure, and "Batman" (based on the theme song from the '60s TV show) let you know what you were in for right off the bat.

 

[R_J_K75]

I've discovered I'm more a fan of La Sexorcisto specifically; White Zombie's earlier stuff is hard to listen to (if noteworthy for its influence), AstroCreep felt like it had the edges sands off, and Rob's solo stuff mostly doubled down on what I didn't like about AstroCreep. Once he picked up John 5 as a guitarist and composer around 2005 his stuff got better for a while, but none of it matches La Sexorcisto IMO.

I agree 100%. I think their earlier stuff before La Sexorcisto suffered from two things, 1) them being young, inexperienced and trying to find their footing as musicians. I think there was a few lineup changes too. 2) I think between EP and LP there were 5-6 releases and the production was just atrocious to the point you're right they were unlistenable. I picked up their compilation CD in 2008 just to listen to their early stuff and I was very let down. I own a couple CDs of his solo stuff and beside the Sinister Urge they were all one and done listens for me sitting on my CD rack collecting dust. Saw him in concert on a multi band bill once or twice and he sucked live.

I've been a huge Cure fan forever, so I'm biased, but I think Underneath the Stars is a great song regardless. Of course, based on another couple.comments maybe it shouldn't count since it's the strongest song on the album by orders of magnitude.

Naked City pioneered what became known as Jazzcore - it was a group of top tier jazz musicians playing incredibly fast and loud. It's something else, for sure, and "Batman" (based on the theme song from the '60s TV show) let you know what you were in for right off the bat.

People I hung out with when I was younger were pretty specific in what they (we) listened to so I was never exposed to the more obscure stuff or things out of our wheelhouse.

 

[Hriston]

Those are very good choices! (I'd probably substitute Bone Machine for Debaser myself, but it's a very close call. Two perfect albums.)
And now I realize I've seen each of those bands play those songs live! Great memories.

Thanks! I'd just been listening to Debaser and was struck by the sheer energy of it and thought what a good opener it was, but yeah, Surfer Rosa's a great album. Caribou's a wonderful opening song too.

Pixie's are the only one of those three I've never seen. I watched a concert of theirs from last year on youtube recently and was a little surprised how close they stick to the oldies.

 

[Riley]

Pixie's are the only one of those three I've never seen. I watched a concert of theirs from last year on youtube recently and was a little surprised how close they stick to the oldies.

The Pixies do not jam (AFAIK). When I saw them in ~1989 and 1991, they played everything By The Album, But a Little Faster. The only unexpected performance was a slow Wave of Mutilation… but even that reproduced an existing “UK Surf" B-side.

(At risk of derailing the thread… when did you see The Pogues, and were they good? I saw them at Chicago’s Old Vic in 1989 and they were brilliant - one of the best shows I’ve ever seen - but Shane missed half the shows on that tour due to being just too drunk.)

 

[Hriston]

The Pixies do not jam (AFAIK). When I saw them in ~1989 and 1991, they played everything By The Album, But a Little Faster. The only unexpected performance was a slow Wave of Mutilation… but even that reproduced an existing “UK Surf" B-side.

Yeah, it seemed like they were still playing pretty much the same set in 2022. I didn't notice them playing a single song off their new albums or any of Black Francis's solo material. Just the crowd pleasers I guess.

(At risk of derailing the thread… when did you see The Pogues, and were they good? I saw them at Chicago’s Old Vic in 1989 and they were brilliant - one of the best shows I’ve ever seen - but Shane missed half the shows on that tour due to being just too drunk.)

I first saw them play at the John Anson Ford Theatre in L.A. on June 4, 1988. (Yes, I looked up the date.) They were amazing! Shane kept opening bottles of white wine and passing them around the crowd. I was in the pit, and it was one of the best audiences I've ever been a part of. Just a really fun show. I went to a few more of their concerts after that, but Shane didn't make it which was unexpected the first time and Spider Stacy was doing lead vocals. Joe Strummer joined the band at the other concert I attended. I saw Shane with the Popes in S.F. in the early/mid nineties though which I thought was a brilliant show.

On topic, I think Transmetropolitan from The Pogues' debut album, Red Roses for Me, is a great opener, however, The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn, from Rum Sodomy & the Lash, takes the cake, I believe.