Best album opener

[Spiff]

Pinched from another thread, cos it's a subject that deserves a thread all of its own.

What's the best track one, side one around? Personally I think Smells Like Teen Spirit is one of the best. Rush often had top openers (Finding My Way, 2112, Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio), Dream Theater have had a good one (Pull Me Under), Maiden have had many good ones (Prowler, Where Eagles Dare, Aces High, Sign of the Cross). There are sure to be quite a few decent ones over the years.

 

[Goreripper]

I'll put my hand up and say "Angel of Death" is a good one. So is "Immigrant Song" and "Black Dog". "Hell's Bells" is unspeakably awesome. "Welcome to the Jungle" also.

 

[plattopus]

A Change of Seasons has gotta be up there, but I don't think it counts since it's really the only DT song on the album.

Some others I thought of (I just went through my CD list to make it easier):

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath)
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath)
Chroma Key - Colorblind (Dead Air For Radios)
Coldplay - Politik (A Rush of Blood to the Head)
Daysend - Born Is The Enemy (Severence)
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Tarkus (Tarkus)
Genesis - Dancing With the Moonlit Knight (Selling England by the Pound)
Elton John - Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin III)
Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand (Presence)
Led Zeppelin - In the Evening (In Through the Out Door)
Muse - Sunburn (Showbiz)
Opeth - The Leper Affinity (Blackwater Park)
Pain of Salvation - ! (Entropia)
Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Wish You Were Here) [it counts! shut up!]
Porcupine Tree - Phase I (Voyage 34)
Porcupine Tree - Blackest Eyes (In Absentia)
Rush - 2112 (2112)
Silverchair - Emotion Sickness (Neon Ballroom)
Simian Gibbet - [untitled] (Simian Gibbet)
Template - Holly Wouldn't (Template)
TransAtlantic - All of the Above (SMPTe)
TransAtlantic - Duel With the Devil (Bridge Across Forever)
Vanden Plas - I Can See (Far Off Grace) [very underrated opener]
Yes - Close to the Edge (Close to the Edge)

The pick for me would be Blackest Eyes. Often you hear people talk about getting their ass kicked when they first here an album, but no album typifies that better than In Absentia. Noone expected such a hard rocking, amazing song to begin In Absentia so when that riff comes in you're like "holy fuck this is awesome".

Second place would probably go to Holly Wouldn't.

And I would like to point out that the word "Sabbath" appears eight times in the first two lines of this list.

 

[Goreripper]

Daysend - Born Is The Enemy (Severence)

Agreed. That song is so catchy, you have to listen to the album twice for the other songs to catch up.

I just thought of another: "Burning Times" by Iced Earth.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

As I said in the other thread, Metallica are open albums very well. Fight Fire With Fire, Battery, Blackened, and Enter Sandman have to be some of the best openers ever.

Angel Of Death is a goodun.

Megadeth's Into The Lungs Of Hell and Holy Wars are awesome, and the openers from the first two albums are strong to.

Dio's Stand Up And Shout.

Grave Digger also open albums really well. Tunes Of War has a really strong opening, though Spawno may be the only person here who has heard it.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Iced Earth's Angels Holocaust and Burnt Offerings are awesome as well.

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

Bon Jovi - Lay Your Hands On Me
Bon Jovi - Let It Rock

Both dramatic openers with big intros then just EXPLODE! Also...

Vinnie Vincent Invasion - Boyz Are Gonna Rock
Vinnie Vincent Invasion - Ashes To Ashes
Pretty Boy Floyd - Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz
Motley Crue - In The Beginning.../Shout At The Devil
Guns N Roses - Welcome To The Jungle
Keel - The Final Frontier
Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare
Slaughter - Reach For The Sky

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

I think Stand Up & Shout is a crap opener and Holy Diver would have been better. Why open straight up with a rocker, THEN have a big dramatic 1 minute keyboard intro exploding into a big track as the second song?!?! Should be the other way around.

I also think Down Boys should have been the opener on DRFSR by Warrant. It's the more obvious opener with a quiet intro which explodes into a big riff of a great big chorus track perfect to open with. But instead they open with a filler track (probably the worst song on the whole album) with no real impact at all... even the title track would have been a far better opener.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I can't believe I forgot one of, if not THE best opener ever, PAINKILLER!!


I will agree that Vinnie Vincent Invasion - Boyz Are Gonna Rock is great too, one of the best glam songs ever.

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

Ohh I forgot Painkiller too that's gotta be there. How explosive an opening track can you get!!! And yeah Boyz is a perfect opener, that album could not have a more perfect way to begin than with that squealing feedback rolling into that riff with the air raid style guitar noise in the background, just killer!

And I don't get the big deal about Angel Of Death as an opening track... I think Killing Fields is a better opening song. And Hell Awaits too, not as good a song but a better way to open the album.

Also this is 3 tracks.... But how about:

Queensryche - I Remember Now/Anarchy X/Revolution Calling

WHAT A WAY TO START AN ALBUM!!!!!!

 

[The Amazer]

Sigur Ros - Intro/Svefn-G-Englar
Sigur Ros - Vaka

the strange thing is, they're my two fav Sigur Ros songs, so when the rest of the album comes along, as awesome as they are (for the two that I won, being Agaetis Byrjun and ( ) respectively) they don't live up to the opening song.

 

[Connie Fixx]

Metal Shop - Satans Intro

 

[plattopus]

Sigur Ros - Intro/Svefn-G-Englar
Sigur Ros - Vaka

the strange thing is, they're my two fav Sigur Ros songs, so when the rest of the album comes along, as awesome as they are (for the two that I won, being Agaetis Byrjun and ( ) respectively) they don't live up to the opening song.

I don't have Agaetis Byrjun (I've borrowed it off a friend once but haven't listened to it more than a couple of times), but surely Track 4 of ( ) is better than the first track!

 

[spawn]

Imperium by Machinehead

 

[9mm]

Holy Wars.

 

[spawn]

Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf

 

[The Amazer]

track 4? That's probably the happiest song on the album, haha.

Nah, I prefer the first track definately, no drums whatsoever and that truly explosive climax at the end. It's unreal.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Imperium is indeed awesome.

 

[Southy]

Fucking Oath Imperium is awesome

 

[MeKaChrOme]

Edguy - Mysteria