12 Tracks that Start an Album Right

Among the many, many arguments Sebastian Clark and I had in high school was what the best album opener of all time was. Both his argument and mine (at the time) made this list of the best ways to start an album, though upon further investigation, neither are the best. This is not just the best first track of all time, but the best way to kick off an album. These are the songs that have the best 10 seconds, or set the tone for whats to come in exactly the right way. 12 tracks that get you right from the beginning.

1. Nirvana- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nevermind

The fact that anyone born in the last 30ish years will recognize this power chord sequence makes this the most obvious choice on the list, but doesn't lessen the fact that it deserves a place here. An explosive kick off to one of the great albums of all time, its easy to forget amidst the significance of this song, this band, and all that came after it just how great it is. Like the Beatles, its hard to imagine or remember just what it sounded like to pop this cd in the first time and hear the opening barrage and how great the oft-replicated slow fast slow formula was. Theres nothing to say about this song that hasn't been said, but as far as kicking off an album (or a list) goes, it doesn't get much better than this.

2. Cursive- "The Casualty" from Domestica

Tim Kasher and Co. are good at many things, but their best trick may be the one they pull out most often...their ability to go from whisper to rocking and back again on a dime. This track, which sets the stage for their mini-opus on domestic troubles, goes to work as soon as the play button is pressed, taking you from silence to bombast in a heartbeat before settling back into nothing again as Kasher begins to spin the first of many tales of woe. Its hard to imagine what could have set the stage better for the album thats to come.

3. Jump Little Children- "Not Today" from Magazine

My (perhaps shameful) entry into the debate with Sebastian. While it may not be the best song on the list, and certainly most of the album is forgettable, there is still a lot of joy and triumph in the first experience of an album being a defiant yelp of "I'm sure someone would hear me if I scream". What follows may never live up to that opening blast of promise, but the first three seconds are definitely worth noting.

4. The Thermals- "Here's Your Future" from The Body, the Blood, the Machine

A distant church organ, followed by "God raised his hand up to the sky/He flooded the land and he set it afire". Certainly not the opening anyone familiar with the Thermals back catalog was expecting to open their third album. In fact, upon first listens (especially if you don't make it past this incredible first track), many thought the band had ditched their brattiness and found God. Neither is true, and with closer inspection even this rock and roll retelling of Genesis contains the anti-organized religion message that flows through the whole album. Heres Your Future sets the tone for whats to come, and the band delivers 100 percent.

5. Boy Sets Fire- "After the Eulogy" from After the Eulogy

There's no doubt about the message of this one. Defiant from the word go, Boy Sets Fire kicks off with as powerful a modern day protest song as you can find. From the opening chorus of voices swelling to the group chants of "wheres your anger/wheres your fucking rage", BSF offers to apologies and no quarter. If anyone needed a call to action, this is the song.

6. Bear vs. Shark- "Catamaran" from Terrorhawk

Okay, so maybe the lyrics don't make sense per se, and maybe I talk too much about this particular band and how good they are, but this song is just awesome. Its one thing to have a song grow on you over time, but its another to wait and wait for the new album by your favorite band to come out, take it home, pop it in your cd player, and hear within the first 30 seconds that they've surpassed your expectations. this song makes me miss this band every time i hear it.

7. Johnny Cash- "Folsom Prison Blues" from Live at Folsom Prison

I know there are other tracks on this list, but seriously, is there a better way to open an album (or a concert, or a debate speech, or anything, really) than "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash"? I don't think so.

8. Bob Dylan- "Tangled Up in Blue" from Blood on Tracks

"Early one morning the sun was shining/I was laying in bed./Wondering if she'd change at all/If her hair was still red" Doesn't sound like much, maybe, but like so many other seemingly insignificant lines, in the hands of Dylan, it's poetry. And not just poetry, but amazing, picture painting, storytelling poetry. one of his best songs kicks off perhaps his best album, and from those first lines, pedestrian or genius, you know exactly what you're in for.

9. Reel Big Fish- "Sell Out" from Turn the Radio Off

Perhaps a sentimental favorite, and you probably wont see many lists that feature Bob Dylan and RBF next to each other, but I challenge you not to be cheered up by the first 10 seconds of this song. Go on, try it. Its a great build. Trust me. And the song, if you can forget how many times you heard it in 1996, is still pretty great, a nice slice of pop that reminds me of my so cal home. I'd put it on a first track mix any day of the week.

10. Elvis Costello- "Welcome to the Working Week" from My Aim is True

Now that your picture is in the paper being rhythmically admired. I'm not sure what it means, precisely, but I do know its one of the better first lines to an album in history. It just is. This song is short, sweet, and, like so many of Costello's tracks, to the clever, snarky, biting point.

11. Blondie- "Hanging on the Telephone" from Parallel Lines

Not the only album in my Itunes that starts with a phone ring sfx (I'm looking at you, coheed and cambria) but definitely the best. A great, surprising start to a great new wave pop song. Who wouldn't want to be stalked by Debbie Harry?

12. The Beach Boys- "Wouldn't it Be Nice" from Pet Sounds

It would be disingenuous of me, surely, to exclude the other song that started this whole argument way back when. Sebastian's pick for the best opening of any album in history...I still don't hear it the way he does. Its a good song from a great album, undeniably, and it does kick off the album in a way that does promise what is to come...the sparkly pop shimmer that the boys were known for, that little twinkle, but with a little something more behind it. Does it deserve a place on this list? Probably. Is it the best? Sorry seb, like so many other things in our up and down past, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one.


As always, if anyone reads this, let me know where you think i'm wrong. Unless you picked the same twelve.