There's nothing like those opening 20 seconds of a killer stadium anthem or shivering-inducing power ballad. It's those 20 seconds that set the tone for the next 3-6 minute to come. When you're flipping between radio stations and at that perfect moment your hand immediately stops cold when you hear one of the following songs.
We're talking here about the last generation of songs before the surreptitious domination of pop punk and the bleating hooks of the Timbaland type, in which pushing dials around a mixing board has become a synonym for genius.
While there are literally hundreds of songs historically to choose from, we've chosen to zero in on the top 15 from the past two decades. Anyone born after 1975, prepare your hankies, or, more appropriately, perhaps, your devil horn salutes.
15. 'Killing in the Name of' - Rage Against the Machine
Like Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," this faux-rebellious ditty from the early '90s gave musical voice to that generation's version of nihilism. While their parent's fought for civil liberty in the '60s, their older brothers and sisters a deep recession from '89 to' 92, this generation had nothing concrete to reject other than simple authority itself. Ostensibly it's about the indistinguishably of government and racism, but the intro to this signature song builds to an intense crescendo of useless anger like no other in the modern era.
14. 'Blow at High Dough' - The Tragically Hip
Like the urgent ringing of a dinner bell this anthem from the Hip's early days is pure genius. No one really knows what the song is actually about, but that doesn't matter does it? Because, we can "get behind anything" the Hips puts out. Is it a memoriam to some long-dead Canuck, or a vigorous musing on drug use? Doesn't matter; it's the feeling you get when you catch that opening drum and bass on the car radio, especially on a Friday afternoon on the Canada Day long weekend heading up the 400 to the cottage with friends. What's more Canadian that that?
13. 'Outshined' - Soundgarden
While I'm not really sure what Chris Cornell meant when he layered "I've got a feeling, slow down" over that crunching, methodical opening riff, it still conjures nostalgia for the days when we all really did look good in duct-taped Birkenstocks and grey wool socks, lumber jackets and grubby tees.
12 'Longview' ('When I Come Around') - Green Day
Go back...way back to 1994, before Green Day went all mainstream with their quasi-political, faux-social conscience to make sales, there was this ode to slacker sentiment. The opening drum riff sparks one into wanting to reach into their little plastic baggy, flip on some Floyd and pull out a big fat ...
11. 'Been Caught Stealing' - Jane's Addiction
This is Jane's Addiction's biggest hit, which actually went to number one on the US Charts. The opening intro of the dog's barking over top of the funkified guitar is, simply put, a brilliant irony. Here we have an up-tempo riff on what's seemingly a dark topic. In reality, legend says, it's actually a metaphorical innuendo for sexual pleasure without consideration of the other. While this cannot be verified as true, when one reads the lyrics it kind of makes sense.
10. 'Today' - The Smashing Pumpkins
"Today" already had a chord progression and a melody, but Pumpkins front-man Corgan felt there needed to be an opening riff to the song. As he said: "One day, out of the blue, I heard the opening lick note for note in my head, when I added the opening riff, it completely changed the character of the song." Sometimes brilliance is not intentional.
9. 'Thunderstruck' - ACDC
Like a thousand raving lunatics screaming at the top of the lungs demanding release from an asylum, this AC/DC modern classic is Angus Young at his very best. Imagine a gymnasium full of delinquent teens boys blaring out this intoxicating riff anxiously waiting for the vocal arrival of Brian Johnson's most coherent lyrical offering ever. Imagine the fear on the faces of the poor thunderstruck chaperone teachers.
8. 'Under the Bridge' - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
To date, this is still the Chilli Peppers' most successful song. The melancholic intro, which also conjures Hendrix, cannot but trigger thoughtful introspection. So perfectly does it set the tone for the ensuing lament (in Anthony Keidis' case, about drug addiction) it is impossible to not start thinking about one's own issues and dreams.
7. 'Seven Nation Army' - White Stripes
It sounds like a bass guitar intro in this Iron Butterfly-ish, 3m 42s masterpiece, but it's not; at the time the White Stripes had never even used one in their music. Legend says that the pounding, earthy sound was actually created by running a semi-acoustic through a whammy pedal set down an octave. Whatever it was, it sure is mesmerizing.
6. 'Enter Sandman' - Metallica
When Metallica released its 'Black' album in November 1991, the headbanging quartet faced a mass revolt from its existing fanbase. It was as though everything they believed true about Metallica had been instantaneously destroyed by the spooky, melancholic opening few seconds of the metaphorical nightmare known as "Enter Sandman." In time the thrash army came around, and we still have 'Tallica around today thanks to that seminal album. Cue James on guitar, cue Lars on drums ... the rest is band transformational history.
5. 'Are You Gonna Go My Way' - Lenny Kravitz
This up-tempo masterpiece from the slick Lenny Kravitz is considered one of his greatest despite being criticized as rip off of Hendrix's "Ezy Ryder." Nevertheless, it's impossible to confuse it, and even more so, to turn it off.
4. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' - Nirvana
Who of their late '20 or early '30s today can forget where they were when the first moments this small Nirvana song, which later defined the sentiments of a generation, hit the airwaves on television's music mainstay MuchMusic? It was like lightning had flashed from a bottle for 7 solid minutes. At the time no one had any idea what Cobain was saying or his intent with the song, all that mattered was that when Dave Grohl followed up that syncopated rhythm with the thrash on his kit, nothing else mattered. And with the lights out it was less dangerous, but not to the establishment it condemned.
3. 'Closer' - Nine Inch Nails
Provocative and hard-edged in its emphatic pounding tone, this Nine Inch Nails classic gave audibility to carnal desire. It's to the '90s crowd what the improvised school-dance ending to Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" was to those of the '80s - a reason to scream bloody lewdness.
2. 'With or Without You' - U2
For those who still think the pinnacle of Thursday night television was when it was home to the lovable "Cheers" gang and "Night Court" nitwits, the opening rolling few moments of this lamenting U2 ballad are an unforgettable trip down memory lane.
1. 'Sweet Child O' Mine'
For adolescents of the '80, and to some degrees the early '90s, there's nothing that sends shivers down your spine like the opening few seconds of Slash's hypnotic power ballad after he plugs in his Gibson Les Paul. Today, this mainstay amongst the generation is more often heard at karaoke bars than high school dances. A pity.
What do you think of our list? Any killer intro's we've overlooked?
Kamis, 11 Agustus 2011
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