50 best rock intros

[Bob And Charlotte]

50 best rock intros

By Larry Aydlette, Rachel Sauer, Leslie Gray Streeter, Jon Glass and Mark Buzek, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 4, 2004



You're in your car. Top down. Radio on. And on comes the magic riff, the golden opening moments of a favorite rock, soul or pop song that make you hit the volume switch and start the mandatory head-bob, followed closely by the mandatory air guitar-ing. That's what we call a great intro.

Here's our totally subjective countdown of the 50 greatest beginnings. So, let's rock.

50. Louie, Louie, The Kingsmen. Duh-duh-duh. Duh-duh. Duh-duh-duh. The sound that launched a thousand garage bands.

49. All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow. A tight, swirly little guitar riff and then Sheryl saunters out, all sassy-like, and shouts: "Hit it! This ain't no disco. It ain't no country club either. This is El-A!" You go, girl!

48. Tutti Frutti, Little Richard. Repeat after us: "A wop bop a lu bop ba lop bam boom!"

47. Ain't Too Proud To Beg, The Temptations. A rockin' drum pattern, a crash of sweet cymbal and then the lion's roar of lead singer David Ruffin: "I know you wanna leave me... "

46. Wipe Out, The Surfaris. Surf music gets high, then goes under: "Hee-hee-hee-heeeee... wipe out!"

45. Under Pressure, David Bowie and Queen. Remember that tinkly, synthy, piano-and-drum riff? So '80s, so totally cool, even Vanilla Ice couldn't ruin it.

44. Travelin' Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Repeat after us: "737 coming outta the sky/Won't you take me down to Memphis on a midnight ride... "

43. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye. House party! Marvin and his guests throw down some smooth soul greetings -- "Right on," "What's happenin', brother" -- before the exquisite sax solo slides in and blows your mind.

42. Black Dog, Led Zeppelin. A guitar string sounds like it's detuning. A slight pause. And then Robert Plant's strangled-scream: "Hey hey mama/See the way you move/Gonna make you sweat/Gonna make you groove."

41. White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane. Theme music for an opium den. Grace Slick was deep into Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain, thus the unforgettably laid-back (or drugged-out) bass and jazz-drum intro.

40. Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry. How do you describe what may be the most perfect 1950s guitar solo-as-intro?

39. Layla, Derek and the Dominos. How do you describe what may be the most perfect 1970s guitar solo-as-intro?

38. I Feel Good, James Brown. HEH! Yeah, you feel good. Just like you knew that you would.

37. Misirlou, Dick Dale. Dale turns the guitar into a machine gun of heavy reverb and riff. Imagine Pulp Fiction without it.

36. Let's Go Crazy, Prince. Prince kicks off Purple Rain with a spiritual message: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life." How do you get through this thing called life? It involves a purple banana and not letting the elevator bring you down. Cool intro, though.

35. Blitzkreig Bop, The Ramones. Hey-ho, let's go! Does anybody remember the rest of the song?

34. I Can See for Miles, The Who. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Keith Moon: The only man who played his drums like Hendrix played the lead guitar. A tour-de-force display of raw percussive power kicks off the Who's best song.

33. The Tears of A Clown, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. That irresistibly jingly-jangly, calliope-sounding intro, those beating drums and then Smokey sings, "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah... " Oh yeah.

32. Walk This Way, Aerosmith. Kicks off with a great backbeat. Enter Joe Perry's snarling guitar riffs. And here comes Steven Tyler and those lips. Can't you hear it? Total rock 'n' roll.

31. Wooly Bully, Sam The Sham and the Pharoahs. Repeat after us: "Uno, dos, tres... quatro!"

30. Sunday Bloody Sunday, U2. The beat of martial drums and the Edge's chiming guitar riffs. U2, welcome to America.

29. Back In The U.S.S.R., The Beatles. We feel pretty comfortable saying this is the greatest combination of airplane landing gear noise and electric guitar in rock history.

28. Daydream Believer, The Monkees. "What number is this, Jim?" "7A!" Don't worry, Davy, we don't hate you. But, yes, you are short.

27. Bad to the Bone, George Thorogood. Blues-bludgeoned rock riffing. Ba-ba-ba-ba-bad.

26. I Get Around, The Beach Boys. Repeat after us: "Round, round, get around, I get around... "

25. Iron Man, Black Sabbath. The pounding chords, and Ozzy's robotic voice: "I... am... Iron Man!" Come to Butt-head!

24. Don't Be Cruel, Elvis Presley. When rock was still a little country, with that great finger-snapping bass opening and Elvis cooing all smooth and sexy-like.

23. Mystery Dance, Elvis Costello. The other Elvis doesn't waste time with an intro, just starts spitting out the lyrics in this tribute to hot-and-cold passion: "Romeo was restless, he was ready to kill... "

22. Light My Fire, The Doors. The greatest, whirling-swirling-psychedelic organ intro in rock history.

21. Love and Happiness, Al Green. There's something about those chucka-chucka-chucka Memphis soul guitar lines that open this song, and the flooding undertow of the Hammond organ, then Brother Al crooning, "Love and happiness... " Take us to the river!

20. Money, Pink Floyd. We feel comfortable saying this is the greatest slot machine/cash register sound effects intro in rock history.

19. Barbara-Ann, The Regents. Repeat after us: "Bar-bar-bar, bar-Bar-bara Ann."

18. Born to Be Wild, Steppenwolf. Still the best part about Easy Rider.

17. Theme From Shaft, Isaac Hayes. Hear that high-hat cymbal riding? The funky-cool guitar coming in? The orchestra rising in the background? Total, 100 percent soul. Shut your mouth!

16. Rock the Casbah, The Clash. A cheesy organ intro for these punk pioneers, but who doesn't start dancing and yelling, "Rock the casbah! Rock the casbah!"

15. Blue Suede Shoes, Carl Perkins/Elvis Presley. Repeat after us: "Well, it's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now GO cat GO!"

14. We're An American Band, Grand Funk Railroad. Give it up for Palm Beach County's Don Brewer and his wild, unforgettable drum intro to one of the '70s great Top 40 songs.

13. Proud Mary, Ike and Tina Turner. The greatest spoken intro in rock history: "We never, ever do nothing nice and easy." Tell it, Tina!

12. Smoke On The Water, Deep Purple. Duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-da-da. Chapter 1 in the Air Guitar for Beginners manual.

11. Foxy Lady, Jimi Hendrix. The fingers moving effortlessly up and down the frets. The scrunchy face. And that soulful, rough voice whispering, "Foxy lady!" Hendrix, man, Hendrix!

10. Immigrant Song, Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page's unforgettable riff, then Robert Plant's banshee yell: "Ah-aaa-aaaaaaaa-ah!"

9-3: Honky Tonk Women, Sympathy For The Devil, Start Me Up, Gimme Shelter, Paint It Black, Monkey Man, Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones. The greatest openers in the history of rock. Why do Stones songs last? Because those lead-off guitar riffs, courtesy of Keith Richards and the great Bill Wyman-Charlie Watts rhythm section, hook deep, deep into your brain. They kick a--. Let's face it: This whole list could be Stones songs.

2. Like A Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan. The snare drum shot that changed rock. With that one crack of the drumstick, followed by Al Kooper's circus organ and Dylan's -- gasp -- electric guitar, the second wave of '60s rock kicked into high gear. How does it feel?

1. A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles. The guitar chord heard 'round the world. Musicologists still debate what the chord is, where exactly George Harrison fingered the frets on his 12-string guitar. Whatever. That "Bwwwaaaaang" rocks.

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[invisible Pole]

I'd say Elvis' "Man Out Of Time" has got one of the best intros ever.

[Copenhagen Fan]

I think my favorite EC intro is B-Movie!!!!!!!! Cool drums and bass.