The EditoriaList: Thirteen Greatest First Tracks On Debut Albums
posted in: Features • Rock
There’s something about the first song on ANY album. It sets a tone, gives you an idea of what you’re in for. But the first song on an artist’s first album is often something special. It doesn’t have to be, of course, but it’s an opportunity for a musical manifesto that some artists have really taken advantage of. Sometimes it’s instantly obvious that the track is destined to be a classic, most times the song isn’t even the best song in the artist’s catalog yet has that special feeling and then sometimes it’s only in retrospect that we can see what a statement it was and how the artist’s subsequent career bore that out. I’m sure I will think of others that should be on this list, but here are some of my favorites and, by implication, yours (if you have taste, which you do, because you’re reading this).
13. Foo Fighters “ This Is A Call from Foo Fighters
The first post-Nirvana sounds from Dave Grohl were not mind-blowingly incongruous with his old band, but it was still exciting to hear something so solid and confident from that camp in those sad days when criminals like Silverchair and Bush attempted to fill the Cobain void.
12. Oasis “ Rock ˜N’ Roll Star from Definitely, Maybe
Come on, this is a great song. Liam is annoying as shit, but Rock ˜N’ Roll Star is a great album opener that absolutely cruises along.
11. MGMT “ Time To Pretend from Oracular Spectacular
MGMT seemed to come out of nowhere with this hit single that also opened their debut Oracular Spectacular. This song took the synth back from the synth-popsters and made a song that rocked pretty hard but was still subtle and textured. It’s also at once funny and kind of sad.
10. Spacehog “ In The Meantime from Resident Alien
What a band Spacehog was. In The Meantime is a huge song that went glam in the era of grunge, or whatever the hell you want to call what was happening in the mid-90s. (Remember Bloodhound Gang? Fun Lovin Criminals? It was an insane free-for-all back then.) Singer/bassist Royston Langdon evokes Bowie (“No, man. Bolan,” he once insisted) as he lets loose torrents of nearly indecipherable lyrics that are even more thrilling for it.
9. Weezer “ My Name Is Jonas from Weezer (˜The Blue Album’)
Weird, intellectual, abstract nerd-pop that did the loud/quiet thing without being so blatant about it. My Name is Jonas kicked off an unexpected album of all-killer, no-filler and heralded the arrival of a band to be reckoned with.
8. Devo “ Uncontrollable Urge from Are We Not Men? We Are Devo.
I sure as shit wasn’t listening to Devo when this album came out, but in retrospect, Uncontrollable Urge seems to tell us everything we needed to know about the magic of this band. It’s funny, strange, smart, catchy, frenetic and punk all at the same time.
7. Creedence Clearwater Revival “ I Put A Spell On You from Creedence Clearwater Revival
It’s tough to assess the bands of the pre-1970 era because, firstly, I wasn’t there, and secondly, it was a time where singles were more or just as much the focus as LPs. But if I imagine never having heard CCR, putting the needle down on this record and hearing this version of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put A Spell On You I’m pretty certain that I would lose my shit right around the halfway point’s totally mental guitar solo. Few things in life are this good.
6. The Animals “ House Of The Rising Sun from The Animals
House Of The Rising Sun has a similar impact as the CCR song above, and it’s also not original to the band, but it is a striking reinvention of the traditional folk-blues number. It is a vocal tour-de-force for Animals leader Eric Burdon. This is one of those songs that you hear so often that it becomes background after a while, but every once in a while you pay attention and really listen and are floored by the power of the singer and song. Unfortunately, MGM Records put the radio edit on this, the US version of the LP. Bastards.
5. The Jam “ Art School from In The City
The Jam first burst out of stereo speakers everywhere with this stylized mod-punk anthem. I have spent years unsure of whether Paul Weller is being ironic in his celebration of art school weirdness, and have finally decided, for the better, that he’s not.
4. Joe Jackson “ One More Time from Look Sharp!
Joe Jackson’s spectacular new wave debut Look Sharp! starts off with a great, overdriven, chopping guitar riff. As soon as you get into that groove, the drums kick in on an off-beat that totally throws you, ten seconds into the album. It’s all gold from there.
3. The Clash “ Clash City Rockers from The Clash
I’m cheating a bit here, as I did above with The Animals”around these parts (my cerebral cortex), we consider the UK version of albums produced by UK acts to be the “real” version. But in the US, CBS Records shuffled the songs around, dropping some and adding others, and putting Clash City Rockers up front. This is the one that I heard first, and so here we are. This song is kind of another take on the subject matter of The Jam’s Art School. The young Brits in Clash City Rockers may or may not be art school kids too, but they’re definitely being urged to push back against circumstance and expectation. Do what you want¦and never worry if people laugh at you¦the fools only laugh cause they envy you, sings Paul Weller. Joe Strummer agrees, I wanna liquefy everybody gone dry¦burn down the suburbs with the half-closed eyes¦you won’t succeed unless you try.
2. John Lennon “ Mother from Plastic Ono Band
Lennon’s first solo outing is a dry and often stark affair, especially to Beatle fans coming off of Abbey Road, and Mother, one of several classic rock tunes to feature heavy church bells at the intro, is among the most sad and desperate songs of the rock era. Lennon’s well-documented scream therapy is put to use on the brutal exit coda. Startling. This is the guy who wrote I’m Happy Just To Dance With You a few years earlier.
1. The Band “ Tears of Rage from Music From Big Pink
A lot of musicians had been turned on to Bob Dylan and The Band’s Basement Tapes, a spectacularly shaggy and sprawling collection of songs, prior to the release of the latter’s official debut Music From Big Pink. But the world at large was treated to the slow, rich sorrow of Richard Manuel’s voice in the opening salvo Tears Of Rage (a co-write with Dylan) as he sang, We carried you / in our arms / on Independence Day. The song, the recording, the lyrics, the voice “ chills, every time.