Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Greatest moments in rock and roll, part 8

(Happy 4/20, folks. Copy 12 will be mailed tomorrow.)

Today's spotlight: the beginning

This is a particular weakness of ours. We don't usually give our songs their proper introductions. Let's look at a sampling of good intros, particularly those that aren't just the first chord played for 2 bars.

Intros that appear nowhere else in the song

The Beach Boys - California Girls (it keeps building: piano and guitar, bass, then horns, then the organ)
The Beatles - If I Fell (intro verse)
The Beatles - Michelle (guitar part)
The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (chord)

The intro is also a between-verse link

Elliott Smith - Everything Means Nothing To Me (brief piano flourish)
The Beatles - In My Life
The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

One song or instrumental track introduces the next

Blonde Redhead - Equally Damaged/ In Particular
Van Halen - Eruption/ You Really Got Me
Queen - We Will Rock You/ We Are The Champions
Brian Wilson - Our Prayer/ Gee/ Heroes and Villains

I'm sure there are many other excellent intros out there. This is just what I can come up with off the top of my head.

Honorable mention goes to The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) for a spectacular multi-part intro:

Sample: "gunter glieben glauten globen"

Female vocalist: Give it to me, baby
Male vocalist: uh huh, uh huh
x3

Spoken: And all the girlies say I’m pretty fly for a white guy

Guitar riff

Spoken: Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinquo, senco, ses

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