I was listening to the radio today and the DJ introduced The Who’s Long Live Rock as having one of the most recognizable intros in rock. Mm, whut? Don’t get me wrong, I like The Who but that’s not even close.
Off the top of my head I’m thinking of classics like Iron Man, Smoke On The Water, Purple Haze. I’m guessing if I throw it out here I’ll get the phone book but it still might be fun to compile a list of doper faves.
For me, I’ll start with Hot For Teacher. In addition to being recognizable, it has the added bonus of being drum driven and not totally guitar driven. Thinking about it I guess you could say the same for Wipeout.
“Smoke on the Water” was the first thing that occurred to me on seeing the thread title. “Satisfaction” was the second. I really don’t think “Hot for Teacher” is a recognized enough song to have a chance.
I remember when the tv show “Name That Tune” was revived in the '70s. In the debut, the emcee offered a demonstration of how the game works. He said that they would play the beginning of a famous song, but only the very first chord, and that despite the tiny sample, he was confident that 90% of the audience would recognize it. I was watching and listening, and doubted that I’d guess the song, but when they played that long guitar strum from A Hard Day’s Night’s opening, I knew he was right.
Heck, don’t most songs that were popular have memorable openings to those familiar with the songs? I started a list of songs/links that started out memorably to me but heck, most every song I remembered I could tell by the first 6 notes or so. That being said, The Chord from “A Hard Day’s Night” is the intro everyone familiar with the song can name in one.
