# Intros to songs/tunes that you can identify almost immediately **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468 "2005-08-03T20:31:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/1 "2005-08-03T20:31:03Z")
Along the lines of “Name That Tune” where you wager you can identify a song (or tune) in progressively fewer notes, what songs can you identify almost as soon as they start? A few of mine: Elvis’s “Teddy Bear” Pink Floyd’s “Money” Gregg Allman’s _Laid Back_ version of “Midnight Rider” Peter Gunn Theme The Doors’ “Riders On The Storm” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” Elvis’s “Don’t Be Cruel” and probably dozens more. Yours? ---
**Author:** ![Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/das_glasperlenspiel/32/2944_2.png) [@Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Das_Glasperlenspiel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/2 "2005-08-03T20:34:25Z")
“Rock Around the Clock” - Bill Haley and the Comets ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/3 "2005-08-03T20:54:58Z")
Deep Purple “Smoke on the Water” ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/4 "2005-08-03T21:10:10Z")
This isn’t really an intro, but I can identify that little ding noise at the beginning of Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![partlycloudy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/partlycloudy/32/3114_2.png) [@partlycloudy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partlycloudy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/5 "2005-08-03T22:08:34Z")
Here are a few recent ones I can think of: Peter Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like I Do” Garth Brooks “Thunder Rolls” Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” Grateful Dead’s “Casey Jones” Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” - just about any Beatles tune ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/6 "2005-08-03T23:25:30Z")
_Layla_ ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/7 "2005-08-04T00:22:53Z")
> [@LoganDear](#): > > Here are a few recent ones I can think of: > > Peter Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like I Do” > Garth Brooks “Thunder Rolls” > Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” > Grateful Dead’s “Casey Jones” > Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” > > - just about any Beatles tune Yep, almost any Beatle song, I remember one Name that Tune when I heard [sup]Hey[/sup] [sub]Jude[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/8 "2005-08-04T00:37:53Z")
“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” amongst hundreds of others. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/9 "2005-08-04T00:46:42Z")
Kinks – Lola (That first chord is immistakable), All Day and All of the Night Springsteen – Rosalita (another distinctive chord) Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water (three chords) Stones – Sympathy for the Devil (drums) Traffic – Paper Sun (drums), Glad (drums), Light Up or Leave me Alone, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (once it fades in) Pink Floyd – Money, Astronomy Domine Allman Brothers – Statesboro Blues, Whipping Post (bass), Midnight Rider, Hoochie Coochie Man The Who – Baba O’Reilly, Pinball Wizard, Sally Simpson Led Zeppelin – Good Times Bad Times, Communications Breakdown, Stairway to Heaven, When the Levee Breaks Jethro Tull – Aqualung, Bouree Beethoven – second movement of his 9th symphony King Crimson – 21st Century Schizoid Man (if you start with the actual music – there’s a weird intro that’s hard to hear) That’s just scratching the surface. I’m usually pretty good on any song before 1975. ---
**Author:** ![lhovis73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecd19e/32.png) [@lhovis73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lhovis73)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/10 "2005-08-04T00:48:11Z")
Sweet Leaf ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/11 "2005-08-04T00:57:57Z")
Sweet Child of Mine. I passed somebody at work who had that intro as the ring tone on his cell. It almost didn’t make me want to strangle him for not having it on silent… ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/12 "2005-08-04T04:23:28Z")
Any Postal Service or Radiohead song (from _OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, or Hail to the Thief_. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/13 "2005-08-04T04:26:55Z")
Rolling Stones – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. in one note. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/14 "2005-08-04T04:28:35Z")
If it’s been on classic rock radio, I could probably identify it pretty fast. Extend that to any Allman Brothers song or Radiohead song, too. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/15 "2005-08-04T04:32:31Z")
I’m guessing pretty much anyone could recognize “Paranoid” or “Iron Man”. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/16 "2005-08-04T04:39:01Z")
Europe- Final Countdown (which is playing in the background right now) ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/17 "2005-08-04T04:49:17Z")
I remember a “Name That Tune” segment on an Opera radio show… The host hinted that this was a famous aria, and then played a single long note on the piano - one of the contestants rang in immediately with the correct answer. Hint: The note was the Ab below middle C Anybody care to try? ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/18 "2005-08-04T05:55:34Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Europe- Final Countdown (which is playing in the background right now) _dances out with knife in teeth, fanning decks of cards and dropping scarves_ For the OP: aside from what’s already been mentioned (although ditto especially “Sweet Home Alabama” and the Beatles), most of the Beach Boys’ middle stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/19 "2005-08-04T14:14:20Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > This isn’t really an intro, but I can identify that little ding noise at the beginning of Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus. Me too. 😃 There are a lot of songs that I can id from the first 1-2 seconds but the Personal Jesus ding is a lot faster than that. Other songs that are more or less hard wired into me so that I recognise them at the first sound are: Nine Inch Nails - Closer (the beat at the beginning) And One - Deutschmaschine Invincible Spirit - Push Yazoo - Don’t Go ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468/20 "2005-08-04T14:19:57Z")
One that is identifiable from the first note/chord: _Bennie and the Jets_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intros-to-songs-tunes-that-you-can-identify-almost-immediately/315468.md?page=2)