# Worst songs that open an album side **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 1, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872 "2012-07-01T02:59:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/21 "2012-07-02T04:04:00Z")
I love “Within You Without You” now but as a kid listening to _Sgt. Pepper’s_ on tape in the 90s, I always flipped the tape then fast-forwarded through that song. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/22 "2012-07-02T05:23:58Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > _Dire Straits_’s eponymous first album is odd in that every song on side two is very noticeably better than any song on side one; it almost like listening to a different band. Side two opens with the strongest song, and the hit, _Sultans of Swing_, but side one opens with the weak “Down to the Waterline.” Arguably there are yet weaker songs on side one, but anything from side two would have made a stronger opening. Totally disagree. _Down to the Waterline_ has some of the tastiest guitar licks on the whole album. I like it better than _Sultans of Swing_ and I really like SoS. Side one also contains _Six Blade Knife_, which I consider another tasty morsel of Knopfler goodness. I agree that the other songs on side one are kind of “meh”, & that side two is good from beginning to end. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/23 "2012-07-02T07:17:25Z")
“If You Can’t Rock Me” opening the Rolling Stones’ _It’s Only Rock 'n Roll_. It’s a bad opener with an unfortunate title. It can’t rock me, and I know that their cover of “Ain’t too Proud to Beg” is next. I don’t know if I’ve head the end of the opener on that album more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/24 "2012-07-02T13:44:10Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Not the worst, but I never liked “Money” kicking off Side two of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon. Hey! That’s the only Pink Floyd song I like! ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/25 "2012-07-02T13:48:56Z")
Peter Gabriel’s _Up_ opens with “Darkness”, which is the worst song on the album, and is also extremely jarring if you turn it up too loud (which is easy, since it opens very low and suddenly throws in noise at high volume). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/26 "2012-07-02T14:09:50Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Opinions vary, but I always disliked King Crimson’s , “21st Century Schizoid Man”, the very first song from, “In the Court of the Crimson King”. So unlike the rest of the album. I like “Schizoid Man,” but you’re absolutely right, it sounds VERY different from everything else on the album. At different times, I’ve heard Ian McDonald, Robert Fripp, Greg Lake, Mike Giles and Pete Sinfield telling hilarious stories about fans who’d only heard “I Talk to the Wind” or “Moonchild” coming out to hear the band, thinking they were some kind of arty psychedelic folk-pop group like the Moody Blues. Many of those people raced for the exits when they opened their sets with “Schizoid Man.” ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/27 "2012-07-02T14:23:24Z")
“Nightime in the Switching Yard,” which is the opening track on side 2 of Warren Zevon’s _Excitable Boy_ has no business being on the record at all. Calling it “filler” doesn’t do justice to filler. Zevon’s one of my all-time favorites and I love seven of the nine tunes on the album. I’ve never been particularly fond of “Johnny Strikes Up the Band,” which opens side 1, either. But “Nightime in the Switching Yard” is so much worse! In fact, I’d nominate _Excitable Boy_ as the best album ever made with weak opening tracks on both sides. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/28 "2012-07-02T18:10:23Z")
_Another Side of Bob Dylan_ opens with “All I Really Want To Do”… not a horrible song, but I think it’s the weakest track on the album, a throwaway by Dylan standards that might have sounded better if he hadn’t been so drunk. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/29 "2012-07-02T18:24:01Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > “Nightime in the Switching Yard,” which is the opening track on side 2 of Warren Zevon’s _Excitable Boy_ has no business being on the record at all. Calling it “filler” doesn’t do justice to filler. > > Zevon’s one of my all-time favorites and I love seven of the nine tunes on the album. > > I’ve never been particularly fond of “Johnny Strikes Up the Band,” which opens side 1, either. But “Nightime in the Switching Yard” is so much worse! > > In fact, I’d nominate _Excitable Boy_ as the best album ever made with weak opening tracks on both sides. Being a Zevon fan, I often wondered if that song involved a dare or a lost bet. It’s totally out of place ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/30 "2012-07-02T18:39:05Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > Totally disagree. _Down to the Waterline_ has some of the tastiest guitar licks on the whole album. I like it better than _Sultans of Swing_ and I really like SoS. > > Side one also contains _Six Blade Knife_, which I consider another tasty morsel of Knopfler goodness. > > I agree that the other songs on side one are kind of “meh”, & that side two is good from beginning to end. Oh I agree that the guitar is good on side one, and maybe particularly on _Down to the Waterline_, but the playing is good throughout the album anyway. Yes, DttW does have some nice licks (and most of us have probably heard _Sultans of Swing_ too often now). My problem is that none of the songs, as songs, on side one are all that good: not horrible, just weak. Are you seriously suggesting the strained metaphor of _Six Blade Knife_ measures up to any of the side two songs? Actually, my favorite side one track is the closer, _Southbound Again_, but that, perhaps, is because it knows it is a throwaway, and isn’t trying too hard. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872/31 "2012-07-02T19:09:18Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Oh I agree that the guitar is good on side one, and maybe particularly on _Down to the Waterline_, but the playing is good throughout the album anyway. Yes, DttW does have some nice licks (and most of us have probably heard _Sultans of Swing_ too often now). My problem is that none of the songs, as songs, on side one are all that good: not horrible, just weak. Are you seriously suggesting the strained metaphor of _Six Blade Knife_ measures up to any of the side two songs? Actually, my favorite side one track is the closer, _Southbound Again_, but that, perhaps, is because it knows it is a throwaway, and isn’t trying too hard. Hell, I rarely understand what the fuck Mark is singing about. He could be reciting the phone book for all I know. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-songs-that-open-an-album-side/626872.md?page=1)