Best and Worst Album Beginnings

Best

Black Label Society – Mafia

“Fire It Up”: really cool guitar at the start, slow fade in, riffs, winning. That is all.

Tool – 10,000 Days

“Vicarious”, probably the best known Tool song, and also one of their best, is a really good song to start an album. It starts slow, builds, has a monster drop, and powers through all the way into the rock greatness. Plus, the lyrics are entertaining to think about, a interesting take on humanity: “Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies. Much better you than I.”

Slipknot – Vol. 3 The Subliminal Verses

This album is great for many reasons, but the key of which is that it is a great blend of slower, more melodic songs such as the first song on the album “Prelude 3.0”, then almost immediately backed up by more typical Slipknot metal thrash and excellent noise like “Three Nil” (as a side note, what’s up with this album and the number ‘3’?). “Prelude 3.0” starts calm and quiet, with some louder sections, and then fittingly ends with “and now it’s over. No!” to say “hey guess what, we’re just getting started.”

Worst

Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape

What is the first thing I want to do when I put this album on? Skip the first track and get going with “Monkey Wrench”, not only because it is a fantastic song, but also because “Doll” is a slow, relaxed start to an album that isn’t particularly slow or relaxed. Now, I’m not saying that the first song on the album should be “Monkey Wrench”, nor anything as intense, but it should get the listener excited for the rest of the album, get the blood flowing a bit. “Doll” should be at the end.

Queens of the Stone Age – Lullabies to Paralyze

While pretty good for a slow, quiet song, “This Lullaby” really doesn’t fit with the rest of the album, especially the song that succeeds it, “Medication.” I remember thinking “did someone put the wrong disc into my CD case? This doesn’t belong at all” when I first listened to this album.

any album whose first song is called “Intro”

Come on artists of the world, you can be a little more creative than that! If your first song is an intro, either call it something, or fold it into the next song and don’t have a dedicated “Intro” track. If you have an “Intro” track on your album, I will skip it. Period.