4 Classic Rock Album-Opening Tracks You Should Hear Now

I think album-opening tracks still matter. Even in the streaming age, with endless playlists and loose songs, for me, the album remains crucial. And if done correctly, the listener will either want to repeat what they’ve just heard or let the rest of the record play. Either way, the artist has done their job. So in the spirit of great album-starters, here are three you should hear now.

“Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin

When a band releases a successful debut album, the follow-up must be a statement. And I’m not sure one can make a more forceful statement on album two than opening with the world’s greatest guitar riff. Now I understand the absurdity in calling something, anything, the “greatest,” but listen to “Whole Lotta Love” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

“Icky Thump” by The White Stripes

Speaking of great riffs and Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes begin their final studio album with their own immigrant song. On “Icky Thump”, Meg White’s ferocious drumming propels Jack White while he punctuates the stomp with chaotic synth breaks. This is the color-coordinated Detroit duo exiting the stage at the height of their powers.

“Beetlebum” by Blur

In 1997, one of Britpop’s big four ditched the movement they helped popularize. Instead, they looked to American indie bands and landed their biggest hit, “Song 2”. But the self-titled release opens with “Beetlebum”, with an echoing riff courtesy of guitarist Graham Coxon. Here, singer Damon Albarn sings a woozy chorus in falsetto that’s at once hallucinatory and lovesick.

And when she lets me slip away,
She turns me on and all my violence gone.
Nothing is wrong,
I just slip away and I am gone.

“Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve

Let’s stay in Britain in the year 1997. The Verve had already broken up, then reformed. And before they’d break up (and reform) again, the Wigan gazers dropped a masterpiece. They open Urban Hymns with a Rolling Stones sample, an orchestra, and Richard Ashcroft’s mission statement. Then it became something like a new national anthem. “Have you ever been down?” Ashcroft shouts repeatedly. Feel you, dude.

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