Greatest Openers- Debaser

Here's another greatest opener post after a brief hiatus caused by a half-marathon and mounds of homework. "Debaser" by Pixies is my favorite album opener, kicking off my all-time favorite album Doolittle. The song starts with a simple bouncy baseline, then guitars descend from the wings, drums thunder, and a depraved Black Francis starts shouting about movies, eyeballs, and groovy girlies. Backed by Kim Deal's angelic voice, which provides a nice contrast to Black Francis' demonic growl, the song flips the switch from loud to soft repeatedly, a staple of the Pixies' sound. Lyrically the song was inspired by the surrealist movie Un chien andalou, a 1928 short film created by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. Within the film, a woman's eye is cut up with a razor, providing Black Francis with the lines, "Got me a movie/ I want you to know/ slicin' up eyeballs/ I want you to know/ girlie so groovy/ I want you to know/ don't know about you/ but I am un chien andalusia." As a young college student, Black Francis went through a period of obsession with surrealism, something he often tapped into when writing songs. A largely surreal and mythological album, Doolittle's focus and brilliance is apparent right out of the gate. "Debaser" ends in less than three minutes, brief but incendiary.

Pixies- Debaser

Greatest Openers - Mahgeetah

One of my new favorite songs, My Morning Jacket’s “Mahgeetah” kicks off their 2003 album It Still Moves. Giving nods to a long list of genres (gospel, classic rock, Southern rock, 60s era pop, and country) “Mahgeetah” can find itself a place in almost any music aficionado’s eardrum. Like the terrain of their home state, Kentucky, the song varies in energy and texture. The layers in this song are genius. Going from mostly chord progressions and simple drum beats to epic classic rock solos, “Mahgeetah” takes me back to the days when all I listened to was Cape Girardeau’s “Classic Rock Station 100.7 KGMO.”

(Except a lot better than the bulk of any given KGMO playlist).          

  

My Morning Jacket - Mahgeetah

Greatest Openers - Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car

Sam Beam had a very successful formula going. On all of his previous albums, the musical genius behind Iron & Wine kept the recordings mainly limited to just his guitar and vocals. Fans were perfectly content with this tried and true method, anxiously awaiting the next LP. The first taste of the new album was the single “Boy with a Coin”, and fans could already tell Sam was beginning to change things up. Several months later, Iron & Wine released The Shepherd’s Dog. The album opens with a faded guitar, as if off in the distance. Quickly, a full band joins in with Sam, fully showing off Iron & Wine’s new sound. This transition makes the move to their expanded sound accessible to both seasoned fans and new listeners. As soon as Sam’s layered vocal tracks kick in, the song really takes off. With detailed lyrics and beautiful vocals, “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car” is one of Beam’s best.

Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car - Iron & Wine

Greatest Openers - Stuck Between Stations

Boys and Girls in America begins with a riff that, much like the rest of the album, seamlessly fuses a modern rock and classic rock sound. As soon as the piano joins in, you know you’re in for an interesting treat. Within the first song, one can already hear the more polished and musically-evolved sound of The Hold Steady. As soon as Craig Finn’s less-singing-more-shouting vocals kick in on “Stuck Between Stations”, it seems that he’d be more comfortable in a bar than a stage, adding to the pure rock experience that is Boys and Girls… Once the bridge hits, the piano takes over again, giving The Hold Steady a unique and gripping sound all their own. With its powerful guitar riffs and compelling lyrics, “Stuck Between Stations” sets an example the rest of the rock genre should follow.

Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady

Greatest Openers- Bring Da Ruckus

Hitting in 1993, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by the Wu-Tang Clan came out of the darkness like a ninja, stunning the hip-hop community with its heavy beats, excellent production, multitude of great rappers, and kung-fu themes. "Bring Da Ruckus" kicks off the madness in style with a sample of kung-fu movie Shaolin and the Wu-Tang. Ghostface follows this with one of the best introductory verses in rap, ending it by claiming "I blow sparks like Waco, Texas." Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, and GZA all contribute stellar verses. RZA supplies the chorus growling, "Bring da motherfuckin' ruckus." In a genre that normally has disposable skits as album openers, Wu-Tang Clan got down to business and brought da ruckus from the beginning.

Wu-Tang Clan- Bring Da Ruckus

Greatest Openers - The New Year

From an ambient sonic fog swells my favorite first note of any song. Death Cab for Cutie’s opener off their 2003 album Transatlanticism, “The New Year” has an energy that opens so quickly it is reminiscent of a black hole taking in a piece of matter. Instead of condensing the matter into a miniscule entity, it explodes like a red giant engulfing everything around it in a body of sound. The song doesn’t become static with this explosion of guitar. The turnaround turns down the overdrive, while Gibbard sings a sweet melody straight to his listener. Not to be caught going just one direction, Walla takes back the energy and over Gibbard’s sweet vocals brings the listener back with a flare of distortion. Death Cab knows the power of dynamics, and when the static descends nearing the four minute mark I realize the musical ride I just had.

 

Death Cab for Cutie – The New Year

Greatest Openers - My Name Is Jonas

The famed fingerpicked acoustic intro of Weezer’s “My Name Is Jonas,” opens their first release, The Blue Album. Backed by a tambourine, the acoustic is soon electrified by distortion and power chords. This explosion not only ignites the song and propels it to greatness, but also proves to be a legendary launch into what is one of the greatest albums of all time. Rivers’s unmistakable vocals also drive the song into an anthemic piece of rock greatness. I don’t think I will ever listen to this song without a fucking righteous “AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE!” emanating from my tongue.

Weezer – My Name Is Jonas

Greatest Openers- Rhymin & Stealin

The year was 1986. Three white Jewish kids from New York produced one of the all-time great hip-hop albums. Licensed to Ill was an instant classic, going to number one on the Billboard album chart, the first rap album to do so. The album was kicked off with the Beastie Boys' manifesto "Rhymin and Stealin". Backed by a massive Bonham drum-beat sampled off of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks", Adrock, MCA, and Mike D proceed to tell everyone what they came to do. This song is just straight raucous, grabbing your attention whether you like it or not. Besides any song with the lyric "My pistol is loaded/ I shot Betty Crocker/ Deliver Colonel Sanders down to Davey Jones locker" can't be half-bad, right?

Beastie Boys- Rhymin and Stealin

Greatest Openers- Random Rules

"In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection, Slowly screwin' my way across Europe they had to make a correction." This first line, sung wearily by David Berman, is pure poetic genius. The opening song on Silver Jews' 1998 album American Water, "Random Rules" features some of the best lyrics written in the past fifteen years. The song just has classic line after classic line, backed up by a horn section and some of Stephen Malkmus' most focused guitar playing. Bright Eyes? Give me Berman any day.

Silver Jews- Random Rules

Greatest Openers: White Light/White Heat

Many great openers use a technique that brings beauty through rawness. The Velvet Underground’s title track off their 1968 album White Light/White Heat not only uses the droning distortion of guitars and backing vocals to provide a similar energy of a high, but the lyrical subject parallels the approach. Concerning opiates once again, Lou Reed crafts a song about the beauty of shooting heroin. Heroin, being a very hard drug, no doubt has the raw power to create and destroy, but the quality of the drug being white evokes a certain splendor for the user (and the listener). But as the song ends, and the high wears off, the guitars lose focus and gain drive, only to diminish into static crackles. After the short-lived peak of energy, a silence leaves the listener/user needing more.

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

Moustache Salad's Indeterminate List of Greatest Album Openers

Moustache Salad recently had a poll where we asked our readers which part of an album they thought most important: the opener, centerpiece, or closer. This poll was the result of a dinner discussion that stretched into a long debate with both sides presenting evidence to support their case. The poll was close. We held our collective breath as the closing date neared. When the scattered vinyl, CD's, and bruised songs were pushed aside, the opener stood as the narrow victor in this ideological album battle. As a result of your voting, and almost simultaneously with the opening of the MLB season , Moustache Salad will be presenting its unordered list of great album openers over the next couple weeks. We hope to have at least one new song up each day. Also, we encourage you to comment and tell us your favorite album openers.

These guys are super excited for the openers.
Their favorite opener you ask? Boston's "More Than a Feeling".

Arcade Fire- "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"

We couldn't think of a more appropriate way to start this list than with a song containing the number one in the title. This song kicks off Arcade Fire's 2004 album Funeral. Starting quiet with a driving bass-line and tinkling piano part, Win Butler sings of "digging a tunnel from my window to yours." The song then expands with crisp drums and Arcade Fire reveals the full sound they're so well known for. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" contains an indication of what else Arcade Fire brings to the table on Funeral: astonishing crescendos, meaningful lyrics, great instrumentation, and catchy wordless vocals; making it a truly great opener.