Question of the Week: What’s the best intro to a popular song?

Local Spins’ Question of the Week (Oct. 4 and 11, 2023)

What’s the best intro to a popular song?

The winner of last week’s drawing from email subscribers who responded to our question of the week was Joseph Frankovich. To be placed in drawings for a Local Spins gift pack or concert tickets, sign up for email updates and the weekly newsletter here: https://localspins.com/subscribe-local-spins-mailing-list/

THE READER RESPONSES:

David Kuzma – “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” The Rolling Stones

Don Clapham – The intro to “Funeral for a Friend” by Elton John gives me chills every time I hear it.

PuffinDown – “Money for Nothing”

Hope Pearse – “Hotel California”

Carmen Sluiter – “One Big Holiday” by My Morning Jacket

Buck McDougall – Sweet Jane

Josh Raber – “Just Like Heaven” – The Cure – 56 seconds of pure instrumental melding

Mike Ensing – Bruce Springsteen – “The River” – Live in NYC version. The coda with Bruce’s harmonica and Clarence’s sax is also stunning.

Carol Cornett – “Long Train Runnin”

Steve Middendorp – “Crazy on You”

John Nowak – “Help!” So distinct from the rest of the song yet it works and blends so well.

John Kite – George Harrison, “The Art of Dying”

Chuk Light – “Detachable Penis,” King Missile

Roger MacNaughton – “California Girls”

John Olszewski – “Bodhisattva” by Steely Dan

Justin Wierenga – Bass intro to “Sweet Emotion” will always be a fav

Kelly Latimer – “I Need A Lover” by John Mellencamp, followed closely by “Hotel California”

Lee Chase – If “Gimme Shelter” qualifies as a popular song .. then there you have it, hands down.

Andrew Rossi – “A Saucerful of Secrets,” epic.

Paul Brown – Tie for first place: “Hot For Teacher” & “Thunderstruck”

Joel Schultze – “Sympathy For The Devil”

Michael Van Denend – Jackson 5, “I Want You Back”

CT Revere – “Don’t Take Me Alive” by Steely Dan.

Bruce Ling – Bass intro to “Jump Into The Fire” by Nillson. Oh wait…No. 1: “Layla”

James Wolf – “NIB” or “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath.

Nathan Walton – “Meadows,” Joe Walsh

Ben Erhart – Raspberries, “Go All the Way”

Andrew Ogrodzinski – So many great intros. Everybody is familiar with “Smoke on the Water” (a great simple riff) and “Stairway” (who hasn’t played it?). I think the single greatest intro is “Building the Church” by Steve Vai. If any local guitar players got that two-handed tapping intro nailed, I’ll personally buy you a beer, if you show me how to play it.

Bruce E. Matthews – Yeah, “Stairway”

Kyle Rasche – Phil Collins – Another Day in Paradise

Paul Wyatt – Like A Hurricane.

Dave Adams – Reeling in the Years – Steely Dan

Jeff Martin – “Chantilly Lace” – The Big Bopper and “Pusherman” -Curtis Mayfield came to mind.

Nic Stubbs – Hunter and Wagner’s intro to “Sweet Jane” live!

Geoff Hansen – The Motorcycle Engine turned into drum beat for Hot For Teacher. Brilliant.

Ed Vander Ploeg – Chain Lightning – Steely Dan; Rocky Mountain Way – Joe Walsh

Kevin Murphy – The military sounding snare followed by the smooth jazzy guitar chords at the beginning of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” is right up there. Paul Simon wrote a lot of great intros. “Cecilia” is another. Several on “Graceland.”

Todd Truman – Stephen Stills guitar intro to “Woodstock.”

John Sinkevics – An under-the-radar pick: Elton John’s “Ballad of a Well Known Gun.”

Stef Loy – Boston: “Foreplay / Long Time”

Steve Secor – “Diary of a Madman”

Daniel P Hudelson – Don’t Take Me Alive

Matthew Perlman – If we are defining “Best” as the most iconic intro that would be known/recognized anywhere in the world…then I would, without a doubt say, “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes.

Thom Postema – Living Colour “Cult of Personality”

John Gelderloos – Mississippi Queen by Mountain

Chris Corey – Springsteen’s Jungleland

John Gelderloos – Journey to the Center of the Mind by Amboy Dukes

Cory Olsen – Moonchild

Charlie Walmsley – Whiter Shade of Pale

Jim Leitch – The Stones’ Monkey Man or Gimme Shelter.

Steve Grinczel – Duh… “Question”

Andrew Heller – Stairway to Heaven

Josh Rose – I loooove the intro to “Once in a Lifetime” by The Talking Heads. What a perfect hint of the song to come.

Kyle Brown – Funeral For a Friend – Elton John

Ronnie Torres – Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Jon Miner – Time. Pink Floyd.

Mark Swanson – Aqualung.

Isaac Powrie – Stevie Wonder- Superstition

Dixon Harvey Dudderar – Ry Cooder working his “Chain Gang” intro … With Bobby King Quartet! Hands down top 10.

Terri Grannis – Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4”

Lesa Christensen Ignasiak – Funeral For a Friend, Elton John

Lee Middleman – Outside the realm of mass popularity, GD’s Terrapin Station Suite contains 3 outstanding segue/intros I can’t stop thinking about.

John Matthes – ZEPPELIN: Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, Rock n Roll, Custard Pie, Moby Dick, Achilles last stand, Nobody’s Fault, Song remains the same, Good times Bad times, Levy Breaks.. I could go on and on…

Cole Hansen – I gotta put in a vote for “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. “Final Countdown” by Europe (epic 80s points) and “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin have always been favorites of mine too.

Barbara Winckler – Harmonica in Supertramp’s ”Take the Long Way Home”

Ron Bates – “Blue Collar Man / Long Nights,” Styx

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