“And the record begins with a song of rebellion.”
The first track on an album defines the experience you’re going to have with it. Some albums start off with a song that tries to quickly pull the listener into the album, such as with Underoath’s “In Regards To Myself” and Saves the Day’s “At Your Funeral.” Other albums use the first track to set the tone for the album by having an instrumental opening that evokes a certain feeling to prepare you for the album experience, for example The Receiving End of Sirens’s “Prologue” and The Dear Hunter’s “The Death and the Berth.” Lastly, there are tracks that are a combination of both, a mixture of song and experience. Say Anything’s “Belt” qualifies for this category, as does My Chemical Romance’s “The End.”
As evidenced above, there are many different types of introduction songs (who knew?) and each can be successful in their own right, depending on what the band wants to do with the album. There are some records that are easily distinguishable as good from the first track alone, but some fail in this respect.
We at Absolutepunk.net would like to know--what do you think makes an intro track successful? Should it start off with a bang like Acceptance’s “Take Cover” or should it lure you in slowly like Straylight Run’s “The Perfect Ending?” How important is the intro to your perception of an album? What is your favorite intro song and why?
For the second part of this question, the same applies to the last track of an album. There are songs like Four Year Strong’s “Maniac (R.O.D.)” and Thursday’s “Autumn Leaves Revisited” that convey a certain strength and close their album on a note that reflects all of the qualities found on the album. Then there are songs like Midtown’s “So Long As We Keep Our Bodies Numb We’re Safe” and Jimmy Eat World’s “Goodbye Sky Harbor” that lull the listener with a sound and close the album with that. How do you like an album to end? What are your favorite album closers? How important is a good ender is to you?
What is more important to the overall experience of an album, a good intro or a good ender?
Thanks to UntilItKillsYou for the question topic this week. If you have any topics that you’d like to submit for a future Thursday discussion question, please leave your ideas in my blog comments.
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The first track on an album defines the experience you’re going to have with it. Some albums start off with a song that tries to quickly pull the listener into the album, such as with Underoath’s “In Regards To Myself” and Saves the Day’s “At Your Funeral.” Other albums use the first track to set the tone for the album by having an instrumental opening that evokes a certain feeling to prepare you for the album experience, for example The Receiving End of Sirens’s “Prologue” and The Dear Hunter’s “The Death and the Berth.” Lastly, there are tracks that are a combination of both, a mixture of song and experience. Say Anything’s “Belt” qualifies for this category, as does My Chemical Romance’s “The End.”
As evidenced above, there are many different types of introduction songs (who knew?) and each can be successful in their own right, depending on what the band wants to do with the album. There are some records that are easily distinguishable as good from the first track alone, but some fail in this respect.
We at Absolutepunk.net would like to know--what do you think makes an intro track successful? Should it start off with a bang like Acceptance’s “Take Cover” or should it lure you in slowly like Straylight Run’s “The Perfect Ending?” How important is the intro to your perception of an album? What is your favorite intro song and why?
For the second part of this question, the same applies to the last track of an album. There are songs like Four Year Strong’s “Maniac (R.O.D.)” and Thursday’s “Autumn Leaves Revisited” that convey a certain strength and close their album on a note that reflects all of the qualities found on the album. Then there are songs like Midtown’s “So Long As We Keep Our Bodies Numb We’re Safe” and Jimmy Eat World’s “Goodbye Sky Harbor” that lull the listener with a sound and close the album with that. How do you like an album to end? What are your favorite album closers? How important is a good ender is to you?
What is more important to the overall experience of an album, a good intro or a good ender?
Thanks to UntilItKillsYou for the question topic this week. If you have any topics that you’d like to submit for a future Thursday discussion question, please leave your ideas in my blog comments.
More...
