Dunno if it is true anymore, but can there be anything more important than that first song off the first album: it is like handing somebody your business card. You only get one chance to make a first impression, right?
Anyway, gere are some killer ones.
Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town – Talking Heads – On a line with Television, Patti Smith, the Ramones, Talking Heads preppy straightness seemed soaked in irony on this straight head yet quirky ode to love: "believe in mystery, love is simple as 1-2-3".
Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix – Psychedelic in the extreme, we didn't quite catch onto the guitar, though the solo is magnificent and spare and the song is a pop music blast. Major in every way.
So It Goes – Nick Lowe – OK, this isn't really cheating. In the UK it was "Music For Money" but in the States? "So It Goes". Lowe, already a veteran due to his years with country-rockers Brinsley Schwartz, started his solo career with a look back at the business of touring. "Security is so tight tonight, of they're ready for the tussle, better keep your backsage pass, because your promoter has the muscle".
Things Done Change – Biggie Smalls – There is an "intro" but this is the first track, A terrifying, stunningly rapped gangsta match but… with more. Biggie looks backwards and forwards. The track is the standard bearer and the sample, from the r&b band the Main Ingredie covering (are you ready to die?) Seals And Croft's "Summer bReeze. . Given the subject matter, "back in the day our parents took care of us, look at them, now, they're even fucking scared of us". Really, Biggie started at the top here. he was instantaneously the greatest rapper of all time.
Elvis Presley – Blue Suede Shoes – Sure, he was already a star but as far as first song, first albums go, this Carl Perkins cover is hard assed rock and roll.
Elvis Costello – Welcome To The Working – He had to do it till he do it so he better get to it. Introduces itself almost by definition.
Once – Pearl Jam – They should've opened with "Evenflow", right? By starting with this slow builder hard rocker, they played hard to get. "I admit it, what's to say?" Eddie wails.
Mansard Roof – Vampire Weekend – Architectual reference as seen from his dorm room at Columbia.