Best intro?

[Architeuthis]

 There are so many amazing intro's to songs in the world of Rock music. Many long intro's that build up to the rocking part of the song, or in other cases they come in with a bang and get right to the point.  I thought it would be fun to see what your favorite intro's are including songs from any sub-genre of Rock music such as classic rock, hard rock, metal, Prog-rock etc.
Perhaps name up to five songs..
I'll start with:
 Don't Talk To Strangers - Dio
 Roundabout - Yes
 Tom Sawyer - Rush
 LongTime - Boston
 Paschendale - Iron Maiden

[The Walrus]

EDIT: Rereading this, nevermind, I misunderstood the point of the thread. Will think of some later

[Phoenix87x]

Of the top of my head

1. Pain of salvation - people passing by
2. DT- Take the time and The dance of eternity

I'll post more as I think of them

[mike099]

My favorite is DT,  The Count of Tuscany

[Cool Chris]

Shine on you Crazy Diamond
Won't Get Fooled Again

2. DT- Take the time

Oh my, that's like my least favorite DT intro.

[El Barto]

Perfect Strangers
Aces High
Nobody's Fault

[Architeuthis]

You mean like songs to introduce people into a genre? Man, I had some weird songs get me into rock and metal. I basically got into power metal before Metallica and Iron Maiden, strangely. So I went totally backwards and my picks would be way out of the norm.

"Atlantis Falling" by Iron Savior was one of the earliest metal tunes that got me into heavy metal in general.

EDIT: Rereading this, nevermind, I misunderstood the point of the thread. Will think of some later

Kattoelox, that would actually be a cool topic for another thread! 

[DragonAttack]

Perfect Strangers

Yup, that and 'Lazy' are terrific.

I could list about a hundred, but off the top of my head, I'll put 'Xanadu' at least in the top five (nonQueen intros )

[Kwyjibo]

Shine On You Crazy Diamond is the obvious one, then there's

Close To The Edge/Heart Of The Sunrise
Money For Nothing
Master Of Puppets
Stairway To Heaven

and countless others

[T-ski]

I always liked the intro to John Mellencamps "I Need a Lover".

[Architeuthis]

I always liked the intro to John Mellencamps "I Need a Lover".

Good call!

[pg1067]

Jeez...that's not easy because there are so many.

Roundabout and Tom Sawyer are good ones.  Others that come to mind without too much thinking:

Black Sabbath:  Iron Man, Heaven and Hell
Dio:  Caught in the Middle
DT:  The Killing Hand, Only a Matter of Time, Metropolis I, Learning to Live, Scarred, Overture 1928, About to Crash Reprise, Stream of Consciousness, Panic Attack, Constant Motion, Breaking All Illusions
Fates Warning:  Traveler in Time, Fata Morgana, Quietus, Acquiescence, Part of the Machine, Leave the Past Behind, Monument, APSOG I and XI, And Yet It Moves
Genesis:  Duke's Travels, No Reply At All
Helloween:  Halloween, I Want Out, Keeper of the Seven Keys, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Creeping Death, Battery, Blackened
Ozzy:  Crazy Train, Over the Mountain, SATO, Diary of a Madman
Queensryche:  Queen of the Reich, Deliverance, NM156, Speak, Eyes of a Stranger, Resistance
Rush:  WAY too many to name, but at least the following:  By-Tor, Bastille Day, 2112 Overture, AFtK, Hemispheres, La Villa, Spirit of Radio, Natural Science, YYZ, Limelight, Subdivisions
Styx:  Suite Madame Blue, Put Me On, The Grand Illusion, Great White Hope, Renegade, The Best of Times
Triumph:  Hot Time (In This City Tonight), Too Much Thinking
UFO:  Rock Bottom, This Kid's, Love to Love
The Who:  Baba O'Reilly, Won't Get Fooled Again, The Real Me
Yes:  Yours Is No Disgrace, Starship Trooper, Heart of the Sunrise, The Revealing Science of God, Awaken, Machine Messiah
Iron Maiden:  The Phantom of the Opera, Wrathchild, The Prisoner, TNotB, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Where Eagles Dare, Still Life, To Tame a Land, Aces High, Powerslave, SSoaSS
Judas Priest:  Victim of Changes, The Ripper, Desert Plains, The Hellion/Electric Eye (which is probably cheating, but still), The Sentinel, Painkiller
Metallica:  Anesthesia, Seek & Destroy,

[Cool Chris]

Black Sabbath:  Iron Man

To this day when I hear this I mentally imagine the Road Warriors coming to the ring and laying waste to a couple of jobbers in 2 minutes.

[T-ski]

does Alan Parsons Projects "Sirius" count?

it's technically its own song but it does lead into "Eye in the Sky".

[jammindude]

Haken - The Path/Atlas Stone

[Grappler]

does Alan Parsons Projects "Sirius" count?

it's technically its own song but it does lead into "Eye in the Sky".

Absolutely yes.  Not only is it a great intro to the following song, but it's also the BEST sports intro music of all time:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn6kiimEsYc

You can't be a Bulls fan and not get goosebumps when you see the lights go out and hear that music start.


As for my pick:  Judas Priest - The Hellion.   

[Architeuthis]

Now that pg1067 bogarted so many answers ( just messin with ya, that's actually a great list) can you guys get into some of the deeper cuts..

[RoeDent]

There's a grey area with certain songs. Like, what counts as the intro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond? Typically, I consider the intro to be any music before the vocals come in. Which would give SOYCD an intro of nearly 9 minutes!

Anyway, I digress.

Dream Theater - The Great Debate
Haken - Celestial Elixir
Arena - Bedlam Fayre
Pendragon - Not Of This World

[WildRanger]

Queen - Ogre Battle
Aerosmith - Seasons of Wither
Deep Purple - Speed King
Black Sabbath - Wheels of Confusion
Van Halen - Mean Street
Kyuss - Gardenia
Rush - Xanadu
Yes - Roundabout
Electric Wizard - Funeralopolis
Metallica - And Justice for All
Queensryche - Eyes of a Stranger
Candlemass - Solitude
etc.

[Architeuthis]

Silent Assassins - The Progeny, and Oath of Honor. Both of those songs are worth checking out if you've never heard them and have fantastic intro's!  The Progeny has a nice acoustic stormy intro leading into an insanely cool heavy riff.   Oath of Honor has an epic bass guitar intro. This project is Mike Lepond's (bass player of Symphony X) creation.. 

[ProfessorPeart]

So many that I couldn't possibly focus on specifics. I agree with many already posted here. Xanadu was an immediate thought.

A more recent one that occurred to me was Exist by Avenged Sevenfold. The intro is over 7 minutes long and is just awesome instrumental madness.

Ooh, just thought of one. The Moor by Opeth. I love that slow building intro.

[wolfking]

As for my pick:  Judas Priest - The Hellion.   

First one I thought of.

[Train of Naught]

Just a couple off the top of my head:

Dvne - The Crimson Path
Leprous - Mirage
Between the Buried and Me - Swim to the Moon
Slice the Cake - Westward Bound I: The Lantern
The Ocean - Into the Uncanny
Ihsahn - Regen
Xerath - I Hold Dominion
Ne Obliviscaris - Forget Not
Gojira - The Art of Dying

A more recent one that occurred to me was Exist by Avenged Sevenfold. The intro is over 7 minutes long and is just awesome instrumental madness.

Great pick, was also gonna mention that one.

[Polarbear]

I could list so many..

Rush - Natural Science, and most of their work tbh.
Paradise Lost - Yearn for Change
Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers, Red Rain
Soilwork - Enter Dog of Pavlov
Iron Maiden - Moonchild
Mastodon - The CZAR
Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth
Genesis - Abacab
Yes - Siberian Khatru
Riverside - Forgotten Land
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells etc etc etc

This is really an infinite list..

[erwinrafael]

I have four that have been pretty much unbeatable since I heard them.

Metallica - Master of Puppets (this one is really tough to beat)
Dream Theater - Breaking All Illusions (majesty captured in music, with DT's prog signature)
Van Halen - Dreams
Queen - Seven Seas of Rhye (this just captures Queen perfectly, including the quirkiness)

[jingle.boy]

Black Sabbath:  Iron Man

To this day when I hear this I mentally imagine the Road Warriors coming to the ring and laying waste to a couple of jobbers in 2 minutes.

YES!

Upon a quick skim, I didn't notice the following 80s gems

Welcome to the Jungle
Back in Black - pretty much every song on the album
Kickstart My Heart
Rock You Like A Hurricaine
Bark at the Moon
Flying High Again
Crazy Train
Crying in the Rain
Barracuda
Unchained
Panama

[a51502112]

I'll be different and say, The Party by MaxWebster.

[bl5150]

I'm having a bit of a blank on this but some good ones mentioned above.

A few others

VH : Hot for Teacher
Ozzy: Killer of Giants
Giant : I'm a Believer   (great way to start an album)

[Kwyjibo]

Giant : I'm a Believer   (great way to start a great album)

Good one,  but I think your statement should be a little bit modified. 

[Stadler]

Sort of staying away from a "cool riff" that just happens to start a song, and sticking to things that are different from the rest of the song (with one exception):

Sabbath:  War Pigs (the exception, but with the air raid siren, it's so fucking cool and creepy)
Sabbath:  Killing Yourself To Live
Van Halen: In A Simple Rhyme
Van Halen: Hear About It Later
Van Halen: Me Wise Magic
Ozzy:  Diary Of A Madman

[Kwyjibo]

Two more:
Extreme - Decadence Dance and Warheads

[Big Hath]

Extreme - Decadence Dance

Yes yes yes!

There are few other album openers that make me want to crank the volume as high as this intro/song.

[MirrorMask]

Do songs count? because Priest's The Hellion is the best metal intro that can ever be.

Also, Maiden's Moonchild. From acoustic to heavy and wicked it's a glorious crescendo of adrenaline and tension that explode at the beginning of the song (and of the concert)

[bl5150]

WASP - The Heretic

[Tick]

Running With The Devil - Van Halen
Spirit of Radio - Rush
The Glass Prison- Dream Theater
Enter Sandman - Metallica
The Last in Line - Dio
Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple (perhaps my fav)