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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: RoeDent on June 21, 2016, 12:58:29 PM
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Inspired by this post in the Spock's Beard Survivor:
And once again, SB turns out to be a band that never quite surpassed their first song ever.
It got me thinking; are there other established bands (say. with at least 4-5 albums) where track 1 of their debut album is still seen as the high-water mark, and they have yet to surpass it? All in your own opinion, of course.
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The only one I can think of (though I don't necessarily agree with it) is Machine Head' Davidian. It's easily their most popular old-school track and their live staple.
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Not their best song imo, but NIN's Head Like a Hole is a fan favorite and one they always play live.
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It's difficult to think of a band whose debut album is their best, let alone their first track. Hmmmm.
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It's difficult to think of a band whose debut album is their best, let alone their first track. Hmmmm.
Well the answer to that is always Boston, but that whole album is riddled with hits, even if "More than a Feeling" is their most famous.
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This is a tough category. I can name a couple that would come close like Type O Negative and Black Sabbath. I would think more along the lines of 80s cock rock bands. They usually only released a few albums, if that, and their album openers were usually the catchiest songs.
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They had a ton of hits, I like 99% of them, but perhaps 'Good Times Roll' by The Cars was never topped.
Solo artist might be the guy that had Derek St. Holmes as lead vocalist when he was popular. He never topped 'Stranglehold'.
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Solo artist might be the guy that had Derek St. Holmes as lead vocalist when he was popular. He never topped 'Stranglehold'.
Ted Nugent.
There are a ton of bands who's first album might be their best: Guns'n'Roses, Kiss (though not for me), Boston, Zebra, The Cars, Fastway, Cinderella, maybe even Van Halen...
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There are a ton of bands who's first album might be their best: Guns'n'Roses, Kiss (though not for me), Boston, Zebra, The Cars, Fastway, Cinderella, maybe even Van Halen...
Definitely an argument could be made that Welcome to the Jungle is GnRs best song. It's not my pick, but I'd guess a lot of people would say it's their favorite.
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Toy Matinee.
"Last Plane Out" many including myself consider their best song.
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Cochise by Audioslave is the only one I can think of.
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An argument could be made for Cowboys From Hell but in reality it's Pantera's fifth album.
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As alluded to by hef , there's more than the odd VH fan whose favourite track is Runnin' With The Devil.
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Korn - Blind
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Korn - Blind
Ohhhhh. I don't agree at all (not even a huge Korn fan) but this is a pretty good choice.
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I'm sure more than a few Queensryche fans consider Queen Of The Ryche as their favorite.
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Cochise by Audioslave is the only one I can think of.
I don't agree with this, but I'm sure there are fans who consider that their best song.
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While not their BEST track, per se, it's certainly their most well known and revered - Asia, with "Heat Of The Moment".
Their debut album is pretty spectacular, and the opening song is just as great, even great enough to be featured in The 40 Year Old Virgin, along with an Asia poster. :lol
And if you count Roine Stolt's The Flower King as the first TFK album, then the title track of that album is still one of their best. It's very anthem-esque, and the band have been known to play it live throughout the years, so obviously they think a lot of it too.
-Marc.
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Guns N' Roses - they never topped Welcome to the Jungle.
Little River Band - It's a Long Way There is undoubtedly their best song ever.
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Solo artist might be the guy that had Derek St. Holmes as lead vocalist when he was popular. He never topped 'Stranglehold'.
Ted Nugent.
There are a ton of bands who's first album might be their best: Guns'n'Roses, Kiss (though not for me), Boston, Zebra, The Cars, Fastway, Cinderella, maybe even Van Halen...
I'll thrown in Heart, with the first track being a classic rock station staple - Magic Man.
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Cynic
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While these next three suggestions are not my own personal feelings, I do enjoy these first songs from these three artists, and some fans might view them as (one of) their best songs.
IQ - The Last Human Gateway - the sprawling 20-minute epic that opens their first proper album is a classic for neo-prog, and it really set the tone for their sound. I haven't spun this album in awhile, but I recall always enjoying it as much as any of their later material.
The Tangent - In Darkest Dreams - another 20-minute epic from the band's first album, which only had 4 songs on it anyway. This is one piece even the band continued to play for years after the album's release, and is a classic Tangent piece, but for me, it's merely just ONE of the band's best songs. The Tangent have gone through MANY changes, so to really compare this epic to their later ones would be a bit unfair, but to me, they're ALL great songs.
Transatlantic - All Of The Above - the mostly-Neal-penned epic from the supergroup's debut album is a landmark in the world of modern prog. How do you open an album that featured members from four of prog's greatest bands? Why, with a 30-minute epic of course!!! It's got everything that makes symphonic prog such a fun thing to listen to, along with some great playing from every member, this is easily one of my favorite epics ever, and I'm sure plenty of TA fans will cite it as their favorite above all the other TA pieces, but for me, I enjoy their later albums just as much as the debut (if not a tiny bit more), so while AOTA is great, it's just as great as what was to come.
-Marc.
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The Light isn't the best SB track, that would be At The End Of The Day :biggrin:
And there are some other good choices (Welcome To The Jungle, Chochise and others) but while these are good I cannot say that they are never surpassed by the respective bands.
Right now I can't think of a band where I would consider their first track to be their best.
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Guns N' Roses - they never topped Welcome to the Jungle.
Little River Band - It's a Long Way There is undoubtedly their best song ever.
Except with Paradise City and Reminiscing
(Just poking at you with PC, but serious about Reminiscing. I LOVE that song.)
Heat of the Moment is a good choice (though I personally like Sole Survivor better).
What about:
20th Century Schizoid Man
Script For A Jester's Tear
Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors
Pull Me Under (I'm kidding about that)
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That IQ track is great but my favorite is "Awake and Neevous" on the same album.
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All of these are contenders among the fanbases of the bands -
Tori Amos - Crucify
Godspeed You Black Emperor - The Dead Flag Blues
Oasis - Rock n Roll Star
Transatlantic - All Of The Above
Britney Spears - Hit Me Baby One More Time
Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
And there are a lot of Pink Floyd fans who believe the band died when Syd left, and many of them would say Astonomy Domine was the band's best song.
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20th Century Schizoid Man
Probably the best one I can think of.
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Europe- The Final Countdown
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Europe- The Final Countdown
A quick search shows that this was their third album, not their debut.
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Kiss' Deuce is undoubtedly one of their best songs, IMO.
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Europe- The Final Countdown
A quick search shows that this was their third album, not their debut.
Yup, the album before it (their 2nd) is my favourite of them all, Wings Of Tomorrow.
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Dragon Attack nailed it with Stranglehold.
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20th Century Schizoid Man
Personally, I wouldn't consider this their best. There are better songs on that first album alone, never mind the albums which followed. Just my opinion though.
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IQ - The Last Human Gateway - the sprawling 20-minute epic that opens their first proper album is a classic for neo-prog, and it really set the tone for their sound. I haven't spun this album in awhile, but I recall always enjoying it as much as any of their later material.
This is a bit disappointing. I catch this song often on Pandora and it has made me interested to look into the rest of their material.
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20th Century Schizoid Man
Probably the best one I can think of.
Starless would like to have a word with the two of you...
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20th Century Schizoid Man
Probably the best one I can think of.
Starless would like to have a word with the two of you...
You guys know it's supposed to be "21st Century Schizoid Man", right? :rollin
-Marc.
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Europe- The Final Countdown
A quick search shows that this was their third album, not their debut.
My mistake. I misread the Wikipedia article.
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Journey - "Of a Lifetime"
https://youtu.be/RgVTIyoe264 (https://youtu.be/RgVTIyoe264)
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Devil Doll
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20th Century Schizoid Man
Probably the best one I can think of.
Starless would like to have a word with the two of you...
You guys know it's supposed to be "21st Century Schizoid Man", right? :rollin
-Marc.
HAHAHA, nice catch! Call me old. :)
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OOOOOOHHHHH...
I'm partial to Stargazer and All Night Long myself, but what about "Man On The Silver Mountain"?
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OOOOOOHHHHH...
I'm partial to Stargazer and All Night Long myself, but what about "Man On The Silver Mountain"?
I thought of that too.
Heck, You could even say Ozzy's I Don't Know and Dio's Stand Up And Shout.
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Devil Doll
And that would be.. The Girl Who Was.. Death, right? Inclined to agree with this, so yeah
/thread
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If were looking over short intro tracks I want to say Stick Stickly is Attack Attack!s best song.
Guns N' Roses - they never topped Welcome to the Jungle.
You know they made albums after Appetite right?
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Solo artist might be the guy that had Derek St. Holmes as lead vocalist when he was popular. He never topped 'Stranglehold'.
Ted Nugent.
There are a ton of bands who's first album might be their best: Guns'n'Roses, Kiss (though not for me), Boston, Zebra, The Cars, Fastway, Cinderella, maybe even Van Halen...
I would buy GNR or VH. I mean, for VH, I personally would choose 5150. But VHI is right up there, and many fans would agree. While Cinderella's debut was strong, I think most (myself included) would rank Long Cold Winter ahead of it. As to the others you mentioned, I either don't know, don't care, or both. :lol
But as far as the question asked in the thread, Welcome To the Jungle is the only one I can think of (and I might rank Paradise City or You Could Be Mine ahead of it some days).
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20th Century Schizoid Man
Probably the best one I can think of.
Starless would like to have a word with the two of you...
You guys know it's supposed to be "21st Century Schizoid Man", right? :rollin
-Marc.
I can understand this choice because it's such a strong song but KC had better songs after that.
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After looking through my music library the strongest two cases I have are 'Straight Outta Compton' by N.W.A. and 'Get Inside' by Stone Sour (even though I've only listened to their first two albums).
I'd like to say 'Good Times, Bad Times' by Led Zep as well. I know their first four albums are incredibly strong but I have a special place in my heart for Led Zeppelin (album) and that first track is one of my all time faves by the band.
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'Get Inside' by Stone Sour (even though I've only listened to their first two albums).
I personally think Stone Sour have improved with age, so I'm gonna say no way on that one.
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Yeah. Listen to House of Gold and Bones.
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Journey - "Of a Lifetime"
https://youtu.be/RgVTIyoe264 (https://youtu.be/RgVTIyoe264)
That one is great but Feeling That Way/Anytime is SOOOOO GOOD
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Of a Lifetime is awesome, and I'm not sure I prefer any Journey track to it. Crippled Black Phoenix recorded a sweet cover of it a couple of years ago.
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As much as I love early Journey they really came to shine with the addition of Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. Even if the ballads got more frequent and cheesier, albums like Escape or Frontiers blow the rest out of the water.
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Riverside - The Same River
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Of a Lifetime is awesome, and I'm not sure I prefer any Journey track to it. Crippled Black Phoenix recorded a sweet cover of it a couple of years ago.
I thought I was the only one who knew that band :tup I, Vigilante is great album