Tuesday Tunes 171: More Intros

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I said last week that I still had a long list of songs with great intros that I could play, and several of you suggested some additions to it. So it seemed a natural follow up to play another set: More Intros for you! There probably won’t be any big surprises for you in these, and anyone who knows my musical tastes will recognise all of these acts as being among my favourites. But they are a great set of tunes!

Starting off with what is probably my favourite tune from one of my all time favourite bands. I’ve played it before but what the hell, I love it:

The Waiting is the opening track from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ fourth album, Hard Promises, which was released in May 1981, reaching #5 in the US and #32 in the UK. That Mike Campbell guitar solo still gets me every time, and I just think this is one of the all-time great rock songs – by anyone. It had been released the previous month as the album’s lead single, and peaked at #19 in the US, though it didn’t make the UK charts. I think we did Tom a disservice!

Adding in your suggestions I now have four Led Zeppelin songs on my list, but which one should I play? I’ve gone for an iconic one:

As soon as you hear that riff from Jimmy Page you know instantly what is coming next, and that for me is the mark of a great intro. Whole Lotta Love was the opening track on the Led Zeppelin II album, which was released in October 1969 and topped the charts in both the US and the UK, and in several other countries as well. It has sold more than 12m copies in the US, 1.2m in the UK and 900k in Canada. Parts of the lyrics for this song were taken directly from Willie Dixon’s You Need Love, which led to the band being sued for plagiarism, eventually settling out of court and adding Willie to the co-writer credits. Throughout their career they refused to issue any singles in the UK, but their American record company had more control and released this as a single the following month: it reached #4. An instrumental cover version by the band CCS was a single here in September 1970, peaking at #13: it was used for many years as the theme tune for BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops show, which meant that very few in the UK weren’t aware of it!

My next tune is another from a mega-selling album. Like Led Zep this isn’t the longest of intros, but is another which I think is instantly recognisable:

That album was Rumours, which was released in February 1977, reaching #1 in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, amongst others. Its sales figures are astounding: 21m in the US, 4.5m in the UK, as part of a worldwide total of more than 40m. You Make Loving Fun was the third track to be released as a single, in September 1977, peaking at #9 in the US, #7 in Canada but only #45 in the UK: I think we all had the album by then! It is an incredibly good album, and is one that I still enjoy to this day.

Given the usual problems I encounter with this next band’s videos I almost didn’t include this one. But this is an official audio-only version from their own YouTube page, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I really didn’t want to leave this one out:

Hotel California is the title track of the Eagles’ fifth album, released in December 1976, and reaching #1 in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and #2 in the UK. It has sold around 35m worldwide, including 26m in the US, 1.8m in the UK, and a million each in Canada and France. As with Fleetwood Mac, it is a great album that I still play to this day – not a dud track on it. This track was released as a single in February 1977, and got to #1 in the US and Canada, and #8 in the UK, racking up millions more sales along the way. As recognisable intros go I think this one takes some beating.

Today’s final tune starts in familiar fashion, too. It is one of the songs banned in many guitar shops as the owners have grown tired of hearing it. I never tire of it, and as this video has more than 1.5 billion views I guess I’m not alone in that:

Sweet Child o’ Mine was released on Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, Appetite For Destruction, in July 1987. The album was a #1 in the US and got to #5 in the UK. This track was the third of five to be taken from it as a single – nearly a year later, in June 1988. It also got to #1 in the US and made #6 in the UK. To date the album has sold more than 18m in the US, 1.9m in the UK and 1m in Canada – as debut albums go, that isn’t too shabby!

That’s a wrap for my second set of songs with great intros. I still have quite a few more I could play, and do please keep those suggestions rolling in – who knows, I might actually play them! I’ll see you again soon, so until then have a great week 😊🎶

40 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 171: More Intros”

  2. Pingback: October Passed Me By | Take It Easy

  3. great choices. that opening to Whole Lotta Love is a classic. Rumours is one of my all-time favorite albums, and the opening to Hotel California always gets me excited to hear the rest of the song. The Slash intro for the final song has been part of a popular tv commercial recently…

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    • Hi Jim, good to see you again.

      I’m pleased you enjoyed these. It is my second set of what will be three – for now. There are so many possibilities for this that I could go on for months, but I won’t! The word ‘iconic’ gets thrown around a lot but I think it applies to several of these. I don’t think that commercial has made it over here, probably not a product in our market, I guess.

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  5. Five out of five. The only one that caught me off guard was the Fleetwood Mac song, though it is instantly recognizable. I like so many of the Eagles songs but Hotel California is right near the top of the list with I Can’t Tell You Why.

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    • A good result! I thought that Fleetwood Mac might surprise some amongst that selection but, as you say, it met my criterion of being recognisable. I’m betting that quite a few reading this would have been among the 40+m who bought the album!

      The Eagles have so many great songs that I could have gone for several others of theirs. I resisted the temptation to play my ‘theme tune’ 🤣

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  7. All great choices Clive, and I’m sure there’s so many others you could have chosen. I think Hotel California and Sweet Child ‘O Mine pretty much tie it for me, truly memorable intro’s.

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  9. Hi Clive, You chose some great classic intros there – and provided some interesting stats. As it happens, I have ready list of some of my favourite intros which I used as part of a Music Quiz I organised. The last two of yours (Eagles and Guns ‘n Roses) were featured. Here are the others (mainly Rock based). I’m sure you know them all.
    When the Levee Breaks – Led Zeppelin
    Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones
    Song 2 – Blur
    Mayonnaise – Smashing Pumpkins
    Pretty Vacant – Sex Pistols
    Whatever You Want – Status Quo
    Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple
    Papa Was a Rolling Stone – Temptations
    Do it Again – Steely Dan

    I look forward to your next set!

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    • Thanks, Paul, glad you liked them. I played Smoke On The Water a couple of weeks ago – it’s what prompted this series – and though I know almost all of those none of them were on my list! In some cases other tracks by the same artist, but the Smashing Pumpkins one is new to me. I know very little about them, to be honest, so I’ll check that one out.

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    • Glad you liked these. I was pleased with this set, too!

      Thanks for the suggestions:

      I’ve never got into Imogen Heap, who seems to have done much better in the US than here in her homeland. The jury’s deliberating that one 😊

      Tusk was already on my list – but I went for one from the huge seller. Another time, maybe.

      Paranoid is on my list already. War Pigs is a great track but I think the hit single is more recognisable to most. That album received the ultimate accolade: my Mum hated it and I had to take it upstairs to my bedroom to play it 🤣

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  13. All these are favorites, and yes, immediately recognize the song from the first few notes. Funny memory about the Led Zeppelin song – I had the 45 and played it so much it got a place where it always got stuck, playing the same phrase over and over – the first ‘whole lotta love’ part. haha

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