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 😊🎶