Fight the Power – Public Enemy
The track does not begin.
Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chili Peppers
A guitar begins alone, high and almost shy, the kind of figure John Frusciante has said he wrote happier than the words because the words were already sad enough.
Abbey Road – The Beatles
On 26 September 1969, the Beatles released the last album they would record together, and they dressed the goodbye as a walk across a road.
Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
A soft drum pattern and a keyboard figure begin like a clock in another room, and Cyndi Lauper's voice enters without costume, lying in bed, listening, already promising to catch someone if they fall.
The Last Waltz
On Thanksgiving night in 1976, Winterland Ballroom smelled of roast turkey and the end of a job.
Tainted Love – Soft Cell
A drum machine snaps, a synth bass ducks under it, and Marc Almond's voice arrives already too much, pleading and showing off in the same breath, as if the club had no back room to hide in.
Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
Two chords, clean and almost kind, and a voice that sounds as if it is answering from the other side of a wall.
Windowlicker – Aphex Twin
The breakbeat is indecently tight, a hip-hop chassis with the bolts showing, and then the melody smears, too sweet, too close, a tune that might be a love song if the love song had started to melt.
Everlong – Foo Fighters
The intro is a chase already in progress, two guitars locked in a figure that feels like running downhill and refusing to fall.
The Sound of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel
Two voices enter with almost no accompaniment, close enough to be one instrument, and the first line greets the dark as if it were a person who has been waiting.