Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
The drums do not count in so much as break the door, and a guitar figure runs up the neck like someone checking the street before the light changes.
Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield
A fanfare, almost cheeky, and then the congas take the song by the wrist.
Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
In February 1977, Fleetwood Mac released an album written in the middle of the breakups it describes, and the songs came out polished enough to hide the bruises until the second listen.
Alive – Pearl Jam
Stone Gossard's riff does not ask permission.
Enola Gay – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
A toy-bright synthesiser states a melody you could whistle in a playground, and Andy McCluskey starts singing the name of an aeroplane as if the name were a girl's, which, terribly, it was.
Hey Boy Hey Girl – The Chemical Brothers
The intro is a tease, a thin bright line, a voice already calling hey boy, hey girl, as if the room had been invited and not yet told the price.
Why – Annie Lennox
A piano states a small, adult figure, no drum yet, and Annie Lennox's voice enters as if she had been sitting with the same sentence all night and had finally decided to say it aloud.
Can I Kick It? – A Tribe Called Quest
The upright bass does not hurry, because it has already done its walking on another record.
1979 – The Smashing Pumpkins
A drum machine keeps a small, stubborn pulse, closer to a car idling than to a band arriving.
Stop Making Sense
David Byrne walks on with a boombox and an acoustic guitar, and the concert has already started.