Songs that Start Out Promisingly....then slowly fail to live up to the promise of their openings.

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After a morning of looking after the little one, the wife returned and I was freed to run a few outdoor errands. While strolling down 4th Avenue, I punch up a bit of vintage Sisters of Mercy on the old iPod. After the sprawling, malevolent majesty of "Black Planet," my headphones fill with the ominious intro hum of "Some Kind of Stranger," seguing into one of the most seductively infernal, slow-mo guitar riffs of quasi-eastern serpentinian goth splendor. "FUCK, does that rock!" I opine aloud. As Doktor Avalanche's ice cold beats join in alongside Wayne's funereal guitar chime and Eldritch starts his deathly murmur, my gait assumes the quick-as-molasses lurk of delerious beatitude....but honestly, by the time the second chorus has rolled around....everything sublime about the track has dried up. It's as if the song is a deflating souffle, the opening riff wasted like a pair of gossamer wings on a flightless Dodo bird.

Any others like this?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 11 June 2004 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread was made for the opening two minutes of Spacemen 3's Suicide.
Only on record though. It sounded way better live.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 11 June 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Pixies - Space (i believe in)

It has a great big hairy pie of an intro, then wibbles of into mid-paced tabla weirdness.

― scottjames23 (worrysome-man), Friday, 11 June 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"Some Kind of Stranger" TOTALLY lives up to its promise!!!11

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 11 June 2004 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "Some Kind of Stranger", but in some ways it's like a cartoon version of "New Dawn Fades" (perhaps that makes me like it more).

― David A. (Davant), Friday, 11 June 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00014TP4M.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 11 June 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

The entirety of the Afghan Whigs catalog.

― Scott Warner (thream), Saturday, 12 June 2004 02:44 (twenty-one years ago)

The opening 15 seconds of Matthew Sweet's "I Should Never Have Let You Know" (from In Reverse) are the most thrillingly Wall-of-Sound-ish thing of the past 20 years ... the rest of the song doesn't live up to the promise.

― Joseph McCombs, Saturday, 12 June 2004 04:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Pink Floyd "Let There Be More Light".... the intro is cool but its downhill from there.

― chad (chad), Saturday, 12 June 2004 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

the radleys' 'bulfrog green' is my stock answer to this. starts off like the greatest semi-psychedelic pop tune ever with an hysterical vocal from the eggman... before slumping in about a minute and a half and going all demo-ish and silly, slowing down to crawl and boring my arse off.

― piscesboy, Saturday, 12 June 2004 09:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Butthole Surfers - "Sweat Loaf"

and if you see your mother, tell her SATAN!!!!!

most songs by the Cult

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 12 June 2004 12:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"sk8ter boi"

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Saturday, 12 June 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that's the only single I ever regret voting for P&J.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 12 June 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Every song by the Cult -- even the shitty ones -- are better than EVERYTHING ever recorded by Good Charlotte. You nonce.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 12 June 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I have ADD, so for me, every song does...what was I saying?

― Davlo (Davlo), Monday, 14 June 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Solo Morrissey to thread.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

(Except for "November Spawned A Monster", "Last Night, Maudlin Street" and the "Were you and he lovers?" song, of course.)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 June 2004 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i never saw speacemen 3 play suicide live but the ropers used to cover it all the time and it was always dreadful, but then they were dreadful always.

bullfrog green is great.

― keith m (keithmcl), Monday, 14 June 2004 03:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always loved Master Of Puppets and "Disposable Heroes" is possibly my favourite song. But despite how great it is, it never fulfills the promise of the really REALLY great first 30 seconds. (But it could be argued that Metallica counteracted that by doing the exact opposite on a couple of songs, ie. tacking on a few short intros far more boring than the rest of the song.)

"Interstellar Overdrive" (Pink Floyd), "Moonchild" (King Crimson), and "Oh Well" (Fleetwood Mac) all begin with a rocking/pretty "song", then unfortunately devolve into ten too-quiet minutes of pointless free improvisation that goes absolutely nowhere (and not even fast!)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 14 June 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

"Love Missile F-11" - Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

The closest ever aural approximation to an amyl nitrate rush?
First 30 seconds: WOO! BEST SONG EVER!
Rest of track: Ooh, me thumping head...

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Monday, 14 June 2004 09:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Ride: 'Leave them All Behind'

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 14 June 2004 09:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The Communards' 'You Are My World'. Exciting, pretty intro- crap song.

― Buffalo Stan (Buffalo Stan), Monday, 14 June 2004 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

the stereophonics - just looking. seriously, that's a lovely verse melody. then it lurches into that ugly chorus.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 14 June 2004 09:52 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

Enrique, that's just bizarre. You liked the overtly 'intro'-ish keyboards, but hated the overwhelming guitar glory to follow? Weird.

Anyway, I came here to suggest The Smashing Pumpkins' "Thru The Eyes Of Ruby". Two and a half minutes in = wow, there are five minutes left and I'm about to reach nirvana, song ends and you're nearer Nirvana, beautiful chord-progression jettisoned and aimless heavy guitar posturing doing absolutely nothing. Gah. There's an exact moment 3:11 in when the guitars should hit a certain minor flat chord (or something) but hit the more-predictable natural major instead, and it's downhill from there.

― Just got offed, Friday, 21 December 2007 23:25 (eighteen years ago)

For me, Genesis' "Get 'Em Out By Friday" is the archetypal example of this.

― Joe, Friday, 21 December 2007 23:47 (eighteen years ago)

utah saints - something good
came on the radio the other day. i was thinking, "am i rreally going to find out about a band from the radio, of all places?"
but then, no, nothing at all happened and i turned it halfway through

― sleepingbag, Saturday, 22 December 2007 00:27 (eighteen years ago)

"Love In a Northern Town" by Dream Academy. Opens really beutiful, and then, that extremely annoying chorus.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 22 December 2007 02:04 (eighteen years ago)

Every Tones On Tail tune besides "Go!" is all intro and no song.

― I eat cannibals, Sunday, 23 December 2007 04:15 (eighteen years ago)

yes - heart of the sunrise

― abanana, Sunday, 23 December 2007 04:20 (eighteen years ago)

Every Tones On Tail tune besides "Go!" is all intro and no song.

"Christian Says" is good

― Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, 23 December 2007 04:24 (eighteen years ago)

(Yeah, I was being kinda hyperbolic, but I still think they tended to fall on the "better to sample" side of post punk.)

― I eat cannibals, Sunday, 23 December 2007 04:50 (eighteen years ago)

With "Take Me Out" I feel the opposite. The song starts out really awful, and then suddently gets quite good anyway.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 23 December 2007 05:02 (eighteen years ago)

Every Smiths song - though i don't know if 'slowly' fails to live up its promise is quite right, since it tends to be a sudden plummet when Bigot Boy comes in

― sonofstan, Sunday, 23 December 2007 06:58 (eighteen years ago)

"Brainwashed" by Iced Earth has a really nice intro then goes into a pedestrian chorus.

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 23 December 2007 07:55 (eighteen years ago)

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