The First Notes Of This Album Shocked You

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So there you were. You pressed PLAY or dropped the needle of your newest record in your collection. And you were stunned.. shocked. Is this a mistake? Is this the same artist?

The one immediately that comes to mind for me is "Hot Space" by Queen. Hearing that dance intro of "Staying Power" just freaked the hell out of me. It was like- who the hell are you- and what did you do with Queen!

― ZionTrain, Sunday, 20 March 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

The opening notes of "America," the first single released from Outside the Gate by Killing Joke. Cheezy synths. Pathetic.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 20 March 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

Ancient Melodies Of The Future: Built To Spill. Not a single memorable song on it.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Sunday, 20 March 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Super ae by The Boredoms. I remember thinking, "So...it's true."

And Cupid & Psyche 85. Just bought it a couple of days ago after listening to their early EPs compilation. I almost threw up it was so disappointing.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 20 March 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

The opening notes of "Can't Stand It" from Wilco's Summerteeth certainly made me realize that they were done covering Woody Guthrie songs for the time being.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 20 March 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

The opening notes of Room on Fire shocked me with their awfulness.

― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 20 March 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

The slow fade in on the first track on D'Angelo's Voodoo...by the time it was built all the way up, I forgot who the hell we were listening to, and had no IDEA where it would go next. That, plus how patiently the fade into "Playa Playa" goes, with little bits of beat at a time...yeah, that was a good one.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Sunday, 20 March 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

Kid A

Those three descending chords... doesn't sound like much, but it blew my mind.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 20 March 2005 20:21 (twenty years ago)

Peter Brotzmann's "Machine Gun" The opening saxophone salvo totally melted the paint on my walls

― Captain Charisma, Sunday, 20 March 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

The horn blast at the beginning of Good News for People Who Love Bad News caught me very off guard and even made me jump in my seat a little bit, that very first time.

At 14 years old, the opening notes of Praxis' Transmutation were like Godzilla screaming "clean your rooooom!" at me through a bullhorn.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

Whatever noises began Polysic's Neu album.. "go ahead now!"...

(Think REALLY REALLY loud shouty/noisy Japanese rock band that worships *DEVO*, sounds like them on Volume 11.... maybe also The Plastics, The Causey Way, Brainiac, early XTC, The Screamers, ...)

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

the beginning metronomic dazed of "Seized" by Supercollider, from Dual

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:08 (twenty years ago)

I was pretty stunned first time I heard U2's Unforgettable Fire LP. Came to love it, but very slowly.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

Tortoise - Standards; Thought they'd gone all rock on me for a second

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

the beginning four drums sounds and then the "WooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOSH" of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless ("Only Shallow")

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:19 (twenty years ago)

the best shocking opening to any album EVER:

"UNH!" *ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCK*

Jesus Lizard Liar...."Boilermaker"

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

Are these only supposed to be first few moments we DIDN'T like from an album??

One I loved: That little echo-y vocal intro on the first(?) Sigur Ros record is amazing.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

Or sorry, the backwards vocal thing.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

This is a slight twist because I had only heard a couple of songs by the Dismemberment Plan before I bought Emergency & I, but when I heard that first song - after all I had read about the album changing the face of pop music blah blah - it sounded like Red Hot Chili Peppers to me. It doesn't now, not that RHCP is horrible. But I always thought that was funny.

― Dave M, Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

"eh EH eh EH" "M o o o o o m m m m m y y y y y?"

from Negativland's A Big 10-8 Place

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:49 (twenty years ago)

(that should be "T o o o o o m m m m m y y y y y?".. oops)

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:50 (twenty years ago)

the jangly guitar pop that opens up "Nilsson sings Newman". i swore the spindle labels had gotten screwed up on it and the sparse piano album i had wanted was this instead. won't get fooled again.

after knowing both the untitled and the s/t ones, hearing the beginning of "Twin Infinitives" was quite a shock.

― imbidimts, Sunday, 20 March 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

Hearing "The Kiss" after only knowing Standing On A Beach.

― Nicholas, Sunday, 20 March 2005 22:09 (twenty years ago)

And Cupid & Psyche 85. Just bought it a couple of days ago after listening to their early EPs compilation. I almost threw up it was so disappointing.

Have you listened to Songs to Remember? The transition from Early to that is much more digestible if you've heard their debut and have read all the articles at the time about how deconstruction's influenced their pop. Only then does Cupid and Psyche really make sense, especially after you realise that "Absolute" is actually about Absolut Vodka and the Communist ideologies Green had previously adopted (and by that time had relinquished after finding them limiting).

― Ian Riese-Moraine. Sweeter than a lorry load of white Toblerones. (Eastern Mantr, Sunday, 20 March 2005 22:46 (twenty years ago)

And "Absolute" was a hit! How can you not admire that! One of the rare examples of subversion working successfully...

― Ian Riese-Moraine. Sweeter than a lorry load of white Toblerones. (Eastern Mantr, Sunday, 20 March 2005 22:47 (twenty years ago)

"There's a time to FUCK and a time to CRAVE, but the SHAH SLEEPS IN LEE HARVEY'S GRAVE!!!"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 20 March 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

Whoa! What the hell's that from?

― Ian Riese-Moraine. Sweeter than a lorry load of white Toblerones. (Eastern Mantr, Monday, 21 March 2005 00:03 (twenty years ago)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf700/f703/f70349ylzsd.jpg

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 21 March 2005 00:05 (twenty years ago)

What a way to start a career.

"There's a time to LIVE, and a time to DIE!! I smoke Elvis Presley's toenails WHEN I WANT TO GET HIGH!!!"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 21 March 2005 00:08 (twenty years ago)

Ahh...

― Ian Riese-Moraine. Sweeter than a lorry load of white Toblerones. (Eastern Mantr, Monday, 21 March 2005 00:10 (twenty years ago)

The opening of Queen's "A Kind Of Magic" album still leaves me shaking...

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 21 March 2005 00:22 (twenty years ago)

The way the Replacements' Hootenanny started was nice, after the pop-punk debut and the semi-hardcore Stink EP. "'Hootenanny' in E!"...(Twang, twang, twang, etc., laughter)..."WELL IT'S A HOOTENANNY!!!"

― mnra, Monday, 21 March 2005 00:32 (twenty years ago)

Jesus Lizard, Liar...."Boilermaker"

OTM!!!

Also the Birthday Party, "Sonny's Burning," & PiL "Four Enclosed Walls."

Big Black "The Power of Independent Trucking"

― daria g (daria g), Monday, 21 March 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

Also the Birthday Party, "Sonny's Burning," & PiL "Four Enclosed Walls."

Seconded!

― Ian Riese-Moraine. Sweeter than a lorry load of white Toblerones. (Eastern Mantr, Monday, 21 March 2005 01:00 (twenty years ago)

sonic youth, experimental jet set... i was bowled over by the opening acoustic strains of "winner's blues." i was crushed to discover there was nothing else like it on the album.

oasis, standing on the shoulder of giants. to this day i have no idea where in noel gallagher's brain "fuckin' in the bushes" came from. also, i distinctly remember being crushed to discover there was nothing else like it on the album.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 21 March 2005 04:51 (twenty years ago)

"Bad Touch Example", from Funcrusher Plus. First heard around late '97/early '98 when I had pretty much zero idea what super-underground hip-hop sounded like -- dropping the needle on that, with the kiddie-safety molestation-prevention record sample ("Since you're my special friend, come closer for a special treat... I'm going to let you touch me in a special place") over drunken jazz, was almost incomparably startling.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Monday, 21 March 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

Yo La Tengo, "Everyday." A really weird song for them, I am always kind of dismayed that there's nothing else like it on the album.

Oh, and "Miss You," Rolling Stones.

― daria g (daria g), Monday, 21 March 2005 05:15 (twenty years ago)

Merzbow's Pulse Demon, which was my first encounter with his music, sorta made me jump seeing as that it starts very immediately and very loudly.

"We Invent You" on Unwound's Leaves Turn Inside You threw me a bit because of the context I was introduced to them in ("There's this indie band I think you'd dig..."). Lots of chirping drones, high end and static, etc.

― - (smile), Monday, 21 March 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

Peter Brotzmann's "Machine Gun"

Haha, I was gonna nominate that. Sounds like a truly dastardly and very alien device.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Monday, 21 March 2005 06:42 (twenty years ago)

Sleater-Kinney, The Woods, twice. I got an early, unmastered promo because I was interviewing the band, put the disc on, and it was so distorted I literally didn't believe it was S-K; only when Corin's voice came in was I convinced. There were a lot of "WTF?!?!" type emails between me and the Sub Pop guys after that--I liked it immediately but was really thrown. Then, when the actual promos went out, I put it on expecting it to sound slightly cleaner, because they'd mastered it. The album sounded exactly the same.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 21 March 2005 06:49 (twenty years ago)

(I should note that the "WTF?!?!"-ness of those emails was entirely on my side and not the label's.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 21 March 2005 06:50 (twenty years ago)

Loveless seconded/thirded/fourthed/whatever.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 21 March 2005 07:26 (twenty years ago)

I wish I could ditto Loveless but that's an album that actually lived up to what I'd hoped/imagined it to sound like.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 21 March 2005 07:26 (twenty years ago)

the new biffy clyro album, infinity land. a minute of weird electro disco before a reassuringly angular guitar noodle kicks in. phew!

― bg, Monday, 21 March 2005 12:30 (twenty years ago)

Mastos otm regarding why Loveless is one of the greatest albums of all times - it sounds exactly like all the boosters describe it (even if you hate the end result)

― Jedmond (Jedmond), Monday, 21 March 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

There is a DAT Politics disc (I forget the title) that starts with what sounds like screaming--like, no-kidding, being-boiled-alive screaming. Not only did it shock me (this is not glitchy electro pop), but my boss ran up the stairs to make sure everybody was okay.

― Floyd the Barber (Floyd), Monday, 21 March 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

the Tenacious D album, but they straighten it out promptly.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

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