track #2 is a me magnet

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Whenever I d/l music by an artist with whom I'm unfamiliar and I'm ready to check them out for the first time I almost always go straight to track #2.

And sometimes I'll even go to track #2 and then click the slide-bar right to the middle of the song and listen from there.

Anyone else do something like this? Or am I unique in this regard?

― jeremiah (jeremiah), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:02 (twenty years ago)

there's some handed-down wisdom - at labels, and of a different sort with producers - that says the #2 spot is THE cherry to pick: lots of artists put singles there, even if it's not a single it has to be something that grabs the listener; it takes either a very brave or very stupid artist to put one of a record's more difficult tracks second, and if it's somebody who's actually selling a few records, most labels would at the very least want to talk the matter over

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:08 (twenty years ago)

i thought the FIRST song was supposed to grab you? it would take an even braver artist to put a difficult track first. when i am sampling crappy old records i always play the first song on both sides.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:18 (twenty years ago)

This is a holdover from vinyl days - songs on the outside actually had better sound quality so singles were placed at the beginning of sides. But people tend to mark & scratch the very edge so you put a more disposable song first up (either a throwaay single or track with long intro) hence #2 is the best song on the album. For awhile though I found that my mixtapes were filled with track #7s - I thought it was coincidence.

― Jeffro (Jeffro), Friday, 8 September 2006 02:12 (twenty years ago)

fleetwood mac dreams is #2

― a name means a lot just by itself (lfam), Friday, 8 September 2006 03:05 (twenty years ago)

The first track is sort of expected to be a track that "rocks out", that sort of sets the album on fire at once. Very rarely, a ballad is the first track.

Thomas is right regarding the second track often being a single. I think it's a matter of the first track aiming to grab the listener's attention, while the second track is supposed to keep it, which is more difficult.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 8 September 2006 09:10 (twenty years ago)

Gnarls Barkley, #2 "Crazy"

Blur, #2 "Song 2"

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 8 September 2006 09:14 (twenty years ago)

The first track generaly serves as an intro. I often skip the first track on an album. Generally I think track 6's often work for me, and track 5 is normally one I don't like.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 8 September 2006 09:41 (twenty years ago)

I only have two cds with me at work at the moment, but both confirm the #1 = single, #2 = something that grabs the listener theory.

The Knife - Deep Cuts. #1: Heartbeats. #2: Girls' Night Out
The Knife - Silent Shout. #1: Silent Shout #2: Neverland

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 8 September 2006 09:46 (twenty years ago)

Replacement's "Let it Be" No. 2: "Favorite Thing"
My fav.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Friday, 8 September 2006 11:26 (twenty years ago)

I thought the theory being suggested was actually the reverse of that, StanM.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 8 September 2006 11:31 (twenty years ago)

Traditionally the big hit single would appear as the first track on side 2 of the album.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 8 September 2006 11:37 (twenty years ago)

There's no overwhelming majority for one theory here, I think.

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 8 September 2006 11:43 (twenty years ago)

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