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my top 10

10. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Nirvana
9. "Come Together" The Beatles
8. "Highway to Hell" AC/DC - better intro than anything from Back in Black
7. "Eye of the Tiger" Survivor
6. "Gimme Shelter" The Rolling Stones
5. "Welcome to the Jungle" Guns 'n' Roses
4. "Purple Haze" The Jimi Hendrix Experience
3. "Layla" Derek and the Dominoes
2. "We Will Rock You" Queen
1. "Smoke on the Water" Deep Purple - let's face it, if at any time you owned a guitar you probably tried to play this riff

personal favorites that didn't make the list (in no order):
- "Cannonball" The Breeders
- "Israel's Son" Silverchair
- "Longview" Green Day
- "The Message" Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
- "You Give Love a Bad Name" Bon Jovi
 
Kudos to Hotel California and Eye of the Tiger. I'm surprised that nbody have mentioned:

Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight
Scorpion - Rock You Like A Hurricane
Seether - Broken
Three Doors Down - Here Without You
Staind - So Far Away

Man, listening to these songs with the new Apple in-ear headphones are amazing!
 
Can't believe that no one has mentioned this. While technically not an intro, it is usually played that way for Pretty Woman.
 
There are so many!!!

Metallica - Battery
Beatles - Back in the USSR
Ozzy - Crazy Train
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

...And Stuff
 
And You and I: Yes

The live acoustic intro to 'Hotel California' off the Eagles When Hell Freezes Over Album.

Baba O'Reily: The Who

Through The Fire and Flames: Dragon Force
 
Cherub Rock - The Smashing Pumpkins

This song used to be freaking awesome before they added to Guitar Hero 3. Nothing against GH, but any song that is placed in any of its games instantly loses its "specialness" to me.
 
Cherub Rock - The Smashing Pumpkins

This song used to be freaking awesome before they added to Guitar Hero 3. Nothing against GH, but any song that is placed in any of its games instantly loses its "specialness" to me.

Are you one of those guys that only likes music if it isn't popular or something?

P-Worm
 
Are you one of those guys that only likes music if it isn't popular or something?

P-Worm

No, not at all. I listen to some mainstream stuff. I can't say I like a lot of the stuff that is popular right now, but that's just a personal preference. The thing I don't like about GH is that it takes the context out of many good songs. For instance, I first heard "Cherub Rock" on the radio as an angry teenager (note: growing up in the early 2000s, not during the early 90s when the song came out). It made an impression on me at the time, and for that reason (among others) I like it. I played some GH at my friend's the other day, and I played the song. I enjoyed playing it... until I realized the next time I heard the song that I didn't like it as much. I thought about it for a while, and I realized that I've been introduced to a newer form of the song via GH by being encouraged to forget why I liked the song in the first place. In short, GH recycled the song into sound bytes represented on the TV screen by colored circles. They presented a shell, but took out the meat.

Basically, I take a classical approach to music. That's all :)
 
Now I think about it, and after reading most of the posts here, there are a hell of a lot of outstanding intros to classic rock songs.

If we include songs with vocals included in the intros then without a doubt the winners have to be Queen. What with 'Bicycle Race', 'Flash', 'Radio Ga Ga', 'We are the Champions', 'Bohemian Rapsidy', 'Anotherone Bites the Dust' (my favourite Queen song by the way), 'We Will Rock You' and too many others to single out.

I must say thre are not many people out there who cannot recognize a Queen song from their intros....

Sorry for the double post but I though Fleetweed Mac's 'Tusk' deserved a mention but is too good to be added as an edit to the Queen comments above...


just have to add that Queen was/is the greatest rock band ever. ask any question about rock music and your answer has to be Queen. most talented, most versatile, most entertaining, most (insert predicate here).....EVER!

on that note, i agree with most of the already mentioned songs but i'll add a couple of songs to the list:

cliffs of dover- Eric Johnson (austin music scene before it was a scene)
love song- Tesla (reminds me of the theme song to buck rogers: the series[yeah i'm old])
green grass and high tides- the outlaws (just played it again on rockband- i had forgotten all about this song until i got rockband for the kids [and myself too])
 
Afterlife-Avenged Sevenfold
Welcome Home-Coheed And Cambria
Panic Attack-Dream Theater
The Final Countdown-Europe
Painkiller-Judas Priest
The Hellion-Judas Priest
Trust-Megadeth
Battery-Metallica
For Whom The Bell Tolls-Metallica
Assassin-Muse
Blue Monday-Orgy
Walk-Pantera
In The Air Tonight-Phil Collins
Der Meister-Rammstein
The Light That Blinds-Shadows Fall
Domination-Symphony X
Here I Go Again-Whitesnake
Baba O'Riley-The Who
Joker And The Thief-Wolfmother

strongly recommend that u listen to all of these
 
Jumping Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones. The studio version of course, they never play the intro live.
 
DREAM THEATRE - FORSAKEN
VAN HALEN - FEELIN'
DAVID LEE ROTH - YANKEE ROSE
RHCP - SNOW (HEY OH)
FEEDER - BUCK ROGERS
IRON MAIDEN - FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF GOD
JOE SATRIANI - THE SOULS OF DISTORTION
JOURNEY - SEPERATE WAYS
RUSH - WORKING MAN
METALLICA - ONE

all really great intros and songs in my opinion!
 
Lots of excellent ones on here. In fact, I made a CD for the car using a bunch of suggestions in the thread. However, I'm really surprised not to see

Right Now: Van Halen
 
If I had to choose one, hands down:
YYZ-Rush

Others would be:
These Colors Don't Run- Iron Maiden
The Kids aren't alright- The Offsprings
No Leaf Clover-Metallica
Keep It Real- ONE OK ROCK
Citizen Soldier (shorter one)- 3 Doors Down
Superman-Goldfinger
Sweet Home Alabama- Lynyrd Skynyrd
Smoke on the Water- Deep Purple
Seven Nation Army- White Snakes
Savin' Me- Nickleback
 
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