Paste (USA) - The 40 Best Debut Album Openers of All Time (2020)

[mileswide]

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/bes ... ff-tracks/

40. The Shins - 'Caring Is Creepy' (Oh, Inverted World)
39. The Stone Roses - 'I Wanna Be Adored' (The Stone Roses)
38. Phoebe Bridgers - 'Smoke Signals' (Strangers in the Alps)
37. Van Morrison - 'Brown Eyed Girl' (Blowin' Your Mind!)
36. SZA - 'Supermodel' (CTRL)
35. Pink Floyd - 'Astronomy Domine' (Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
34. Lorde - 'Tennis Court' (Pure Heroine)
33. Miranda Lambert - 'Kerosene' (Kerosene)
32. Big Boi - 'Daddy Fat Sax' (Sir Lucious Left Foot)
31. *NSYNC - 'Tearin' up My Heart' (*NSYNC)
30. Vampire Weekend - 'Mansard Roof' (Vampire Weekend)
29. Neneh Cherry - 'Buffalo Stance' (Raw like Sushi)
28. Fiona Apple - 'Sleep to Dream' (Tidal)
27. Van Halen - 'Runnin' with the Devil' (Van Halen)
26. The Go-Gos - 'Our Lips Are Sealed' (We Got the Beat)
25. Pavement - 'Summer Babe (Winter Version)' (Slanted and Enchanted)
24. Alabama Shakes - 'Hold On' (Boys & Girls)
23. Jeff Buckley - 'Mojo Pin' (Grace)
22. PJ Harvey - 'Oh My Lover' (Dry)
21. Oasis - 'Rock 'n' Roll Star' (Definitely Maybe)
20. U2 - 'I Will Follow' (Boy)
19. Florence & the Machine - 'Dog Days Are Over' (Lungs)
18. Devo - 'Uncontrollable Urge' (Q. Are We Not Men? A. We Are Devo!)
17. Björk - 'Human Behaviour' (Debut)
16. The Jesus and Mary Chain - 'Just like Honey' (Psychocandy)
15. Liz Phair - '6'1''' (Exile in Guyville)
14. LCD Soundsystem - 'Daft Punk Is Playing at My House' (LCD Soundsystem)
13. Weezer - 'My Name Is Jonas' (Weezer [The Blue Album])
12. The Strokes - 'Is This It' (Is This It)
11. Nine Inch Nails - 'Head like a Hole' (Pretty Hate Machine)
10. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze (Are You Experienced [US Version])
9. Joy Division - 'Disorder' (Unknown Pleasures)
8. The Velvet Underground & Nico - 'Sunday Morning' (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
7. Ramones - 'Blitzkrieg Bop' (Ramones)
6. N.W.A. - 'Straight outta Compton' (Straight outta Compton)
5. Patti Smith - 'Gloria' (Horses)
4. Tracy Chapman - 'Talkin' 'bout a Revolution' (Tracy Chapman)
3. Sade - 'Smooth Operator' (Diamond Life)
2. Frank Ocean - 'Start/Thinkin bout You' (channel ORANGE)
1. R.E.M. - 'Radio Free Europe' (Murmur)

[acroamor]

Really love Smoke Signals making a list like this

[Holden]

Weird prompt but solid list.

[baraka92]

Really fun list but I’m surprised by the omission of I Saw Her Standing There and Good Times Bad Times.

[Sweepstakes Ron]

I feel like including "Purple Haze" is sort of cheating... and obviously the most glaring omission is "Break on Through".

[mileswide]

I like the premise, debut album lists and album openers lists are pretty common but I've not seen one that combines the two before.

But no Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)?? And for the token pop song, a stronger argument could be made for ...Baby One More Time than Tearin' up Your Heart, maybe even Señorita if you're going to spend half of the *NSYNC write-up asking us to imagine a world without Justin Timberlake...