every time for me. It wasn't just an intro to a song it was an intro to The Smiths as a band. Not their first single but everyting that was great about them was summed up in those first 10-15 seconds. Saw it on TOTP and was hooked.

*EDIT* The only TOTP version on Youtube doesn't have the intro so this live one will have to do.

does it for me every time. Power and space.

It was never better than at the 1973 Earls Court shows

It's only a single snare crack but it felt like the world had changed.

Stops me in my tracks every time. A cliche, but what a riff... and what a solo...perfect.

How damn brave and / or foolish were The Rolling Stones to have this guy as their support act in 1972?

And then of course there's always this...

Rufus Thomas - http://open.spotify.com/track/3vjytsL9oKCrkvmFDpnYSl

and this...

Ronnie and The Delinquents - http://open.spotify.com/track/3XiXndk8t8l1yRNx9EddUw

...I like a slow burner! For something a bit more visceral, you'd go a long way to better Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)

Bastards, Fucking cunts and pricks.

Just recalling my dads look of apoplexy when he first heard me play this Ian Dury gem makes it the best intro ever.
In the more prosaic world that we live in I would nominate Steely Dans Do it again which is equally as compelling on Guitar Hero.

you may not have liked them but they made a big difference to a lot of us. Sids not really that important but the band are kicking....

some miserable bastard starts a thread about the recession then a thread like this starts and within minutes I've listened to Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street and many more. This one will run and run and all power to it. Right what's next?

or maybe this

California Girls is my favorite. Tentative, delicate, starts to swoosh, then swings...

Chic were masters of this art. Good Times sounds like an incoming missile

Beyonce's Crazy In Love is another "Bam!" Intro

But my favorite intro of recent years is Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. This is because I recognise it when the very first note is played. Just the first "dum" gets picked and I know what's on. That's pretty blooming good in my book.

Will stop now, but, same as everyone here, I have loads...

And I'll go along with Another Girl Another Planet for top spot, but just for fun, these are the ones that I find are impossible to shift from my brain, 'specially when I have them as a ring tone in a crowded office.

Vapours - Turning Japanese

J Geils - Centrefold and Freezeframe

Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life

Madness - The Sun And The Rain and House Of Fun (or almost anything else of theirs)

Happy memories of hearing Nicky Campbell celebrating its awesomeness by repeating this two or three times in one go on his Radio 1 10pm-12am show about 20 years ago. Another 'stops me in my tracks' intro. The riff... then the strings... ahh... genius. :-)

The only other time I heard this happen was a few years later when Mark Radcliffe took over the evening slot and had got his mits on Eric Matthews' 'Fanfare' - which got played twice in succession and was duly fawned over for weeks... Another fantastic intro.

And what about:

The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There

...compare with the toe-curling intro from the host make this a double win! Oh, it might be the best intro to a film as well! That's three!

Stay with it to see the moment Pete Townshend's career-long hearing issues are caused by Mr Moon's explosive proclivities, and his flaming barnet anticipates Michael Jackson by some 20 years

Goosebumps...
The first 20 seconds of this is one of the best things in the history of recorded sound. Amazing.

....but can I humbly offer this one up for consideration.

And when someone starts a "greatest outro" thread, this would be my nomination too.

first time i heard this - in the centre of Manchester coming out of HMV I had to sit down:

this intro always gives me a lift:

Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants...

*NB: (1) The phone ringing is not part of the track (2) Sounds awesome on headphones...

I give you Echo Beach by Martha and the Muffins. So much going on in this intro, not a nanosecond of it wasted. The fading-in sequencer motif, the delicately picked guitar, the rhythm section kicking in with the choppy rhythm guitar, the woozy synth. Bloody marvellous.

Jackson 5 - the guitar riffing is just excellent - go on listen...
http://open.spotify.com/track/6bC62A2SV901HWhZ8O1ycY

Also, the guitar at the beginning of 'Tracks of My Tears'
http://open.spotify.com/track/6Sw5psuaoGIpOooPkAMg99

There are many others but that'll do to start.

I concur wholeheartedly with Gimme Shelter, I Feel Fine, Like a Rolling Stone, Whole Lotta Love etc.

On a different tack altogether, I've always loved this intro. Very atmospheric, and still sounds great 24 years later.

My choice of this may well be influenced by me and the FPO having seen them perform this live in Sheffield on Saturday. "ABC perform The Lexicon of Love in its entirety with a 50 piece orchestra conducted by Anne Dudley" - every bit as fantastic as I expected. Martin Fry in ridiculously good voice and still unfeasibly cool (no gold lamé suit though - boo! just a black suit with gold lining...).

Anyway, the intro sets the scene brilliantly for this classic album.

Another Girl, Another Planet. You're right - one of the best intros of all time.

That bass... drums - and that solo, reaching into the statosphere.. and thats just the first minute or so!

Props to 'This Charming Man' though. How about that shimmering intro to 'How Soon Is Now', though, eh?

Also 'I Saw Her Standing There'. "One-two-three-faw!!"

visiting from Bristol insists I post this

A stripped-down riff of classic beauty.

RIDE's "Leave Them All Behind" - The intro is a couple of minutes of heaven in a speaker.

(In this first case, quite literally.) I love the 'huge' sound of this song (the whole of 'Album', in fact) - astonishing drums and a riff that almost seems to taunt the listener. I could go on and on about how brilliant this track is all the way through, but won't.

And this one for the slow build-up, tinkling piano and gorgeous swooning riff that - in a bizarre masterstroke typical of this band - never quite recurs in the same way in the rest of the song.

by The Jam of course. That's what I call an intro.

but.....this is up there. Best drum intro, best bass line, best guitar solo and best "whoa whoa" and best "urgh".....

except when it's used as intro to CSI Miami.

... you best believe I'm in love L U V...

Shangrilas, Give Him A Great Big Kiss. The best 3 seconds that ever kick started a song (probably).

And a bonus, the best 'outro' as well ;-)

so how could I have left these out for so long

And since we're in Million Dollar Riff territory (Rockwiz again), you've got to have this....

also, from Iggy's pal:

or you could have 'Stay' from the same album

"Hands up who wants to die!"

How about THE FAITH HEALER by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band - all 2 minutes 30 secs of it...

A magnificent intro

While duly flattered to be given the yellow jersey by lennylaw, I must torpedo my previous entry and propose this one, a song that has me instinctively reaching for the volume button to turn it up. Those exquisitely flourished guitar arpeggios; the swoosh of cymbals, the pause; then the hell-for-leather thrashing of 12-string guitar (and is it my imagination or is it slightly out of tune?). It all adds up to Jeff Buckley's Grace. Roll the tape!

Curtis

...none better than this for generating backofneck hairs movement.

...surely no-one can deny the spirit of rock is perfectly contained in the first 20-odd seconds of MOUNTAIN's 'MISSISSIPPI QUEEN':

California Girls.
Nothing to do with the rest of the song but heavenly, nontheless.

'Transmission' - Joy Division.
'Pusherman' - Curtis Mayfield
'Black Hit of Space' - The Human League
'Nutbush City Limits' - Ike & Tina Turner
'Public Image' - Public Image Ltd

'Papa Was A Rolling Stone' - The Temptations
'Venus In Furs' - The Velvet Unerground
'Low Rider' - War
'Heart Of The Sunrise' - Yes
'Peaches' - The Stranglers

It's not easy at all. Way too much and way to good to choose from.

... look -

'Cannonball' - The Breeders
'Undercover Of The Night' - The Rolling Stones
'Dear Prudence' - The HJHs
'I Can't Explain' - The Who
'Concrete Jungle - The Specials

'Paranoid' - Black Sabbath
'L.A. Woman' - The Doors
'Watching The Detectives' - Elvis Costello
'Pretty Woman' - Roy Orbison
'I Don't Like Mondays' - Boomtown Rats
'Hit The North' - The Fall

My current favourite - I guess it's most of the song rather than just an intro, but its mighty

This:

and this - which is the perfect length for getting to the 'floor.

it is of course this:

Coming to this thread so late I'm suprised to find no mention of Cozy Powell's drum intro to Stargazer. Or Herbie Flowers' bass intro to Rock On. Or the drum intro to (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea. Or did I miss 'em?

Still think 'Like A Rolling Stone' is the best though

106 posts and nobody has mentioned the Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man...

This:

...best pop drummer ever with his best ever intro, from their first album before they was bigger than the world...

..30 odd seconds distillation of rock'n'roll

The Aliens. Setting Sun.

you all have such good taste, most of you have excellent taste. I would like to throw this into the ring, the wrong-footing drums, the eloquently sparse guitar, the thrumming bass. My first single by my favourite band ever. This is my best intro.

http://open.spotify.com/track/19ylEdisiVvIsgZoN6iScV

Youtube

this is one of the best intros to come out of Holland anyway:

For the obvious statement of intent;
MC5 - Kick out the jams (uncensored version obviously!)

Along a similar vein but with frogs;

And finaly another Stone Roses choice;

Not sure whether this will work as first time I have had a go at it but for anyone interested my day at work was filled by putting together a playlist of the above tracks. Tried to include most tracks but please don't be offended if your tracks were omitted! Some of it is due to tracks missing on Spotify, some due to too many nominations for one artist, some I simply do not like and some due to the "Sting factor". Other than that most are included. Enjoy.... so long as it works!

http://open.spotify.com/user/anth25/playlist/2GCDsdgZ6LnCdRSSsFexIh

Normally on these Post A Song threads I think "Yeah.. cobblers.." to most of the posts. Here, though, I find myself agreeing with almost all of them. We do all, it seems, have an ear for an intro.

is surely the best "Ride" intro.

And Creedence:

The two intros that mean I start twitching in funny ways on the Mtero.

... here's another one.

Guns n'Roses - Sweet Child of Mine

I knew how to do the Youtube thing. Anyway, you're all wrong, it's "Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks. Magic.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6n9hpoCE404s37S0HSfZ7c

Much as I love the idea of Spotify, I can't actually access it from Australia, so I have absolutely no idea what all these cryptic Spotify links are pointing to. Could be Duran Duran for all I know.

Have we got so many nominations and yet no one has mentioned either:

Do It Again, Steely Dan

Theme From Shaft, Isaac Hayes

(apologies if someone has and I just missed them)

Always a favourite - the man has chops to spare!!

Here he is on Hullaballoo 1966 - check the dancers!

Cartoonish, but agreeably heavy pop psych

Got to be Sound and Vision by David Bowie, nearly 2 minutes of sheer genius

Shot By Both Sides by Magazine????

it's hard to top this one:

I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE! AND I BRING YOU....

Some absolute corkers. My money would have been on The Isley's "This ole heart of mine" were it not for the fact that this is my all time favourite of all time mate! What's not to love about this? The clattery drum into, the simplicity of the tambourine, the pumping bass and the wobbly piano. It's just gorgeous

. . . deserves a shout (if it has already been mentioned my apologies).
"'Allo" - sums it all up really !!