IT'S A SIMPLE QUESTION...OR IS IT?

While feeding the kiddo yesterday I had the XM 80's station pulled up on our DirecTV. Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie" came on and I made the comment at what a distinctive opening the song had. By opening, I meant from the first note through the first line of the first verse. Sheer synthesizer brilliance with a rare kill of the music leading directly into his acapella vocals. This immediately led to a conversation about what the best musical intro of all-time is.

Folks, it's definitely not a clear-cut answer. I pulled up my iTunes playlist of the top 500 songs ever as determined by Rolling Stone and quickly scrolled through the classics. No fewer than 169 struck me as fairly remarkable. Clearly this list need to be cut down. A second run-through of that smaller selection yielded 52 potentials.

It's not a comprehensive list, because I only worked off that Rolling Stone list. How could it be, when there was no Van Halen included in my list of finalists? "Running With The Devil," "You Really Got Me," "Ain't Talkin' About Love," "Dreams," "Right Now," "Jump," "Panama," "I'll Wait"...there might be no group better at grabbing you by the throat and pulling you in right off the bat.

No Def Leppard either. Consider the intros on these hits: "Bringin' On The Heartache," "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Hysteria," "Photograph."

But if we're looking at the best intros to the best songs, how do you decide from a list that includes:

Satisfaction...Johnny B. Goode...Smells Like Teen Spirit...London Calling...Purple Haze...Born To Run...Layla...Stairway To Heaven...Gimmie Shelter...All Along The Watchtower...Hotel California...When Doves Cry...Superstition...Whole Lotta Love...I Heard It Through The Grapevine...Every Breath You Take...Brown Eyed Girl...I Want You Back...Won't Get Fooled Again...While My Guitar Gently Weeps...Kashmir...Foxey Lady...Let's Get It On...Dream On...Back In Black...Sweet Child O' Mine...Good Times...Sunday Bloody Sunday...Walk This Way...One Way Or Another...Iron Man...Heartbreaker...We Will Rock You...Spirit In The Sky...Beat It...Baba O'Reilly...Pride (In The Name Of Love)...Bitter Sweet Symphony...Ohio...Roxanne...(Don't Fear) The Reaper...Sweet Home Alabama...Sweet Emotion...The Boys Of Summer...Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang...Piano Man...Smoke On The Water...Paradise City...Welcome To The Jungle...Eighteen...I Love Rock 'N' Roll...How Soon Is Now?

Can't be done, folks. If I had to only pick a half-dozen for myself, it would probably have to be London Calling, Born To Run, Layla, Superstition, Pride (In The Name Of Love), and Paradise City (no particular order).

I'M JUST SAYIN'

My kid is adorable.

We got lucky. She's way better looking than her daddy was at three months old.

THE FIRST IN A SERIES

Simple explanation. Twenty-five example of why 1984 was the greatest year in music history. You must judge on the merits of the music itself, not necessarily the music video (that's an entire different posting). So here we go with my evidence:

Turn Up The Radio (Autograph)...always thought this could be a great Def Leppard song
A Fine Fine Day (Tony Carey)...great story being told
Drive (The Cars)...and not just because of Paulina in the vid
Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) (Phil Collins)...on every breakup mix tape
Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)...banned in many nations, great drive to it
I Can Dream About You (Dan Hartman)...pure 80's
The Boys Of Summer (Don Henley)...maybe the finest of this collection, an all-time classic
Rebel Yell (Billy Idol)...fantastic intensity to the bridge
Original Sin (INXS)...underrated early effort
I Feel For You (Chaka Khan)...music and lyrics by Prince, harmonica by Stevie Wonder
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)...absolute tear-jerker, very evocative
Cool It Now (New Edition)...early rap experimentation, nice fusion of pop and bubblegum
Sister Christian (Night Ranger)...if only for its use in "Boogie Nights," but also great piano
Oh Sherrie (Steve Perry)...love the acapella to start, this guy has got some pipes
Wrapped Around Your Finger (The Police)...the final massive hit before their breakup
Let's Go Crazy (Prince & The Revolution)...alright, maybe this is the best song of 1984
When Doves Cry (Prince & The Revolution)...the absence of any bass is, well, revolutionary
Rock You Like A Hurricane (Scorpions)...guitar rock at its German best
Love Somebody (Rick Springfield)...won't get the credit, but better than "Jessie's Girl"
It's My Life (Talk Talk)...severely underrated tune that was remade recently by No Doubt
What's Love Got To Do With It (Tina Turner)...Grammy winner for Song of the Year
Pride (In The Name Of Love) (U2)...their first mainstream U.S. hit
Jump (Van Halen)...this just screams summertime staple
Missing You (John Waite)...a jumble of perfectly conflicted emotions
Careless Whisper (Wham!)...written when George Michael was just 17 years old

And, in the issue of fairness, let me present ten songs that make the argument against (no explanation necessary for any of them):

Strip - Adam Ant
Robert DeNiro's Waiting - Bananarama
Blue Jean - David Bowie
Stay The Night - Chicago
Sexy Girl - Glenn Frey
Method Of Modern Love - Hall & Oates
Centipede - Rebbie Jackson
Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney
Operator - Midnight Star
Mr. Telephone Man - New Edition