Best opening tracks?

A few personal favorites:

"Tom Sawyer" -- RUSH
"Watcher of the Skies" -- Genesis
"Secondhand News" -- Fleetwood Mac
"Prison Song" -- System of a Down
"Seven Nation Army" -- The White Stripes
"Blitzkrieg Bop" -- The Ramones
"We Should Be Together" -- Jefferson Airplane
"Detroit Rock City" -- KISS
"Cult of Personality" -- Living Colour
"Taxman" -- The Beatles
"American Idiot" -- Green Day
"International Feel" -- Todd Rundgren
"Astronomy Domine" -- Pink Floyd
"Rosalie" -- Thin Lizzy

and, last but not least, given my SportsJournalists.com handle ...

"I'd Like to Know" -- Supergrass

 

Two Thin Lizzy references already! Yeah!

 

Lots of great ones listed here. "Welcome to the Jungle" was pretty incredible in that it not only introduced the album, but also the band.

One of my favorite albums as a teen was Scorpions' "Love at First Sting," and the initial track "Bad Boys Running Wild" set the tone for the rest of the album.

 

"You are now about to witness the stren'th of street knowledge."

 

'Blister in the Sun'

 

"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine." How did Van Morrison neglect to mention that?

 

A great underrated one that I neglected to mention:

Around the Dial -- The Kinks (Give the People What They Want)

 

Great pull. Love that song, great beginning with the guy searching the radio dial.

 

Count me in, too. Criminally underrated album.

 

I agree that the entire album is criminally underrated. So many great songs.

 

A little surprised nobody's mentioned The Sopranos closing song yet, since it did open Journey's Escape album.
Here's an all-star cover version of it:

 

Kinks underrated in general