Start as you mean to go on

By Andy Hughes

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ANY composer will tell you�the introduction is everything. Miss out on the intro and your listener is already off looking, and listening for something else.

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This isn't something new.�Tchaikovsky would have told you, that Piano Concerto Number One was a synch, once he'd got those first few chiming chords making everyone sit up and take notice. Beethoven's Fifth No problem, just get that first banging sequence of notes going, and everyone is waiting for them to come around again.

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Modern pop and rock writers follow that simple rule because, well, it is a rule, and you break it at the expense of your hit song. Just take a mental stroll through your favourite pop songs, it doesn't matter if they are new, old, huge hits, or forgotten obscurities, the rule fits if you try it for size.

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Let's pluck a hit at random - Free's All Right Now. Just mention�it and you can hear Paul Kossof's guitar chords ringing out with the punch of Simon Kirk's drums whacking away underneath, ready for Paul Rogers to tell the timeless tale of boy meets girl.

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Look at The Beatles,�they understood the value of getting a hook line in from the word go better than just about anyone. The orchestral intro to All You Need Is Love, the churning bass and guitar interplay of Get Back, McCartney's shouted count-in on I Saw Her Standing There the list, and the hits, are endless. The jet plane intro on Back In The USSR did a good job for the Fabs, and it didn't hurt Spiller when they used a snippet of that sound to usher in their bang-up-to-date Groove Jet smash.

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What's your favourite musical intro Hotdog asked: 'Can anybody nominate memorable intros to pop/rock songs that match Led Zepplin's Whole Lotta Love or Free's All right Now Add your thoughts here.