Songs with no intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP2d8yZzhdM

Belle & Sebastian open their first four LPs like this. Either the voice is the very first sound you hear or it comes within a second of a quietly strummed guitar. Several singles too: "Slow Graffiti", "I'm Waking Up To Us", etc.

Leonard Cohen does it a bit. ("Bird on a Wire", "Sisters of Mercy", "Is This What You Wanted?") Probably not uncommon where the singer is wielding an acoustic guitar. Maybe Smog and a bunch of folk singer types too?

Smash Mouth - All Star

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTaM6XD-cAI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j85MhM_gCTQ

re: Smog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67yAOOXE7d8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah5FpgT6N4E

Vampire Weekend’s « Step » (among others of theirs)

napalm death - you suffer

plus about a million other grindcore songs

Kate Bush “The Big Sky”, “Cloudbusting”
“Hounds of Love” almost

Quite popular circa 2003. eg.THIS and THIS

awopbopaloobopawompbamboom

...is the intro

I mean I guess it's also the chorus, so never mind, I'll allow it

Rush "Red Lenses"
Urge Overkill "Jaywalkin'"
Big Star "Give Me Another Chance"
Jawbox "His Only Trade"

tubthumping

lol n/m

i knock myself down but i get up again

lotion - dear sir

Bob Dylan & the Band - I’m Not There (...and probably other Basement Tapes songs? The Mighty Quinn?)

Royal Trux - The United States vs One 1974 Cadillac El Dorado Sedan

Royal Trux - Every Day Swan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=098IhhIOJeY

Beach Boys, "Do You Wanna Dance" - but not the Ramones, or Bobby Freeman for that matter.

"Somebody to Love" - Jefferson Airplane
"Delta Dawn" - Tanya Tucker; Helen Reddy
"Rich Girl" - Hall & Oates
"China Girl" - Iggy Pop
"Le Freak" - Chic

A lot of these begin abruptly but not necessarily in medias res.

"lizard lady" and "semolina" from duck stab/buster and glen by the residents

probably some others, i'm listening to "weight lifting lulu" now though, it's good

Hop Along - "The Knock"

― may the force leave us alone (zchyrs), Friday, January 3, 2020 10:21 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This was the first one that came to mind when I saw this thread. Love that song.

I keep thinking about The Fall, but MES so often just utters something ("Pink press threat!", "Who makes the Nazis?", etc) upfront, followed by what is otherwise a musical 'intro' passage. Still, "In the Park" clearly fits the bill. And the likes of "Mr Pharmacist", "Dice Man" and "Kicker Conspiracy" commence with the chorus.

Yeah, those are good ones. "Kicker!"

Pixies - Distance Equals Rate Times Time

^ good one... no intro, drops right into the action, and also no real chorus

Dexys Midnight Runners, "Plan B"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8QI69ifsiY

... and others I suspect.

genesis with peter gabriel did this shit all the fucking time

looking for someone
supper's ready (which gets bonus points for being a _23-minute epic_ with no intro)
dancing with the moonlit knight

there are some other songs that are very close, like "lillywhite lilith" and "the lamia"

Buncha Sam The Sham songs: "(I'm In With) The Out Crowd"; "Medicine Man"; "How Do You Catch A Girl?"; "Ju Ju Hand"; "Ring Dang Doo"; "Lil' Red Riding Hood" (if the wolf howl counts)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A9GIgghiP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfK1_FBTMtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMGSj_t_1U

Need a subthread of songs that start with an a cappella rendition of the chorus, before launching into a musical intro…

Bon Jovi - You Give Love a Bad Name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA7XqnHMIwQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQtqwIqnvE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4IG0YOGiV0

W.A.S.P. - "I Wanna Be Somebody"

Beach Boys "Heroes and Villains"

Joanna Newsom has a lot of these

Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing

Beach Boys - "Here Today"

the cowsills - start to love
dennis wilson - thoughts of you

Madness: "Rise and Fall"
(which btw is an album opener)

Beach Boys "Heroes and Villains"

at least half of the smiley smile tracks do this.

CSNY - "Our House"
Paul McCartney - "No More Lonely Nights"

Fiery Furnaces - Pricked in the Heart
Fiery Furnaces - Turning Round
Fiery Furnaces - Up in the North
Fiery Furnaces - Police Sweater Blood Vow (this one has an opening chord)

Misfits - Bullet owns this category:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiTgDBNQ3lU

another obvious example of that is "bohemian rhapsody," though themes from that intro recur throughout the song

felt Abba must have these, because they have a way of going right into their choruses...

(see also this thread: the CVC formula: songs with choruses as intros)

...so I scrolled thru the 59-track Abba Gold Anniversary Edition and found these:

“Take A Chance On Me”, “Super Trouper” (both start with the chorus sung acapella tho); “Our Last Summer”, Kisses Of Fire”. “I Am Just A Girl” has just one guitar strum, “Rock Me” has two drum beats.

probably more to be found on their albums