Top 10 Opening Tracks From 1990s Rock Albums

Feature Photo: A.RICARDO / Shutterstock.com

Working on a list like this is always a lot of fun because the 1990s gave rock fans an enormous range of albums to choose from. Grunge exploded, progressive rock kept evolving, bands such as The Black Crowes brought older blues-rock influences back into the spotlight, and established artists from previous decades continued releasing major records.

For this list, the focus is simple: opening tracks that immediately announced what an album was about and made you want to keep listening. There were plenty of others that could have made the cut, but these 10 remain some of our favorite ways a 1990s rock album ever began.

#10 – “Rusty Cage” – Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger (1991)

“Rusty Cage” opens Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger with Chris Cornell’s huge voice, Kim Thayil’s jagged guitar work, Ben Shepherd’s bass, and Matt Cameron’s drums hitting at full force. The song shifts from its hard-driving opening into a slower, heavier section, giving the album an immediate sense of danger and unpredictability. It was also later reworked brilliantly by Johnny Cash on Unchained. I have always cringed a little when Soundgarden gets reduced to the grunge label because, to my ears, they often sounded closer to Led Zeppelin than Nirvana.

Read More: Top 10 Soundgarden Songs

#9 – “I’m Gonna Soothe You” – Maria McKee – You Gotta Sin to Get Saved (1993)

After the attack of “Rusty Cage,” Maria McKee’s “I’m Gonna Soothe You” changes the mood completely. The opening track from You Gotta Sin to Get Saved is warm, seductive, soulful, and rooted in the blend of rock, country, and R&B that McKee handled so naturally. Produced by George Drakoulias, the song lets her voice do most of the work while the band stays loose and tasteful underneath her. It is exactly the kind of opener that does not need to explode out of the speakers to pull you into an album.

Read More: 100 Best Rock Albums Of The 90s

#8 – “Mas Tequila” – Sammy Hagar – Red Voodoo (1999)

Sammy Hagar opens Red Voodoo with exactly the kind of song his fans would expect from him. “Mas Tequila” is loud, simple, celebratory rock built around Hagar’s Cabo Wabo lifestyle and his ability to turn a party slogan into a crowd-ready chorus. By 1999, Hagar had long since established his identity outside Van Halen, and this track makes no attempt to be anything other than fun. As an album opener, it works because there is no slow introduction or scene-setting; Hagar throws the doors open and starts the party immediately.

Read More: Top 10 Sammy Hagar Deep Cuts

#7 – “Right Next Door to Hell” – Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion I (1991)

“Right Next Door to Hell” was a perfect way for Guns N’ Roses to open the sprawling Use Your Illusion I. Duff McKagan’s bass starts the song at a sprint before Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Matt Sorum, and Axl Rose turn it into three minutes of pure aggression. The track has none of the grand piano, orchestration, or epic scale that would appear elsewhere on the album; instead, it reminds listeners immediately that underneath all the ambition, Guns N’ Roses could still sound dangerous and nasty. It is short, direct, and exactly the kind of opener a massive double-album project needed.

#6 – “Twice as Hard” – The Black Crowes – Shake Your Money Maker (1990)

“Twice as Hard” introduced The Black Crowes to a huge audience by opening their debut album Shake Your Money Maker with a sound that seemed to come from another era without feeling like a museum piece. Rich Robinson’s guitar riff and Chris Robinson’s bluesy vocal immediately established the band’s identity, drawing from classic blues rock and Southern rock while the rest of the music world was moving in very different directions. The song has swagger, groove, and just enough looseness to make the band sound dangerous. As a first track on a first album, it was an outstanding introduction.

#5 – “Them Bones” – Alice in Chains – Dirt (1992)

Alice in Chains wastes no time on Dirt. “Them Bones” begins with Layne Staley’s scream and Jerry Cantrell’s crushing guitar riff, and from that moment the album’s darkness is established. The unusual rhythmic feel, Sean Kinney’s drums, Mike Starr’s bass, and the vocal interplay between Staley and Cantrell make the track feel unstable in the best possible way. It lasts only a few minutes, but that brevity makes it even more effective. “Them Bones” does exactly what a great opening track should do: it tells you immediately that the album you have just started is not going to be an easy ride.

#4 – “Thunderstruck” – AC/DC – The Razors Edge (1990)

Few opening tracks announce themselves as dramatically as “Thunderstruck.” Angus Young’s instantly recognizable guitar figure builds the tension before the full band crashes in, and Brian Johnson’s vocal turns the track into one of AC/DC’s great arena anthems. Opening The Razors Edge with this song made it clear that AC/DC had entered the 1990s without abandoning the sound that made the band famous. The song became bigger than the album itself, surviving for decades in concert set lists, sports arenas, and rock radio, but its first job was simply to open an AC/DC record, and it did that spectacularly.

#3 – “Poundcake” – Van Halen – For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)

Van Halen opens For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge with the sound of Eddie Van Halen using a power drill against his guitar strings, which tells you immediately that the band is still looking for new ways to make noise. Once “Poundcake” settles into its main riff, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and Sammy Hagar turn it into a heavy, swaggering track built for radio and arenas. The song reached number one on Billboard’s Album Rock Tracks chart, but more importantly for this list, it gives the album a distinctive opening sound that could only have come from Eddie Van Halen.

#2 – “Enter Sandman” – Metallica – Metallica (1991)

“Enter Sandman” opens Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album with one of the most famous guitar riffs of the decade. The slow build into James Hetfield’s vocal immediately signaled that Metallica was moving toward a more streamlined and accessible sound without giving up its weight. Bob Rock’s production made every drum hit, guitar chord, and vocal line sound enormous, and the song became the gateway through which millions of new listeners discovered the band. Whatever longtime fans thought about Metallica’s stylistic shift, there is no denying that “Enter Sandman” was a brutally effective way to begin the album that changed the band’s career.

Read More: Top 10 Metallica Songs

#1 – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana – Nevermind (1991)

Nevermind (30th Anniversary) [Super Deluxe 5 CD/Blu-ray]

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” does more than open Nevermind; it announces one of the defining rock albums of the 1990s. Kurt Cobain’s four-chord guitar figure, Dave Grohl’s explosive drumming, Krist Novoselic’s bass, and the quiet-loud dynamics give the song an immediate sense of release. Its success pushed Nirvana into the mainstream and helped change what major-label rock sounded like almost overnight. Plenty of opening tracks set the tone for an album, but very few have set the tone for an entire era. That is why “Smells Like Teen Spirit” takes the number one spot on this list.