begin as you mean to go on
here's the game: who has the best opening on track on a debut album? the game was invented when the author couldn't stop singing "he's carrying the wheel" after everytime jonas says "my name is jonas" in stargate. this led to the discovery of the first BAYMTGO song: Weezer's My Name is Jonas
we need a rubric for "best" hence "begin as you mean to go on." there are 2 basic dimensions:
- flawless execution of the band's vision
- sets expectations perfectly for the band's career
- beyoncé - dangerously in love - crazy in love
- black sabbath - black sabbath - black sabbath ☑️
- dire straits - dire straits - down to the waterline
- fiona apple - tidal - sleep to dream
- gillian welch - revival - orphan girl
- jimi hendrix - are you experienced - purple haze
- john prine - john prine - illegal smile
- king woman - created in the image of suffering - utopia
- leon bridges - coming home - coming home
- linkin park - hybrid theory - paper cut
- nin - pretty hate machine - head like a hole
- rage against the machine - rage against the machine - bombtrack
- red fang - red fang - prehistoric dog
- the killers - hot fuss - jenny was a friend of mine
- the pixies - surfer rosa - bone machine
- weezer - (blue album) - my name is jonas
☑️ indicates the triple eponymous debut track, a rare honor
debut album is hard to define sometimes. usually it's labelled that way. if not the rule of thumb is that if the album contains a song that a subsequent "studio debut" it is not the debut album for the purposes of BAYMTGO. this means that singles, and even many EPs and LPs are disqualified, as the debut studio album contains one or more of the songs