John Richards

Opening track from 'Hounds of Love'. www.kexp.org Bush wrote "Running Up That Hill" using a Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer. She was one of the first to use the device, including it on her 1980 album Never For Ever. Kate Bush not only wrote her own songs, but starting with her 1982 album The Dreaming, was also her own producer, a rare feat at the time especially for a female artist. Until she came along, the only woman on this level who did her own writing and production was Joni Mitchell, another singer of immense influence and acclaim. www.songfacts.com

Opening track of Let It Bleed. Let It Bleed is the eighth British and tenth American studio album by The Rolling Stones. Released in November, Let It Bleed reached number 1 in the UK (temporarily demoting the Beatles' Abbey Road) and number 3 on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the US, where it eventually went 2× platinum. www.kexp.org

Opening track from "Music for the Masses" and it just gets better from there! Donate now to support KEXP! www.kexp.org Depeche Mode will play Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, November 26th! www.depechemode.com

It's the opening day of the Fall Drive and we're playing the best opening tracks of all time, all morning! www.kexp.org This was R.E.M.'s first single, released in 1981, before they signed to a major label. -- "This song was pivotal to the continuation of our career," drummer Bill Berry explained. "Most fans may not realize that for two years before "Murmur" (1983) was released, we barely made financial ends meet by playing tiny clubs around the southeast. Our gasoline budget prevented us from venturing further. Put simply, our existence was impoverished. College radio and major city club scenes embraced this song and expanded our audience to the extent that we moved from small clubs to medium-sized venues and the additional revenue made it possible to logically pursue this wild musical endeavor. I dare not contemplate what our fate would have been had this song not appeared when it did."

Opening track from Fleetwood Mac's best selling album. It was recorded with the intention of making a "pop album"...guess it worked! It's the Fall Drive, donate now! www.kexp.org

Best opening tracks of all time! Support KEXP by donating now! https://www.kexp.org/donate/ This title track to George Michael's debut album begins with an organ fanfare that was actually the music to Wham!'s "Freedom" played as if in a cathedral. www.kexp.org/donate

Don't wait, donate now - you'll be glad you did! www.kexp.org Waiting Room was written by Ian MacKaye and comes from Fugazi’s 13 Songs album – a compilation of the Fugazi and Margin Walker EPs from 1988. That's MacKaye's thrashing guitar on this song. -- "I am a patient boy..." If you have enough patience, you can listen to these 10 (!) covers of "Waiting Room," including by Rancid and Jimmie's Chicken Shack: www.verbicidemagazine.com

First track from 'Beauty and the Beat'. "While [The Go Go's] hit singles -- 'We Got the Beat,' 'Our Lips Are Sealed,' 'Vacation,' 'Head Over Heels' -- were bright, energetic new wave pop, the group was an integral part of the California punk scene." tinyurl.com Be an integral part of The Fall Drive, by donating now! www.kexp.org

We're playing the best opening tracks of all time - Shabooh Shoobah came out on this date in 1982. Help make this the best opening day for a drive by donating now! www.kexp.org

Donate now and check it off your to-do list! www.kexp.org Doors fans aren't made, they're born. www.youtube.com

One of the best opening tracks of all time! www.kexp.org The Clash performed "London Calling" live on the sketch comedy show "Fridays": www.youtube.com

"Where Do the Children Play?" is the opening track on Cat Stevens' 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. www.kexp.org

We're playing the best opening album tracks of all time, all morning. Show that you value special shows like this by donating to KEXP www.kexp.org This was one of the songs Simon & Garfunkel performed in 1964 when they were starting out and playing the folk clubs in Greenwich Village. It was their first hit.

A great opening track off a great album. This was one of the first Motown songs to make a powerful political statement. The song had a tremendous impact because listeners weren't used to hearing social commentary from Gaye. As Jackson Browne said in a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone: "No one was expecting an anti-war song from him. But it was a moment in time when people were willing to hear it from anybody, if it was heartfelt. And who better than the person who has talked to you about love and desire?" bit.ly This song live in 1976: youtu.be. www.kexp.org

"Jimmy James" is the first song from the Beastie Boys' third album 'Check Your Head'. This song has been described as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix by Beastie Boys member MCA, and contains samples from several Hendrix songs including "Foxy Lady", "Happy Birthday", and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming", a sample from the live version of "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, and more - www.whosampled.com It's The Fall Drive! www.kexp.org

We're never going to surrender - KEXP Where The Music Matters! www.kexp.org "Surrender", the opening track to 'Heaven Tonight', was the first Cheap Trick single to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 62. Rolling Stone deemed it "the ultimate Seventies teen anthem." www.rollingstone.com Watch a live version of this song (from Budokan!): youtu.be

Our listeners aren't losers, they power the station they love! Power KEXP's Fall Drive www.kexp.org Mellow Gold is Beck's third studio album, released in 1994.

It's John's favorite opening song of all time! Show John and KEXP some love by donating during his favorite! www.kexp.org

Opening track from the Pumpkin's classic 'Siamese Dream'. www.kexp.org Billy Corgan credits "By-Tor And The Snow Dog" by Rush for the intro. According to various interviews with lead singer Billy Corgan, this song's lyric is an ironic attack on the "Indie" credibility in Chicago's music scene that had him frustrated - the old complaint about bands going to major labels becoming sell-outs.

Opening track from 'Hunky Dory'. Changes began, [Bowie] once said, as “a parody of a nightclub song”. But it quickly became one of his new hybrids, fusing cocktail jazz, boogie woogie and beat poetry to a Beatlesque chorus. Read the story behind this perfect song: www.loudersound.com. www.kexp.org

Another great opening track! Love The Morning Show? Please make your donation to listener-powered kexp.org right now! We have amazing thank you gifts, two new tees and the lightning strike crewneck sweatshirt!

With an opening track like this, you gotta back it up and Queen did with the album 'New of the World'! Does KEXP rock you? Then donate now! www.kexp.org

First track from local band Nirvana's Nevermind! Support KEXP's commitment to playing local bands' music by donating now! www.kexp.org The song name came from graffiti Kathleen Hanna of the band Bikini Kill once wrote on the wall of lead singer Kurt Cobain's hotel room. She wrote “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit” in reference to a deodorant brand.

Best opening track? You betcha! This one's from Weird Al's 'Off the Deep End' - a certified platinum album. www.kexp.org

It's the first day of The Fall Drive - donate now! www.kexp.org First track from NIN's debut album, "Pretty Hate Machine". It's pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good! Trent Reznor was working as an assistant engineer, janitor and all-round dogsbody at Right Track Studios in Cleveland, Ohio when he wrote and recorded the song that would put Nine Inch Nails on the map. Learn the story behind this song: www.loudersound.com -- See a live performance from 1994: www.youtube.com

Let's go crazy and donate now! www.kexp.org Opening track "Let's Go Crazy" was released as a single from Prince's 1984 album, 'Purple Rain'. According to Stereogum: "Prince later said that “Let’s Go Crazy” is really a song about God and the Devil, about resisting the temptations of “de-elevator” and punching a higher floor. Maybe that’s really what he meant at the time. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to hear religion in "Let’s Go Crazy" to love it. You only have to hear excitement." bit.ly

Thank you for making today the best Monday ever for the Morning Show!