John Richards

Good morning! It's magical Friday! You're with John and Morgan and we have lots to do! Show your love for John, Morgan, and KEXP by donating today: www.kexp.org -- "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is number 108 in our countdown of listener-selected top opening songs of all time. -- "I can change, I can change But I'm here in my mold..." If you've been stuck "in your mold" as a non-contributor, you can change (and you'll love how you feel: www.kexp.org Happy Birthday to Richard Ashcroft, English singer-songwriter and lead singer of The Verve!

#107--Best Opening Tracks... -- Does Thom Yorke sound strange? The song was recorded while the band was drunk, and Thom Yorke sang the vocals while laying down intoxicated. -- Whatever state you're in (geographic or otherwise), now would be a great time to contribute: www.kexp.org

#106 in our countdown of best opening songs... -- "The District Sleeps Tonight" is the opening track of The Postal Service's only album, "Give Up." Here's a glowing review of the 10th anniversary edition of this release: pitchfork.com

#105--Best Opening Songs -- Did you know that Roland Orzabal said that the rhythm for this song was "“stolen from a Talking Heads’ track on their 1980 album Remain in Light”? Learn more about the making of this song: www.furiomagazine.com

#104 in the countdown of best opening songs.. -- Watch a live performance at the Isle of Wight in 1970: www.youtube.com

#103--Best Opening Tracks -- D you like this countdown? Your contributions allow KEXP to provide innovative programming that connects and excites listeners: www.kexp.org -- Billboard described the song as “(Lead vocalist Dave) Gahan playing horndog travel agent, inviting a lover to follow him someplace where pleasure reigns supreme and everything else ceases to exist.”

This in number 102 in the countdown of KEXP listeners' favorite opening songs of all time! -- “In Between Days” seems to chronicle a love triangle where the guy at the fulcrum is regretting the choice he’s made. As he watches one of the girls step away, he realizes his mistake, which leads to this memorably nimble couplet: And I know it was wrong when I said it was true / That it couldn’t be me and be her in between without you.

#101--Best Opening Songs -- Bowie said this song's call-and-response vocal arrangement "all comes from Little Richard." A defining moment in Bowie's childhood was when his dad came home with a copy of "Tutti Frutti." -- That's Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar and the incredible Steve Elson on baritone sax.

Ahhh...the Friday song. Saved from the farm! Donate right now to KEXP: www.kexp.org

Number 100!!! -- "These are the days of miracle and wonder...." If you've never made a gift to KEXP before, now is the perfect time!: www.kexp.org

#99--Best Opening tracks -- This is the opening and title song for Depeche Mode's fifth studio album. Martin Gore said, " I'm probably as influenced by Camus, Kafka and Brecht as I am by pop songs. Like on 'Black Celebration' where the positive element is the idea of celebrating the end of another grey day." -- Watch Depeche Mode perform the song live in Milan earlier this year: www.youtube.com

Bong! Bong! 98--Best opening songs... -- AC/DC recorded this a few months after lead singer Bon Scott died of acute alcohol poisoning after a night of heavy drinking. The album is a tribute to him, and features his replacement, Brian Johnson, on vocals. -- This is the first track on Back In Black, AC/DC's biggest album. In tribute to Bon Scott, it starts off with the bell tolling four times before the guitar riff comes in. The bell rings another nine times, gradually fading out. When played live, Brian Johnson would strike the bell.

#97--Bet Opening Tracks.. --- The Smashing Pumpkins' first official release was the “I Am One” single, originally recorded in 1989 and released in 1990 on 7" vinyl. It is one of the few Smashing Pumpkins songs credited to both lead singer Billy Corgan and guitarist James Iha. “I Am One” was later chosen to be the opening track of the band’s 1991 debut album, "Gish.

"Rif of Me" is number 96 in the countdown of top opening songs... -- The title track of PJ Harvey's sophomore album is a bitter slice of rage that shocked listeners with its raw energy. The singer alternates between quietly begging her unfaithful lover to stay and threatening to twist his head off. "When I wrote 'Rid of Me,' I shocked myself," Harvey explained. "I thought, 'Well, if I'm shocked, other people might be shocked.' The sound of the words was powerful, and the rhythm felt clean and simple to roll off the tongue. I knew that this was the type of song I was trying to write." -- She perform it solo on The tonight show in 1993: www.youtube.com

#94--Best Opening Tracks... -- This is the opening track from American indie rock singer-songwriter Liz Phair's debut album, Exile in Guyville. The record was a song-by-song reply to the Rolling Stones' 1972 album, Exile on Main St. and this track corresponds to the first cut on Exile, "Rocks Off."

#93--Best Opening Songs.. -- Despite her resistance against any form of professional rehabilitation, Amy Winehouse ended up checking into a rehab centre in early 2008, leaving just in time for the 50th Grammy Awards where she would take home a Grammy for Song Of The Year, Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Record Of The Year, each for “Rehab.” -- R.I.P., Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011 at age 27: www.theguardian.com

#92--Best Opening Tracks -- You don't want to miss Car Seat headrest's cover of this song, live in The KEXP studio: www.youtube.com -- Remember those times when a live performance at KEXP has "knocked your socks off." Well, say "Thank you" by donating this very minute: www.kexp.org

This is number 91 of KEXP's countdown of listener-chosen top opening songs... -- "'‘Summer Babe’ is the start of Pavement front-loading their albums with the catchiest song first. Shots fired by Pavement! It’s just three chords, if you can call them that, so musically, it’s all about what you can wrestle from those chords. How far can you go? The lyrics are kinda silly. It mentions ‘Ice Ice Baby’. There’s some imagery from Stockton, California, where we recorded it, mixed in with a cryptic story about a girl and a guy. I don’t think it makes all that much sense, but it’s got some cool imagery." --Stephen Malkmus

#90--Best Opening Tracks-- -- Ric Ocasek wrote the song as a sarcastic commentary on the good times in rock music, saying, "That was my song about what the good times in rock ‘n’ roll really mean, instead of what they’re supposed to be. It was kind of a parody of good times, really. It was kinda like not about good times at all.

No. 88 on our countdown of best opening tracks of all time... -- "I Will Dare" was written by Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg shortly after the band completed their Hootenanny album. According to producer Peter Jesperson, Westerberg attempted to get the song onto Hootenanny: "I got a call from Paul saying, 'I've just finished the best song I've ever written. We need to record it now.' But the record was already done, so we couldn't do it." www.kexp.org -- Did you hear that mandolin? That's Westerberg playing.

#87--Best Opening Tracks... -- In the early 1990s Beck Hansen and co-writer Carl Stephenson spent a few hours recording a song called “Loser,” which fledgling label Bong Load Custom Records pressed 500 copies of. It surprisingly made some noise on FM radio in L.A., and Beck was signed to Geffen imprint DGC, which re-released “Loser” in 1994 and included the song on Beck’s album "Mellow Gold." -- The chorus of "Soy un perdedor" is Spanish for "I'm a loser." Go here to watch a retrospective on the making of "Mellow Gold": www.youtube.com

#86--Best Opening Songs of All Time!! -- "This is a song about a jerk. I hexed him, now he's losing his hair." That's how Hole frontwoman Courtney Love introduced "Violet" when Hole played it on Later... with Jools Holland in 1995. This is a pretty clear indication that the song is about Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, whom love dated in 1991 before taking up with Kurt Cobain. - -- See a live performance in Philly in 1999: www.youtube.com

#85--Best Opening Tracks -- This is the opening track to Built to Spill's fourth album. Did you know that it was recorded by Phil Ek at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington? -- Here's a glowing review of the album: pitchfork.com

No. 84 on the countdown... -- “I love the main riff, but the solo is completely cathartic. The chord is a major 9th, which was an homage to a hit song at the time, Kiss, by Prince. His song starts with that chord. Bone Machine is another solo that comes in hard and loose. It’s not so much a one-note solo as a one-chord solo. Wonder if that has ever been done before?” ---Joey Santiago on his guitar playing on :Bone Machine": www.musicradar.com

#83 on our countdown of listener-chosen best opening tracks of all time... -- The song “1999” found its genesis in a hotel room in which Prince and his bandmates were staying while on tour. One evening Prince and each member of his Revolution were watching The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, a somber HBO documentary on future-teller Nostradamus and his not-so-pleasant predictions for the forthcoming decades. Everyone in the room—except for Prince—was justifiably overcome with a sense of dread at the harrowing events heading their way. Call it optimism—or call it arrogance—but Prince saw things differently than his bandmates: He was confident that he would be quite alright as the world around him melted into nuclear nothingness. The tension between the intense negativity felt in the room that evening and Prince’s longing for one last soiree inspired Prince to begin crafting the foundations of “1999.” : americansongwriter.com

#82--Best Opening Songs -- The band's lead singer, bassist, and keyboardist, Geddy Lee, has referred to the track as the band's "defining piece from the early '80s." It a staple of both classic rock radio and Rush's live performances, having been played on every concert tour since its release.

#81--Best Opening Songs The War on Drugs are playing on the Zen Diagram tour with The National and Lucius! In Seattle, they'll play Climate Pledge Arena this Tuesday, October 1st! KEXP is hosting a day party in our gathering space starting at 3pm the day of the show! More info here: www.kexp.org The tour will also stop at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA on Sunday, October 6th!