meanwhile

fairly convinced once you add up the dance, rap, pop, metal, and electronic stuff the 80s tops the best decade for intros by a long way.

unlike riffs, the intro has more of the capacity to be inherently populist - the bit where everyone on the floor clicks and ups their game/where everyone in the pub strikes up. it's also the portion of the song most likely to recieve attention from execs and studios: if you have a great riff it might never be noticed if you opening falls flat, ending up with no units shifted. an intro has little potential for wanking is what i'm saying.