Which song is the best album opener?

I'm gonna go with Girlfriend as the best album opener. What a banger! It did a perfect job of introducing the album and giving an idea of the vibe of the album. But my favorite might be Take Me Away.

My least favorite is Black Star. I consider it more of an intro and I deleted it. I actually don't understand how this album sounds like a lullaby. Was it all because of Black Star? Ok this is putting me to sleep (I'm listening to it as I write this).

My ranking.
Girlfriend
Head Above Water
Take Me Away
Losing Grip
Rock N Roll
Black Star / What The Hell (I think either /or could be considered the album opener)

What song do you think was the best album opener?
Take Me Away (Under My Skin)

Which one is your favorite?
Rock N Roll (Avril Lavigne)

Would you have picked another song?
From Head Above Water I would have replaced Head Above Water for I Fell In Love With The Devil

Which is the worst?
Black Star (Goodbye Lullaby)

Did it do a good job of introducing the album?
Yes, the lyrics and production really did show you what Under My Skin was going to be!

In what order would you rate them?
1. Take Me Away (Under My Skin)
2. Girlfriend (The Best Damn Thing)
3. Losing Grip (Let Go)
4. Head Above Water (Head Above Water)
5. Rock N Roll (Avril Lavigne)
6. Black Star (Goodbye Lullaby)

Cannonball .

What song do you think was the best album opener? Girlfriend is the best opener. It's a bop, catches your attention and sets the mood for the rest of the album. I think TBDT is the most cohesive album she has ever done in her career.

Which one is your favorite? Take Me Away, but UMS has a special place in my heart. I have many memories surrounded by this album and this song. Take Me Away was the first song I heard outside of the first single.

Would you have picked another song? Nope, but I do like a challenge.

Which is the worst? Black Star and Rock N Roll.

Did it do a good job of introducing the album? See my response to the first question.

In what order would you rate them?

These are the best to worst, imo:

Girlfriend
Losing Grip
Take Me Away
Head Above Water
Rock N Roll
Black Star

Is there already another thread like this? Idk, but it's always fun to do them because opinions change

For me, "Take Me Away" is definitely the best album opener. I think it does a great job of introducing us to the overall dark sound and kind of reflecting, coming-of-age topics of UMS. I especially love how the first few seconds is part of the intro played reversed with a fade-in and fade-out feeling. Then the clear electric guitars playing that riff, the build-up with those palm mutes, and then BAM! the chorus with those heavy guitars comes in. It's just perfect. The last chord of the outro almost seguing into "Together" makes the song feel even more like an introduction. There's really no better song they could've chosen as an opener. "Take Me Away" is also one of my absolute favourite songs by Avril.

The worst album opener is probably "Black Star" imo. The song is just nothing more than a pretty jingle to me. It doesn't seem to have anything else to say, really. I've also always felt like it was sonically a bit different from the other ballads off GL. But at least it is a ballad, like most of the album
If WTH was the album opener for GL, it would've been a complete fail. It's a fun song, but it has nothing to do with the main topic and sound of the album.

My rating:
1. Take Me Away
2. Head Above Water
3. Rock N Roll
4. Girlfriend
5. Losing Grip
6. Black Star

To write a bit more about the other album openers, and explain my rating:

I really enjoy the instant piano-ballad-vibe we get from HAW. It represents the theme and sound of the album really well. It's just not as extra special as TMA.

RnR, while definitely not one of my favourite songs, works quite well as an opener for AL imo because it's just as messy as the album itself, and I've always kinda liked having the album open with that ridiculous/tongue-in-cheek phrase "let 'em know that we're still rock n roll".

"Girlfriend" also represents the sound and theme of TBDT very well, but there's something about it immediately jumping to the chorus that bugs me a bit.

"Losing Grip" has always felt a bit out of place to me. It sounds kinda different than all of the other LG songs; it's like a different sub-genre of rock, we don't really get on LG, except maybe for "Unwanted". I've no idea which song I would've chosen instead, though. I'm so used to hearing "Losing Grip" first when playing LG, I can't imagine the opener being another song.

what a great thread!!