Best Debut Singles Evah!

Would add The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin' but there's a technical question since they had a single just before, "Go Where You Wanna Go," that was withdrawn and may just exist in promo copies only

Public Image.

Yes

Tears For Fears - Suffer the Children

I made a playlist of all of my (available) faves: https://open.spotify.com/user/cryptosicko/playlist/0Q4eNrtXH5YRD2eEEEaJMq?si=oPbdkMk6TeiEdy84mgvOAw

Those not mentioned here yet:

Dusty Springfield - "I Only Want To Be With You"
The Dixie Cups - "Chapel of Love"
The Honeycombs - "Have I the Right?"
The Left Banke - "Walk Away Renee"
Procol Harum - "A Whiter Shade of Pale"
Friends of Distinction - "Grazing in the Grass"
R.B. Greaves - "Take a Letter, Maria"
Commodores - "Machine Gun"
Carol Douglas - "Doctor's Orders"
Blondie - "X Offender"
Nervous Eaters - "Loretta"
Buzzcocks - "Orgasm Addict"
The Germs - "Forming"
Odyssey - "Native New Yorker"
The Stranglers - "Get a Grip on Yourself"
Talking Heads - "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town"
XTC - "Science Friction"
Prince - "Soft and Wet"
The Buggles - "Video Killed the Radio Star"
Machine - "There But For the Grace of God Go I"
Pretenders - "Stop Your Sobbing"
Indeep - "Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life"
Cyndi Lauper - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
Big Audio Dynamite - "The Bottom Line"
'Til Tuesday - "Voices Carry"
Crowded House - "Mean to Me"
E.U. - "Da Butt"
M/A/R/R/S - "Pump Up the Volume"
Tracy Chapman - "Fast Car"
Michael Penn - "No Myth"
Arrested Development - "Tennessee"
Belly - "Gepetto"
Veruca Salt - "Seether"
Primitive Radio Gods - "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand"
Hanson - "MMMBop"
The New Pornographers - "Letter From an Occupant"
The Killers - "Mr. Brightside"
The Postal Service - "Such Great Heights"
Scissor Sisters - "Comfortably Numb"
Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
Vistosso Bosses - "Delirious"
Azealia Banks - "212"
CHVRCHES - "The Mother We Share"
Savages - "Husbands"
Courtney Barnett - "Avant Gardener"
The 1975 - "Sex"

Science Friction, yeah. What a killer song. One of their best, certainly of the live period.

Buzzcocks - "Orgasm Addict"

Spiral Scratch was the debut

Scissor Sisters - "Comfortably Numb"

was the b-side of the first single, not an a-side until their third

Hanson - "MMMBop"

Dust Brothers version was released after they'd had two albums, including one with another version of MMMBop on it. That said I'm almost inclined to accept this, as approximately zero people would ever have heard those albums without hearing them live, first.

Courtney Barnett - "Avant Gardener"

this was a track on her second EP, and another track from that EP was sold as a digital single a year earlier.

I was pretty rigorous, when making this list, with consulting Wikipedia and Discogs (and in a few cases, CD liner notes), so I can only imagine that these were just the results of shoddy research on my part. Spiral Scratch I knew about, and I cannot imagine how I forgot it. "Avant Gardner" might have been the result of some incomplete info on Wiki, but you're right--the song doesn't even appear until a year after her first release! As for "Comfortably Numb," I suppose I could count the b-side of a debut single, but (I see now) the song wasn't released as an A-side until their 3rd single, so I'm not counting it either.

Erasing those three from my playlist, but keeping "MMMBop" for the reason you mention: those first two records don't really count. Also, adding "Take On Me," which I just remembered after seeing it on Alfred's list.

The Saints - (I'm) Stranded

^ otm

yeah, Comfortably Numb could actually fit Paul's theme, in that one might have heard it before anything else. I definitely heard Laura first though! (maybe on mp3 blogs initially, but it charted slightly in Australia the year before Numb was a single, and it also placed on a Big Deal annual youth radio listener poll of best singles of the year)

Hank Williams - Move It On Over

The Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him

Commodores - "Machine Gun"

Discogs says their first single was released in 1969, four years before "Machine Gun".

I actually like Laura better than Comfortably Numb and love it as a single.

Hank released four singles prior to "Move It On Over" (though it was his first chart hit).

i guess his first would be "Never Again (Will I Knock On Your Door)"? still a great song.

Thanks Tuomas, re: “Machine Gun.” Wikipedia strikes again!

I like “Laura” too, but it still isn’t their first single; something called “Electrobix” is.

The first one that came to mind upon seeing the thread title was 'New Rose', but I knew someone would have said that already as it's so thoroughly, undeniably classic. Surprised it took so long for it to get mentioned, though.

I like “Laura” too, but it still isn’t their first single; something called “Electrobix” is.

yes, that's why I said that Comfortably Numb was their third

(was noting that as far as singles go, it's not like Laura didn't make an impact well before Numb)

singles that stand out as leaving me instantly in love with the artist when they came out:

Neutral Milk Hotel - Everything Is (wrote Jeff Mangum a letter and he left me an answering machine message (never talked))

Cornershop - Waterlogged

and a couple already mentioned, Upside Down and Ohio River Boat Song.

SULTANS OF SWING

RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE

Change - The Glow Of Love

this was released as a single well after both "a lover's holiday" (the only single to have come out before the album did) and "searching". imo "a lover's holiday" is an incredible debut single tho!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A29BMj3v86w

Metallica - Whiplash
Slayer - Raining Blood

If "You Send Me" really is Sam Cooke's first (solo) single, then that