Songs that are instantly recognisable from the first few bars

[CormoranStrike]

I’ll start with:

Summer Nights from Grease.

Whole lotta Rosie AC/DC
Footloose Kenny Loggjns
You're the voice John Farnham
I do I do I do I do Abba

Living on a prayer Bon Jovi
American idiot Green Day
Jump Van Halen
Sweet child of mine Guns n Roses

Fairytale of New York

Benny and the Jets, Elton John. Hadn't heard it for 40 years and as soon as I heard the first chord on a trailer in the cinema (didn't even know there was going to be a film), I knew exactly what it was.

Same with Mr Blue Sky, ELO.
Whole Lotta Love, Led Zeppelin.
Immigrant Song, Led Zeppelin.
Hocus Pocus, Focus.
Sweet Child O'Mine, GnR.
Holidays in the Sun, Sex Pistols.
Neat Neat Neat, The Damned.
Papa Was a Rolling Stone, The Temptations.
My Girl, The Temptations.
Ace of Spades, Motorhead.
Paint it Black, Rolling Stones.
Come Together, The Beatles.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, The Beatles.
Iron Man, Black Sabbath.
War of the Worlds, The Eve of the War, Jeff Lynne.
Forever Autumn, Jeff Lynne.

No need for anything past the first sound/note/chord with any of those.

Smoke on the water. Those first 4 bars are everything

Loved by primary school guitar teachers everywhere.

Love TKO Teddy Pendergrass
You're The Best Thing Style Council

The Wonder of You
Jailhouse Rock- Elvis
Auld Lang Syne
Dancing Queen
Fairytale of New York
Dirty old town
Whisky in the jar
Flower of Scotland

Blue - Song 2. No other songs in the world starts with ‘Woooooooooo Hooooooo!’. It was played at my wedding reception and I’ve still got the picture of me leaping in the air in my wedding dress! 😁

Blur, not Blue. Fucking autocorrect. 🙄😡

Call Me Al

Baker Street

Mr.Blue Sky - ELO
Dancing in the Moonlight - Thin Lizzy.

How Soon is Now - The Smiths

Mr. Blue Sky - ELO.
Dancing in the Moonlight - Thin Lizzy.
Peaches - The Stranglers.

Nothing Compares 2U - Sinead O'Connor

Enjoy The Silence
Sweet Dreams
Personal Jesus
Tainted Love
(Some are both the original version and cover version, Lacuna Coil's cover of Enjoy The Silence is superb.)
Poison by Alice Cooper
Bring Me To Life and Going Under by Evanescence
Sonne by Rammstein
In The Shadows by The Rasmus
Before I Forget and Vermilion by Slipknot
Crawling and Numb by Linkin Park
Freak On A Leash by Korn
I know there are loads more (going from the days I'd listen to Kerrang religiously) but this will do for now.

@PotatoesPastaAndBread good suggestion!

But no, was just playing guess the intro with my DD

Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve

Billy Jean - Michael Jackson
Don't You Want Me Baby - Human League

Sunshine on Leith, The Proclaimers. From the first bar.

I think if you know a song you can recognise it from the first few notes. I can. If I've heard a song then I will know it's being played pretty much immediately. It's not unique to certain songs.

Oh all of these! Us
Maggie May ( can’t believe we are in page 3 and it hasn’t been mentioned!)
Bridge over troubled water

Brown eyed girl - Van Morrison

Bridge over troubled water - Simon & Garfunkel

YMCA