10 Best Rock Album Openers Of The 1980s
9. Owner Of A Lonely Heart - Yes (90125)
As much as everyone would love to stay true to their principles, sometimes you've just gotta sell out.
That's exactly what happened to the band Yes, who were once titans of the weird and wonderful progressive scene. However, come the 1980s, prog was out and radio rock was in.
After a member reshuffle and a brief period spent under the name Cinema, Yes put out their album 90125 in 1983 and it ushered in a new sonic era for the band. That was evident from the very first song on the record - the mammoth Owner of a Lonely Heart.
A kickass riff, sweet vocals from singer Jon Anderson, and a melody so catchy that it would take three days to remove the song from your head, Owner of a Lonely Heart captured the public's attention like no other Yes song. It was a huge number one single for the group, their first ever, and it proved that their days of making 14-minute epics about forest nymphs were over.
Fans of the original Yes may have hated this track's guts, but for most people, it marked an exciting change.