10 Best Rock Music Album Openers Of The 2010s
9. Hard Times - Paramore (After Laughter)
In 2013, Paramore reinvented themselves with their self-titled album. Shunning the emo sounds of the previous decade, the band fully embraced a poppier sound, packing their music with bright notes and optimistic lyrics.
Four years later, they put out another happy album. Well, it certainly sounded happy.
After Laughter mixed the band's newfound cheer with their old sensibilities, creating a hybrid to great success. It entered the top ten in the UK and the US, going gold in both nations.
Paramore went all out with this album's opening song, pushing its biggest single right to the top of the tracklist. Hard Times was very much in the same vein as the likes of Still Into You and Ain't It Fun, only it drew more heavily on the 80s genres of synth pop and new wave.
Beneath an upbeat, bouncy beat lies lyrics about feeling useless when depressed, meaning that there's much more to this song than meets the eye.
Hard Times was yet another example of Paramore evolving and maturing as an act, even if some diehard goth fans might have spat on the band for "selling out."