10 Best Rock Music Album Openers Of The 2020s So Far
2. I Don’t Belong - A Hero’s Death (Fontaines D.C.)
Irish post-punks extraordinaire Fontaines D.C. have been having a very good decade thus far.
Their 2022 album, Skinty Fia, ended up on many publications' year-end round-ups of best albums, whilst their previous record, A Hero's Death, would have topped the UK charts had Taylor Swift not decided to release her CD three days early.
Interfering Swifties to one side, A Hero's Death is still a fantastic record with plenty of great songs on it. The most famous is the title track, thanks to lead singer Grian Chatten's iconic catchphrase of "Life ain't always empty", but the one that kicks everyone off is the low and brooding I Don't Belong.
Much like A Hero's Death, the central hook of this song is Chatten singing a single line - "I don't belong to anyone." Some might see that as a positive statement, that the singer is free to do as he pleases, but it also betrays a sense of paralysing loneliness.
This song is the perfect way to introduce people to this amazing band; it's sombre whilst also being incredibly catchy, leaving you bopping along during the middle of your existential crisis.