Selecting the opening track of a mixtape is one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life. It’s the difference between just friends and til death to us part. You aren’t just picking any old tune. Not even close! Your opener is a mission statement in riffs and rhythms. Do you want to tell someone you’ll be best buds forever, even after high school? That you’re going through it and need help? That you can’t live another day without them? You need to set the stage in those precious first few minutes while still delivering a track so powerful, or just fucking cool, that it gets the listener to hit play again when the disc stops spinning. The energy matters. The tempo matters. The lyrics matter. (Unless you’re starting on some ethereal shoegaze shit.) This is your moment to grab someone by the hand and take them on an odyssey they’ll never forget. Memories that will live forever in stereo.

