This week, Zack Derby, co-host of The Neatcast joins me to take a trip back to the moment that mattered most in the CD era—the instant you hit play and everything snapped into focus. Together, we’re building an epic ’90s rock playlist dedicated entirely to album openers: the songs that set the tone, made promises, and told you right from the jump whether you were in for something special.

From grunge-era gut punches and punk rock rallying cries to hard rock muscle and alt-rock mood setters, these are the first tracks that defined albums—and, in many cases,  ...