Now, I thought we did this here before, but could not find this topic in a search.
Point me in the right direction if I'm wrong.

At any rate,
My vote goes to:
Sweet - "Ballroom Blitz"

with:
Rolling Stones - "Rocks Off"
in a solid second.

you?

I think I would have to say that the first like 4 notes of "Lets Get It On" by Marvin Gaye have to be some of the most recognizable and instantaneously sucking you into the content of the song notes ever to introduce a song.

Pardon my poor grammar.

By that same thought, you sparked this thought:
"My Girl" - The Temptations

pretty damn recognizable.

if we're going by "recognizable and instantaneously sucking you into the content", then i'd have to say "be my baby" is up there.

"Be My Baby" is a good one. Also much imitated.

Thunderstruck. I think I'm only kidding.

At peak volume, particularly in a club, MBV's "Only Shallow" is ridiculous.

Hell, I might just go out on Friday night to request that.

the intro to 'if only tonight we could sleep' off of kiss me, kiss me, kiss me. hell, even the title track rocks a serious intro.
great song/album intro also for u2's 'where the streets have no name'.
ok, so those are both from the late 80's.

The first 30 seconds or so of "Gimmie Shelter" are magic..................... black magic.

Where the Streets Have No Name is a good choice. It's really simplistic, but really good.

whatever that piano intro is called on 'melancholy and the infinite sadness' by the pumpkins.....always gets my blood flowing down below.

We could start a whole debate thread about best song intro of 1987...

sweet child o mine

87 was a good year.

both vocal intros:

"These Arms of Mine" - Otis Redding
"Rock of Ages" - Def Leppard

i read somewhere that slash was just dickin' around in the studio and it somehow became the intro.

According to Phil (POD), it's actually some sort of classical guitar excercise.

Light My Fire

The correct answer, of course.

not very long but the opening few seconds of Like a Rolling STone gets me every time.

I agree with most of the above, but I have to throw in, just because I was listening to this at work earlier and talking about how great of an intro this was:

1991, y'all.

"You Could Be Mine" GNR

Foxy Lady~ Jimi Hindrix
and some Aretha Franklin songs come to mind
Van Halen's You really Got me...

BTW: I concur, 1987...a great year indeed.