The Allure of the Shuffle Button: How important is the order of album tracklisting?
Allowing the haze of inspiration to seep through the lines of Ernest Dowson’s poem ‘Dregs’, The Cure’s Robert Smith began to uncover the imagery that would shape a new song and, ultimately, an entire album. These moments became the spores that led to ‘Alone’, the opening track and first touchpoint of Songs of a Lost World. From there, the story wrote itself, laid out beautifully by the meticulous order of the record’s tracklisting.
It’s easy to ignore the importance of such a seemingly minor detail, especially in today’s digital world, but the order of album tracklisting has never been more important. This isn’t just because vinyl is currently enjoying a mass resurgence, but because it’s always been an integral piece to the puzzle—a necessary component within the broader story—that would change the entire pace and trajectory of an album if it wasn’t given as much thought.
That’s not to say it’s the most important or most creative part of an album’s creation and, most of the time, it takes a bit of a backseat when collating and implementing the rest of the marketing efforts, but an effective tracklist order can sometimes be the difference between consistent listener engagement and a fractured experience that fails to hold attention.
Using Songs of a Lost World as an example, Smith built his world around ‘Alone’, allowing it to be the first gateway into a new chapter that proved the band’s enduring prowess as one of the forerunners of modern rock. He also enabled a journey filled with glorious ambiguities, mirroring the weird and wonderful inconsistencies of life itself, underscored by the persistent haunt of never quite having everything figured out.
As a result, the songs bleed into one another—a crucial characteristic for The Cure—allowing shifts in mood and conscious engagement that make the record feel less like a burden to get through and more like an immersive journey into a band that knows exactly what it wants to be. They’ve mastered this before, even in the disjointed rollout of Disintegration, where varied pacing keeps you alert and engaged rather than unsettled. And when he gets it wrong, like he did with Wild Mood Swings, he admits it openly.
Although the problem with that record wasn’t necessarily the order of the songs, Smith admitted he allowed it to run about two songs too long, showing his acknowledgement and awareness of just how important pacing and restraint are in creating the perfect album. However, while there are countless records with an order that seems strangely off-kilter when experiencing it in its natural progression, this becomes more interesting when factoring in streaming sites and how listener habits have changed.
For instance, while considered an indisputable classic, The Beatles’ Revolver doesn’t always seem like the most cohesive affair, beckoning liberties like hitting shuffle whenever you feel yourself inclined to dive back in. Longer records like The Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness probably wouldn’t suffer too much either, while ones like Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino actually improve with a little extra control over what comes next.
Still, for the most part, when listening to an album, it’s best to leave the shuffle button alone. Why? Because the artist has arranged the tracks in a specific order for a reason, and experiencing it as intended allows for the fullest impact. Even if some moments feel disjointed, that may be intentional, whether to create an unpredictable journey or to punctuate the slower sections more emphatically. For the most part, most album tracklisting follows a similar pattern, beginning with a hard-hitter before crescendoing and leaving room for something more subdued as the themes become clearer.
Therefore, in many ways, arguing against it feels somewhat akin to suggesting watching a movie in order of random scenes. Could you imagine doing so with something as structurally important as Nosferatu? Or something where the ending is hinted at throughout, like Fight Club? Imagine knowing the ending before finding out all of the reasons why it serves as the most prominent part of the story—it almost becomes redundant.
While skipping the intended order might still be enjoyable and evoke a reaction, it becomes easier to lose the sense of emotional build-up or key moments, disrupting the overall flow and diminishing its impact. In other words, it’s a small rule to follow, but an important one nonetheless.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.