Great musicians who should have been famous except....

Awesome. Stuart Copeland and Neil Peart were always the big rock drummers in "the day" for me? So much I missed clearly.

Van Halen 1984?
"And is there a better lead in to ANY rock vinyl than that?"

WHAT?!!  As a 16 year old in1978, I saw VH do one of their first  SoCal arena gigs to promote their debut album. I thought they were possibly one of the bands to carry the R&R  torch that the usual suspects held thru the 60-70s. 

EVH was from another planet, and David Lee was charismatic. When they released the second album.... I was disappointed. Back to my Stones, Zep and Who.

Sorry, reading your post just struck a R&R memory nerve. The 80's were the empty freeway lane to R&R death.

Sorry for the loss. Not saying VH is my go to (haven’t listened to them in years) but was just jolted by the lead in to B 1984.

You didn't give an alternative to the question however. Name a better rock lead in to an album (in this case a B side). Granted I am a drum guy now because of my son but from a pure technical as well as power opening its hard to beat. Love input however.

While I appreciate the technical chops of Alex VH, in the world of rock he just doesn't come anywhere close to the musicality that a Keith Moon brings to the composition.  Spin a track like "Bargain" by The Who and just get immersed in Moon's brilliance.  Just one guy's opinion ;-)