100 Broken Windows opens with "Little Discourage", a track that beings with a Nirvana-esque guitar part. Its call-and-response chorus section contains touches of new wave keyboards. It was one of the first songs written for the album, and initially sounded closer to "You're the Voice" (1986) by John Farnham. They subsequently changed the song; its lyrics were intentionally vague, spurred on by the opening line, which Woomble had written on its own at the top of his notebook. "These Wooden Ideas" is critical of the music industry, and was compared to Murmur (1983)-era R.E.M. The band borrowed a keyboard and guitar from Teenage Fanclub for the song as they were recording in another room at Rockfield. "Roseability" is an alternative rock track; Woomble said he was inspired by a poem by Gertrude Stein. When working on a song, Woomble wanted to play along to it to come up with potential lyrics, to which Eringa said he'd "give him an idea track". The song "Idea Track" was subsequently named after this, and deals with optimism. Guitarist Rod Jones said it was the band's first attempting at writing a track while at a studio. The chorus sections came about as Woomble was unable to settle on a melody that he enjoyed, so Eringa combined all six existing vocal takes into one. The bridge section features a violin performance from Jones, as they had found the instrument while at Jacob's.