Total Guitar Magazine, a UK publication, has conducted a reader poll to judge the greatest guitar riffs of all time. The top 20:
Sweet Child O’ Mine - Guns N’ Roses
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Layla - Derek & The Dominoes/Eric Clapton
Master Of Puppets - Metallica
Back In Black - AC/DC
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
All Right Now - Free
Plug In Baby - Muse
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Ain’t Talkin’ 'Bout Love - Van Halen
Walk This Way - Aerosmith w Run DMC
Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream
No-One Knows - Queens Of The Stone Age
Paradise City - Guns N’ Roses
Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine
A local radio station played them today (only the riffs, not the whole song), except for Nos. 13 & 18, which are by bands that are relatively unknown here in the US. Having never heard those two songs, I can’t judge, but I do have some thoughts on the other 18.
First of all, neither of the Metallica songs should be on this list. Nothing against Metallica, but neither of these selections have a particularly memorable riff. The same goes for All Right Now, which is a nice tune, but not deserving.
And I guess I just don’t quite get Nirvana. I like them just fine, and I understand that they were revolutionary in their way, but I can’t figure out why they keep ending up at or near the top of everybody’s “Best Of…” lists lately.
As for Sweet Child O’ Mine, I probably wouldn’t have picked it as #1, but I’m not sure I can really argue with the selection.
Notable omissions:
Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones - One of the most easily recognizable songs in the history of rock and roll
Johnny B. Good by Chuck Berry - Every guitarist in the last 40 years has copied the style
As for my top selection, I’ll have to spend the evening going through my record collection, but the first song that came into my mind when I heard the subject was the poll’s #8, Back in Black.
I dunno. As a guitar player, I have issues with their definition of ‘riff.’
Half of those aren’t even really riffs to begin with. Voodoo Chile and Smells Like Teen Spirit don’t have catchy riffs. I imagine they are talking about the intro to Voodoo Chile and the verse chords of SLTS, but they aren’t really riffs.
Comfortably Numb? What riff? Perhaps they mean one of the solos?
What about Day Tripper and I Feel Fine? Hey Bulldog?
There’s also a lack of SRV. Scuttle Buttin’ and Mary Had A Little Lamb come to mind.
My Girl (6 notes, and extra points if you know the name of the guitarist)
Smoke on the Water (3 notes)
Purple Haze (2 notes)
Sweet Home Alabama (4 notes)
Stairway to Heaven (5 notes)
Layla (7 notes)
Back in Black (4 notes)
Sunshine of your Love (10 notes)
And the rest…trailing. Yeah, no recent tunes on the list, maybe because I’m an old fart, or maybe–they just don’t write guitar licks like they used to!
All, of course, IMHO. I believe that a vast majority of music listeners would be able to name these songs in 6 or 8 notes* no matter what guitar they were played on. Listings in parens are my estimate of the number of notes the average guitar player would need to bullseye the tune. Purple Haze gets special mention because many players would ID that puppy with just one stroke of the pick–that diminished 5th just ain’t used like that anywhere else.
And also IMO, if you have to name the band, the riff doesn’t belong on the list.
*strokes of the pick: different notes, the same note or multiple notes–whatever.
Hey Bulldog is a good pick. Heh, this thread is going to be tricky because you can’t talk riffs without eventually sounding them out.
I find it amusing that Clapton gets the credit for the Layla riff when he didn’t write or play the friggin’ thing on the album…
As far as Zep goes, I’d put Heartbreaker as their best. I can’t believe Purple Haze isn’t on there. And on a very personal level, I hate Guns ‘n’ Roses- Sweet Child of Mine in particular, I just find that riff annoying. Didn’t Slash say he came up with it as a joke?
What about “School’s Out” by the Alice Cooper group? That’s a pretty distinct riff. (And probably the group’s most well-known hit, with regards to the general music listening audience.)
The Alice Cooper group, with the spotlight usually on Alice, never got enough respect for their musical abilities. But no one musician really stood out from the rest in the group, and no one instrument was always used to build songs around. So you get quite a nice mix of songs where one instrument stands out in one, while another takes the lead in the other.
The guitar riff in “School’s Out” is what makes the song instantly recognizable. Just like the drums in “Billion Dollar Babies” make that song stand out.
Buh…er…uh…there’s nothing by Hawkwind listed? I think all of the following have great riffs, since riffs are pretty much what they based their music around:
Silver Machine
Brainstorm
You Shouldn’t Do That
Orgone Accumulator
Master of the Universe
On another note (heh), why isn’t the Bo Diddley beat listed? That’s the ur-music of rock & roll.
I have to agree with some of the posters that Smells Like Teen Spirit should be nowhere near the top of this list. It shouldn’t even be on the top 100 at all. Now, if it were about the SONGS, yes, it should be up there for its impact. I like the song, and it was the start of what I consider to be ‘my music’ growing up. That said, it’s about the simplest chord progression on earth, and a monkey with two fingers could learn to play it in about 15 seconds.
I also agree that Johnny B. Goode has to be on this list near the top. There is no other choice, IMO. I do think they hit strongly with a lot of Guns ‘n’ Roses…some of the greatest guitar riffs ever. I have to say that my favorite GnR riff is from Mr. Brownstone.
No “Iron Man”? I mean, it’s sure nice to see Sabbath get its props with the inclusion of “Paranoid,” but if you could only have one Sabbath song on the list, I’d go with “Iron Man.” Beavis loves it. Butt-head loves it. What more proof do you need?
