Custard Pie
The Rover
The Immigrant Song
The Ocean
Communication Breakdown
Bring it on Home (the loud bit)
When the Levee Breaks
And no mention yet of Money? - Floyd
Probably not quite a riff, the four note phrase from Shine On. One for the connoisseurs I think.
Pinball Wizard - The Oo (does that count as a riff?)
Pretty Vacant - Pistols
I’m not a fan but countless AC/DC numbers.
Quite a few Bowie tunes - picking at random - Rebel Rebel
Number one has to be Whole Lotta Love. It’s the definitive riff. Found out recently that I’ve been playing it (slightly) wrong for 25 years :smack:
Meanwhile, the original poll. I hate those things. Why is Black Dog in there but not Kashmir? I’ve never heard anything by Muse or Queens of the Stone Age*****, I seriously doubt they’ve come up with anything as memorable as Page/Keef/Blackmore efforts that have lasted over 25 years. And there’s nothing by the Beatles, they had their moments
***** I’m not saying I’m proud of this, but everyone and his dog knows (say) Layla.
I think my top choices would be like this (in no particular order):
Communication Breakdown - Led Zeppelin
War Pigs - Black Sabbath
Detroit Rock City - Kiss
Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson
Don’t Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Dragons and Fables - Hawkwind
Crossroad - The Cream
Cemetary Gates - Pantera
and my first choice would be:
Immigrant Song (the whole damn song is practically the same riff)
I can only summon 10 of the top 20 to mind right now, and I would rank just those this way (There would be many others above, below and in between these, however:
[ol]
[li]Layla[/li][li]Walk This Way[/li][li]Whole Lotta Love[/li][li]Paranoid[/li][li]Smells Like Teen Spirit[/li][li]All Right Now[/li][li]Sunshine of Your Love[/li][li]Back In Black[/li][li]Smoke on the Water[/li][li]Sweet Child O’ Mine[/li][/ol]
For example, I can think of about 25 songs with better riffs than “Sweet Child O’ Mine”.
I like lots of the choices, but am still in disagreement with some of the definitions. To me, there are big differences between:
Chord progressions - just what it sounds like. Smells Like Teen Spirit fits in this category, along with the I-IV-V of many rock songs, especially Johnny B. Goode.
Licks - cool lead runs that are either a signature of a song, repeated throughout a song, or both. So, to me, the intro of Johnny B. Goode is a lick, not a riff. Same with Sweet Child and Layla.
and
Riffs - single or double note lines played typically on lower strings that define the “groove” of the song. Satisfaction is the ultimate example of a riff and certainly, by most criteria except one’s personal taste, the most Important. Other riffs that stand out to me include:
Sad But True by Metallica - you can put that riff on repeat and play it for 20 minutes and it still rocks.
Feel Your Love Tonight, off Van Halen 1
Same Old Song and Dance by Aerosmith - along with Adam’s Apple, Walk this Way and a ton of other great songs by them
As for AC/DC, I definitely think of stuff like Girls’ Got Rhythm and Back in Black as a riff, but not You Shook Me or Problem Child - great songs, memorable parts, but not riffs to me, per se.
And Johnny B. Goode does not have a riff in it - there is a great double-stop Chuck Berry lick over a I IV V chord progression and some fun lead work, but no riff to my ear…
Plenty more, but that’s enough for now…
my $.02
except to add - that magazine Total Guitar clearly sucks…
That would be paying homage to larceny. ZZ Top definitely appropriated the ‘La Grange’ riff from John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boom Boom’ (who probably stole it from some one prior).
Total Guitar’s list sucks - relative or not, plain and simple. Not because they omitted:
Cream’s ‘Politician’,
The Replacement’s ‘Alex Chilton’
VU’s/Lou Reed’s ‘Sweet Jane’,
Jeff Beck’s / Don Nix’s ‘Goin Down’
BOC’s ‘Godzilla’
Sabbath’s ‘Sweet Leaf’ (Screw Paranoid)
Tiny Bradshaw’s/Yardbirds ‘Train Kept A Rollin’ or
Mountain’s ‘Mississippi Queen’
…but more because I can’t stand GnR’s ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’
I must say I’m quite pleased to see Aerosmith on the list. But why the heck did they have to list “Walk this Way” as being “Aerosmith with Run DMC?” That song was great long before Run DMC came along and did their version, and I’ve always preferred the original. Run DMC is great, but they had absolutely nothing to do with that riff. The credit should be placed where it belongs.
