Two riffs you’ve probably heard on multiple occasions, famous enough to have their own Wikipedia entries:
What are some other famous/popular riffs?
There’s a place in France
Where the ladies do a dance.
Smoke on the Water?
I started to post this guitar cover of Smoke On The Water earlier but figured I’d already stretched the OP’s intent as far as conscionable. But since you opened the door…Smoke On The Water (same girl).
And here’s a split screen of the previous clip of Enter Sandman combined with a female drummer in what appears to be white negligee. Despite its more prurient aspects, it’s a pretty cool video.
Here are a few that may expand on the notion of riff too much for this thread, but some really classy intros nevertheless:
The Doors - Riders On the Storm Money - Pink Floyd Barrett Strong - Money What'd I Say by Ray Charles
Boz Scaggs - Lowdown
Intermission RiffShave and a Haircut (two bits)
Jacques Offenbach - Orphée aux enfers - “the French can-can riff”, starting at 8:26
Pat und Patachon - Whirlwind - “old timey hijinx music” as evoked in Teresa Brewer’s nostalgic 1950 hit (Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music! and the 1-minute mark of this Homestar Runner song. As far as I can google because there is surprisingly little about them in English on the web, Fyrtaarnet and Bivognen (known as Pat und Patachon and Germany, Long and Short in Britain) were a Danish comedy duo popular in the 1920s, a sort of European Laurel and Hardy. What I can’t figure out is whether this music originates from one of their movies or what.
I always called that the “Bugs Bunny sneaking up on someone” riff.
The drummer is Meytal. My youngest son thinks she’s the best cover drummer on the planet.