For classic 80’s Song riffs I’d add
Crowded House- Dont Dream It’s Over, When You Come
Duran Duran- Rio, A View To A Kill
Wang Chung- Dance Hall Days, Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Queen and David Bowie Under Pressure
Kim Wilde- * Kids In America *
Toto- Rosanna
Billy Joel- A Matter Of Trust, Allentown
Are we still talking about riffs, or just songs?
C’mon guys…what about Angus’s riff at the beginning of Thunderstruck? Everybody knows that one.
I’m a child of the eighties, so 70’s funk is slightly ahead of my time (although I love it). It’s funny how many songs will start that I recognize as one of Will Smith’s or MC Hammer’s, only to hear Mr. Big Stuff or something similar. Damn my cursed memory as I can’t think of other examples right now.
True story (that made me feel older): Mr. Snicks and I went to Best Buy. Not finding the albums we wanted in the racks, we asked the nice sales boy (he was probably all of 17) where they kept their funk. The sales associate looked puzzled, then said “Maybe over by the New Age?”
Hey, at least he tried to be helpful. It’s not his fault he doesn’t understand the true beauty that funk is.
Snicks
A good question, though it can be difficult to tell the difference. A lot of poeple can’t tell you what a riff is. As I guitarist, I usually go on gut when calling something a riff.
There are some parts mentioned I wouldn’t call a riff, but I’ll not pick a nit unless there are other snobs around.
How about the openings to both Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart and Air Supply’s Making Love Out of Nothing At All? Not riffs, per se, but fairly memorable I think. 