Top 20 guitar riffs of all time (?)

Posted by: jayd on 03 May 2004

The top 20 (according to readers of Total Guitar magazine)

1. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
3. Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
4. Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple
5. Enter Sandman - Metallica
6. Layla - Derek & The Dominoes/Eric Clapton
7. Master Of Puppets - Metallica
8. Back In Black - AC/DC
9. Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix
10. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
11. Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
12. All Right Now - Free
13. Plug In Baby - Muse
14. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
15. Aint Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen
16. Walk This Way - Aerosmith
17. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream
18. No-One Knows - Queens Of The Stone Age
19. Paradise City - Guns N` Roses
20. Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine.

story

I think only maybe 6 or 7 of these would make my own list.
Posted on: 24 October 2004 by Tim Jones
What about bass lines. (Can't stand that word 'riff'...)

Suggest:

White Lines by Grandmaster Flash (bass: Doug Wimbish)
Anything by Chic (bass: Bernard Edwards)
Thankyou for Funkin' Up My Life by Donald Byrd (bass: (?) Larry Graham)
What is Hip? and Down to the Nightclub - Tower of Power (bass: Frank Prestia)
At Home He's a Tourist - The Gang of Four (bass: Dave Allen)

Tim
Posted on: 24 October 2004 by AndyFelin
My two-penn'orth:

Neil Young Like a Hurricane
Anything by The Smiths

Andy
Posted on: 24 October 2004 by Cheese
quote:
What about bass lines

Queen: Another One Bites The Dust (Bass: John Deacon)

Chic: Le Freak (Bass: Don't know, but probably the most underrated bass player ever)

And just about everything played by Dead's Phil Lesh

Oh and Anthony Jackson. No riffs, really, better call it lines indeed !

Cheese
Posted on: 24 October 2004 by Minky
A riff is NOT a solo or the bass line or a parrot of the melody. It's a repeating motif - a pattern on the wallpaper in one or all of the rooms of song.

If you want to hear the difference between a riff and a solo have a listen to your old Steely Dan albums - an Aladdin's cave of quirky riffs and epic solos.
Posted on: 25 October 2004 by bornwina
If you are of a certain age and tried to learn guitar in your bedroom then the riff from Waterfall by the Stone Roses was the one that most fingertips bled to.
Posted on: 25 October 2004 by David Robert Bell
Thanks Minky,

this thread was dead for a while and its about riffs not bass lines! soon someone will be embellishing their favourite spliffs

anyhow what about Panama by Van Halen? not sophisticated but catchy
and Maiden's "Two Minutes to Midnight"

crank it up or some Ozzy Osbourne expetive!

Dave Cool
Posted on: 25 October 2004 by David Robert Bell
sorry expletive

I f**ked up my spelling of this euphemism

I love my 80s metal and swearing but this is no excuse for poor form even if I am typing in the dark

Dave
Posted on: 25 October 2004 by Tim Jones
[QUOTE]Originally posted by David Robert Bell:
this thread was dead for a while and its about riffs not bass lines! soon someone will be embellishing their favourite spliffs
QUOTE]

Oh sorry. It's just that some of us feel there's as much art to a good bass line as there is to a good riff. Apologies for offending your sensibilities. Happily Nick Lees has started a proper thread on bass lines.

Tim
Posted on: 25 October 2004 by Rasher
A riff is one of those things that, if you had to explain it to someone, they wouldn't understand anyway Winker
Posted on: 26 October 2004 by David Robert Bell
Tim,

Not that I don't love a good bass line or mad drum solo. Our sanitized over-produced mainstream crap these days just doesn't allow this musical frippery.

Bring back the musician!

Dave Cool with a big fat Havana!
Posted on: 26 October 2004 by Chris Metcalfe
Mr Tambourine Man - the Byrds
Kingdom of Love - the Soft Boys
Wolves, Lower - REM
Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young
Communication Breakdown _ Led Zeppelin
Posted on: 26 October 2004 by Rasher
My Thesaurus tells me that "Frippery" means treat, luxury, delicacy.
I was never quite sure whether Frippery was a description of The Man's technique or a real word. It would appear that it is both!
Posted on: 27 October 2004 by David Robert Bell
Rasher,

Frippery is an unusual word as the exact definition is open to interpretation. I could have also described it as a musicial exhibition that is just plain showing off bordering on fluff but nonetheless worthwhile.

Hope this helps but bring back the riff!

How the hell is Keef Richards still alive?

Dave Confused
Posted on: 29 October 2004 by Stewart Platts
Apart from loads of Led Zeppelin stuff:

Spirit of Radio - Rush
Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes
Jean Genie - David Bowie

These float my boat.
Posted on: 29 October 2004 by adamk
I am not too sure about the riffs in some songs mentioned here.

2 bona fide riff monsters:

I Got A Right - Iggy Pop (TV Eye)
Hey Hey My My - Neil Young (Rust Never Sleeps)

Always make me want to find that tennis racket.
Posted on: 29 October 2004 by graham55
See my thread re Junior Brown, who's cranking out the riffs today.

Wish I was clever enough to hit the buttons to enable a direct shift!

G
Posted on: 30 October 2004 by kj burrell
Found this worst guitar solosduring a nights bored browsing, from the excellent Pitchfork site. Probably old news to some, but might have some of you spitting with rage.

Enjoy the countdown

Kevin
Posted on: 30 October 2004 by BigH47
Blokes a dick and a deaf one at that. (The one from Pitchfork not Nick). Winker
Posted on: 24 December 2004 by Martin D
More than 2,000 readers took part in the poll.

The top 20 riffs:

1. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
3. Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
4. Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple
5. Enter Sandman - Metallica
6. Layla - Derek & The Dominoes/Eric Clapton
7. Master Of Puppets - Metallica
8. Back In Black - AC/DC
9. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix
10. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
11. Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
12. All Right Now - Free
13. Plug In Baby - Muse
14. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
15. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen
16. Walk This Way - Aerosmith w Run DMC
17. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream
18. No-One Knows - Queens Of The Stone Age
19. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses
20. Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine