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Home > Community > Music forum
best riff of all time
60 votes
?
by jimmyjazz123
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From the Archive - Devastations on album gestation: "It's generally pretty personal"
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From the Archive - Devastations on album gestation: "It's generally pretty personal"
Oh dear...
the world is fucked.
Too angry to post!
ARRGH!
most of those
aren't even the best riffs by those bands!
the answer is Neil Young
Alabama
The opening riff from Superchunk's 'Hyper Enough'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rRIMY3nHRg
HYPER ENOUGH
is immense!....also 'fishin' and 'the question is how fast by the 'chunk.
oh christ
it's as predictable as all of those MTV/VH1 "greatest song" shows.
and arctic monkeys? that song has an okay hook but a great guitar riff? no no NO.
At least Plug In Baby wasn't in it
or Enter Sandman
or Five Colours In Her Hair
Which is frankly suprising considering the rest of the list.
actually
where is Paranoid !?
it's a mandatory entry for this sort of list, shirley?
*iron man
*paranoiid
c'mon now
regardless of where you stand on the Muse issue, that is a fantastic riff.
My Morning Jacket's "One Big Holiday" might do it for me...well, I know it's not the best, fine, but it's fucking AWESOME.
It can't be regardless of where I stand
if I'm standing in the place where I can't stand that riff.
P.S. my black ass
Iggy & The Stooges TV Eye
easily.... or pretty much any of their stuff.
Devo
Mongoloid. Excellently reused in Bright Neon Payphone - Cut copy.
infact
scrap that
Da Funk - Daft punk
without a doubt
the entirety of 'raw power'
that entire album is a fucking sexual, like, hard on sonic embodiment of great riffs!
anyway: ACTUALOL at that list. pathetic
yep Raw Power is amazing
but 'smoke on the water' is the best riff of all time!
it even sounds great when played buy a bunch of geography teachers in a mid-life crisis band doing a gig in a local brewers fayre pub full of women from a viz comic strip and drunken 16 year old estate lads
the definitive is unknown
But, here are some pretty damn infectious ones:
"Down On The Street" Ron of Stooges
"Taxman" Paul (the bass riff)
"Come Together" John
"Day Tripper" George
"Little Sister" Josh
"Jerry Was A Race Car Drive" Les Claypool
"Gigantic" Kim Deal
"Walk" Dimebag (oh please don't hurt me)
"Mr. Moustache" Kurt (RIFF KING) Cobain
"Sweet Leaf" Sir Tommi
"Fight For You Right" Beasties
"Thunderstruck" Angus
"See No Evil" Tom and Richard (Television)
"The Metal" Tenacious D
"Jimmy" Adam (Tool)
"Ain't Talkin Bout Love" Eddie
"Halloween In Heaven" Kenny (Type O)
"Seven Nation Army" Jack
shit loads of this shit
I have to agree...
On the ACDC one,
plus what happened to stuff from Hendrix, Jimmy Page and the like?
Where the fuck is this?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXaZmY52gHM
Arctic Monkeys...?
Is there even a riff in that song?
Anyways, this is my favourite riff of all time...
Da da-da da dur, di-di da da-da-da da dur, di-di da da di-di dur
Anyone guess which riff that is?!
BACK IN BLACK
Nope...
Fratellis!
??
The Trooper- Iron Maiden?
Eastenders theme?
No, wait...
there's a Da and a Dur missing
Where exactly
is this greatest ever riff in 'I bet you...'?
Great song but greatest ever riff? No.
It's fairly cliche but 'you really got me' by the Kinks is my favourite. Crank it up and it'll tear you a new arsehole.
i was thinking this
about arctic monkeys too...
it just sounds like chords played to a clunky rhythm. not exactly 'riff-y', or memorable.
It's it's just
the repeated f# at the beginning its hardly memorable let alone the best ever!
My favourite monkeys riff is on 'space invaders' on their demo cd. Now that is riffage.
it appears to be missing
both
supernaut - black sabbath
AND
wrong time capsule - deerhoof.
i fear this poll is tat!
It is obviously
Bullet in the Head by Rage
^ YEAH
RAWK x
whole lotta rosie
ANGUS ANGUS ANGUS
...
I reckon it's the main riff of 'Real American,' the Hulk Hogan theme music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2OR6Kjo5m4&feature=related
Any discussion of riffs is meaningless without a mention of rage against the machine.
^ YEAH
RAWK x
what difference does it make?
i've played that so much.
Why is Some Dresses not on tha list
HEY
where the fuck is "oblique Sonic Youth hit"? What about "Dinosaur Jr. shred wankfest b-side"? Have these people never heard of "random indie-rock hit which has precisely fuck all chance of ever getting on any best-of list in a popularist broadsheet music section"? Are these people fucking idiots or something?
In case you couldn't tell, i'm being sarcastic. Smoke On The Water for the obviously obvious win
whole lotta love
is clearly the king of those riffs
who doesn't know the top of the pops music!?
Easy
The start of "Something Against You" on Surfer Rosa!
but Smoke On The Water is THE riff
there's a picture of it in the dictionary next to the word "riff"
Why's I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor on there?
Surely the vocal track is more memorable than anything else for that song? Meh, whatever.
i like the fact that
you can play them all at the same time
Rebel Rebel...
Up With People in the top 5?? Oneida ftw!!!
Ok, it's not there really. But it should be!
RAINING BLOOD
Shirely?
Nope
Machine Head - Davidian
Whatever the greatest riff of all time is
it's probably on the first Rage Against The Machine album.
I'd go for that.
Morello riffing on a bad day beats a lot on this list.
Saying that, Smoke on the Water wins.
Strangely
Morello has played more amazing riffs than pretty much anyone, but he has also played some of the worst solos of all time.
No Sabbath!
Surely everyone knows that Tony Iommi is riff lord of the universe.
I'm truly disgusted
by their Arctic Monkeys suggestion.
But slightly more disgusted that this isn't featured:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uXu067MTqI
Hell Yeah!
You've gotta admit though
Come On Everybody by Eddie Cochran was a good choice for the Top 10. My feet are tapping just thinking about it.
*something about that list being really rubbish*
*posts obligatory youtube link of a really great riff that was missed out.*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9x1T287xOk
What?
No "Whisky in the Jar"? Madness.
The Knack
My Sharona
mine
my bloody valentine - only shallow
Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child!
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Does 'I Bet You Look Good..' have a riff?
alternative tv
splitting in two.pil poptones.
only shallow?
ooh get you and your indie cardigan!
all considering, where's Wipeout, Miserlou, Theme from Top Gun (lol), Wild Thing, Louie Louie, hell, even as outside bets Walk (pantera) and This Charming Man should be in the top thirty or replace the artic monkeys... sigh...
Wild Thing.... Yeah
This debate could go on forever... Why did they pick the worst list?? Just to drum up readers I reckon.
I'll throw 'All Right Now' into the hat...
best song structure +
riff
riff
riff
riff
riff
solo
riff
The theme from Top Gear is the nuts.
Oh.. ps.
Der dadada der 'RE'
Der dadada der 'Spect'
Der dadada der 'walk'
derder da dalala derder da dalala
But... that Arctic Monkeys one just goes up the pentatonic scale, doesn't it?
?! Oh well.
Riff are crap anyway.
Worst song structure in the world:
Riff
Verse
Chorus
Riff
Verse
Chorus
Riff (usually with some sort of variation)
Chorus x2
Riff to end
That's
a list of ten best riffs by somebody who's heard eleven riffs.
Seems fairly insane not to include any Sabbath.
Nit-nit ner-ner ner-ner-NER-ner-NE-NOOOOW
Whisky In The Jar, easily.
ok
whisky in the jar [thin lizzy]
iron man [sab]
chartered trips [husker du]
you shook me all night long [acdc]
pantera
im broken
Electrifying, sleazy proof that women rock.
Superstition
Stevie Wonder!
.
I'm suprised Botch dont figure in that list.*
*Might be a lie
AC/DC - Back in black
That has to be up there hasn't it?
For GODS SAKE
year there all good riffs but there all not brillant i would vote for whole lot of love but that riffs simply ripped off
I've said it before and I'll say it again
That fucking Artic Monkeys riff is lifted directly from 'Bremen Nacht' by the Fall..
Oxes
Riki Cream Drinks Chivas Regal.
This list must've been compiled last week
... otherwise Half Man Half Biscuit's 'Bad Losers on Yahoo Chess' from the new album would be number one. Fact.
(p.s. DiS, where's the HMHB review??)
layla
clapton
Electioneering
I fucking LOVE that riff. Either that or
Jumpin Jak Flash or TV Eye
They're my top three off the top of my head