50 Greatest Guitar Riffs in Rock 'n' Roll
- Posted by Jason Persse
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50
'Alive'
Pearl Jam (1991)
Stone Gossard came up with the opening riff for grunge's biggest anthem while he was in Seattle's legendary Mother Love Bone with fellow future Pearl Jam member Jeff Ament. The demo, originally called 'Dollar Short,' eventually made its way into the hands of a part-time gas station attendant named Eddie Vedder. The rest, as they say, is history.
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49
'Girl U Want'
Devo (1980)
Ironically, the album that cemented Devo's New Wave synth-pop legacy (1980's 'Freedom of Choice') opens with their most rockin' guitar line -- just ask the monster riff-meisters in Soundgarden, who covered the song in 1992.
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48
'Dig Me Out'
Sleater Kinney (1997)
Despite being the highest-ranking woman on Rolling Stone's "Most Underrated Guitarists of All Time" list, Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein isn't one to fly below the radar. Just listen to the adrenalized opening chords of 'Dig Me Out,' a supercharged blast of string-snapping punk energy that just screams "look at me!"
Theo Wargo, WireImage
47
'My Girl'
The Temptations (1965)
Robert White of the Funk Brothers, Motown Records' legendary stable of session musicians, provided the riff on the Temptations' first No. 1 single, which features a pair of major pentatonic scales. We don't know what that last part means, either, but it's probably a musicological term for "wicked catchy."
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46
'Plug In Baby'
Muse (2001)
England's newest guitar hero, Muse's Matt Bellamy, cemented his status with this finger-breaking play on Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565' (aka "that creepy organ tune everyone plays around Halloween").
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45
'Feel the Pain'
Dinosaur Jr (1994)
Just a year after Spin proclaimed, Dinosaur Jr's "J Mascis is God," the slacker generation's answer to Clapton smashed two lazy little guitar lines together into one of indie rock's most indelible riffs.
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44
'The Trooper'
Iron Maiden (1983)
Based on Alfred Lord Tennyson's great war poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' 'The Trooper' is Iron Maiden's furious call to arms, with Dave Murray and Adrian Smith's perfectly harmonized dual-guitar attack leading the way into battle.
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43
'In-a-Gadda-da-Vida'
Iron Butterfly (1968)
A perfect mix of heavy (as in "like, wow, man") and heavy (as in "metal"), Iron Butterfly's seemingly endless 17-minute magnum opus tries your patience as it blows your mind. Luckily, 17-year-old guitarist Erik Brann had the youthful endurance to sustain that fuzzed-out minor-key riff, which remains a classic at any length.
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42
'Beat It'
Michael Jackson (1983)
How does the (soon-to-be) biggest pop star in history spice up his most rockin' song to date? Simple: Jackson calls Eddie Van Halen, then the biggest guitarist on Earth. But Eddie contributed only the solo; the song's distinctive riff was played by Toto guitarist and session musician Steve Lukather.
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41
'Cinnamon Girl'
Neil Young (1969)
Neil Young is rightly heralded as a master of the guitar solo, but he can stomp out a riff with the best of them, too. In perhaps the purest example, the deceptively simple up-and-down of 'Cinnamon Girl' is achieved through a complex combination of "double-drop" tuning and being one of the most badass guitar players ever.
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40
'Sweet Home Alabama'
Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)
You're damn right, "Turn it up." Former Strawberry Alarm Clock guitarist Ed King, who joined Skynyrd as a bassist in 1972, had recently switched back to guitar when he came up with this Southern rock gem in a dream.
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39
'Teen Age Riot'
Sonic Youth (1988)
The one-two punch of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo has never been more, dare we say, transcendent than on the opening track of 1988's 'Daydream Nation.' A wild, asymmetrical monster of weird tunings and mind-boggling interplay, it's one of the signature riffs of the "modern rock" era.
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38
'Life in the Fast Lane'
The Eagles (1976)
Glenn Frey had been mulling over the phrase "life in the fast lane" ever since taking a high-speed car ride with the band's drug dealer, but it wasn't until he heard the newest Eagle, Joe Walsh, play a riff during practice that it all came together. Walsh's slick intro formed the song's backbone and, according to Frey, solidified Walsh's place in the lineup.
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37
'Oh, Pretty Woman'
Roy Orbison (1964)
When Roy Orbison's wife asked for some cash to go shopping, Orbison's co-writer, Bill Dees, noted that a "pretty woman never needs any money." Orbison started picking away on his 12-string, and within 40 minutes, 'Oh, Pretty Woman' was in the books.
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36
'Ace of Spades'
Motorhead (1980)
When Lemmy Kilmister persuaded Motorhead guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke to use a "darker" riff (by moving from the A string to E), the ideal soundtrack for running from the cops was born. Yet despite the song's nefarious tone and metaphorical overtones, Lemmy claims this ultimate outlaw's anthem really is just about playing cards.
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35
'Sharp Dressed Man'
ZZ Top (1982)
That little ol' band from Texas had been laying down asphalt-melting licks for well over a decade when ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons (wielding his famous Mexican peso guitar pick) ripped out this Southern-fried masterpiece -- and encouraged a generation of rockers to go buy a suit.
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34
'Mr. Tambourine Man'
The Byrds (1965)
Admittedly, most of the stuff on this list is "funky" or "heavy," but that doesn't mean there's no room for "pretty." On the Byrds' first single, Jim (later Roger) McGuinn's chiming 12-string Rickenbacker gave birth to the band's distinctive "jingle-jangle" sound (and purportedly persuaded the song's author, Bob Dylan, to go electric himself).
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33
'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Nirvana (1991)
The riff that killed hair metal starts out almost placid, until Kurt Cobain steps on the pedal -- literally -- and ushers in the era of angst. Though music journalists have spilled gallons of ink on its significance, we still can't get our heads around the smoking crater Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' left in the history of rock.
Kevin Mazur, WireImage
32
'Raining Blood'
Slayer (1986)
The two most common reactions to Slayer axeman Jeff Hannemann's "lacerating" central riff are a) uncontrollable head-banging, and b) cowering in a fetal position and crying. Both reactions make sense, because a) the riff is a work of face-melting genius, and b) it's a song about getting drenched in the blood of angels while conquering heaven.
Marty Temme, WireImage
31
'Le Freak'
Chic (1978)
After getting turned away by a Studio 54 bouncer on New Year's Eve, Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards went back to Rodgers' place for a champagne -- and anger-fueled jam session. Despite the bad vibes (and their original chorus of "Aaaaahh, f--- off!"), Rodgers made lemonade with the best guitar line of the disco era.
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30
'Killing in the Name'
Rage Against the Machine (1992)
Does this song make anyone else want to set stuff on fire and bring down the government? Rage Against the Machine's lead singer Zach de la Rocha's multi-culti radical politics are well known, but Tom Morello is the band's true champion of diversity. He mixes a grab-bag of influences, from Pantera to Devo to P-Funk, into an all-out assault on The Man ... and your eardrums.
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29
'House of the Rising Sun'
The Animals (1964)
Far and away the oldest song on this list, at least in terms of pedigree, 'House of the Rising Sun' is an American folk ballad that some have traced back to 18th-century England. The song had already been recorded by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and several others when the Animals' Hilton Valentine plugged in his guitar and dragged it into the age of electric.
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28
'Seven Nation Army'
The White Stripes (2003)
Essentially a bass riff in disguise, Jack White's menacing opening chords are already being deployed as psychological warfare: According to every college marching band in America, the White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army' strikes immediate fear in the hearts of one's enemies.
Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
27
'Crazy Train'
Ozzy Osbourne (1980)
Something about Ozzy must bring out the best in others; he appears twice on this list without picking up a guitar. Rumor has it that, prior to his tragic death at age 25, metal prodigy Randy Rhoads was preparing to quit Ozzy's band to study classical guitar. Based on 'Crazy Train,' he was certainly up to the challenge.
Fin Costello, Redferns
26
'Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love'
Van Halen (1978)
The only Van Halen single that never cracked the charts just happens to feature some of Eddie Van Halen's finest guitar work. And that's saying a lot. At first, Eddie didn't even think the riff was worth playing for the band, but over the years it has proven itself worthy, popping up everywhere from hip-hop samples to sports arenas the world over.
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