A new poll for the oft-debated topic of Greatest Guitar Riffs has some stupefying results. The U.K. study done in March 2022 by music content and software provider Muse (also owner of Ultimate Guitar) polled 1, 500 people and provided some seriously head-scratching picks... even in the top five.
Let's define terms first, shall we? I don't think we have to tell anyone what a guitar solo is. That is NOT the guitar riff. A guitar riff is the foundation of a song that repeats throughout. Per RockGuitarUniverse, a riff, through its melodic and rhythmic construction, is designed to be a hook that represents the vibe of a song. (Going further, a riff is also not a lick. A guitar lick is a cool or memorable offshoot of a solo or riff that's used once in a song.)
The top 30 songs that made it in the poll are all listed below, but let's go one through five first and pick out some of the stunners.
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Sweet Child by G n' R is totally normal choice that often tops these kinds of lists. We have no problem here.
, however, No. 2 guitar riff of all-time? Sure, it's a powerful riff, but better than say, Led Zeppelin's Kashmir (which didn't even make the list) or Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water? Let's move on, because No. 3 is a potentially even worse punt.
The iconic, funky part that makes Another One Bites the Dust is great, but it's not a guitar riff. It's a BASSLINE. And it's not the only bass guitar-driven riff that made the list. Fleetwood Mac's The Chain is at no. 12. This makes us wonder if the metrics used/choices given in this survey make any sense. Leading us to 4...
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We're not even sure that this is a Top 10, 000 song of all time. (The lead singer of the band doesn't even really like it!) How is this riff better than Back In Black (No. 13) or Satisfaction (No. 24????) Is this a result of a great undersexing in the British public? Get some, lads, and take this test over. Please.
Ok. We guess. Obviously one of the greatest rock songs ever crafted. We'll take it based on the other decisions that have been made here. We just don't know if it's a Top 5 sticky RIFF. That's what this was supposed to be all about, right????!?!?!?
The whole of the top 30 follow. There are a few picks you might expect in there but also some more that don't even follow the rules, again. Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire is a horn melody! Pink Floyd's
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Is an ALBUM. (The song Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2 is a valid choice, but, c'mon, let's get it together.) This is why we defined the terms at the beginning! Jeez. Frustrating.AC/DC – ‘Back In Black’. No strangers to the instant classic scorching riff, even AC/DC excelled themselves with this economical monster, the perfect confirmation they were back in the game after the death of original singer Bon Scott. No finer tribute.
Arctic Monkeys – ‘Brianstorm’. The moment the Monkeys got heavy. The opening track of second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ saw the band make their intentions clear with a ferocious machine gun riff.
Chuck Berry – ‘Johnny B Goode’. This firecracker riff still sounds mind-blowing today, so it’s difficult to imagine what it must have felt like to hear it coming over the radio back in 1958.
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The Black Keys – ‘Lonely Boy’. Inspired by The Johnny Burnette Trio’s 1956 rockabilly blues classic ‘The Train Kept A-Rollin”, Dan Auerbach’s churning guitar buzz is right down there in the dirt.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – ‘Spread Your Love’. Swaggering in like Link Wray’s ‘Rumble’ hopped up on steroids, this is a riff that simply demands you stop whatever you’re doing, don dark shades and black leather and head out into the night.
Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’. Proto-metal fretworkery from Tony Iommi, pulling on the strings like he’s starting a petrol-driven lawnmower. Iommi famously plays lefthanded after sawing off the tops of two fingers of his right hand in an industrial accident, but there’s no discernible diminishing of raw rock power.
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Bloc Party, ‘Banquet’. Bloc Party affirmed their credentials as leading lights of the new wave revival with this choppy little gem that recalls Wire and Gang Of Four at their most direct.
Blur – ‘Song 2’. Sometimes a classic riff comes from great musicians embracing the power of simplicity. This pogoing four-chord riff may have been Blur’s tongue-in-cheek take on grunge, but it’s also one of the hookiest, catchiest and just plain fun songs they ever wrote.
David Bowie – ‘Rebel, Rebel’. After the departure of his guitarist Mick Ronson, Bowie wrote and performed this stomping riff himself. When it was released in 1974, pointed out that it “owed as much to Keith Richards as it did to the departed Ronno.”
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Chic – ‘Le Freak’. Disco could do the brain-lodging riff too, with Nile Rodgers’ clipped lick doing the business for all time. Thirty-five years as an instant lethargy cure.
Cream – ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’. Everyone knows Eric Clapton plays this riff, but it was actually written by bassist Jack Bruce immediately after he and Clapton had got back from watching a Jimi Hendrix gig in London.
The Cribs – ‘Men’s Needs’. It’s like a cheeky little siren really, but that’s the catchy beauty of Ryan Jarman’s riff on The Cribs’ first ever Top 20 single.
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Deep Purple – ‘Smoke On The Water’. When guitarist Ritchie Blackmore wrote this classic riff, people told him it was too simplistic. He pointed out that even Beethoven’s Fifth uses a similar four-note arrangement.
Franz Ferdinand – ‘Take Me Out’. The jerky, pounding riff scorched its way across indie dancefloors in 2004 and gave Franz their signature sound. Mind you, it does bear more than a passing resemblance to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Trampled Underfoot’.
Jimi Hendrix – ‘Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’. The apotheosis of the electric guitar tune, every moment from the incendiary opening riff to the funky breakdown makes this a classic. Often imitated, never bettered.
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Hole – ‘Celebrity Skin’. A grungy grind of pure aggression apparently written by Billy Corgan while he helped out at the album sessions, but played by Eric Erlandson with unbridled metal power.
The Isley Brothers – ‘That Lady (Part 1 & 2)’. Somewhere on the cusp between riff and solo, Ernie Isley’s searing theme was inspired by Carlos Santana and takes the Brothers’ soul onto the Funkadelic Mothership.
Michael Jackson – ‘Beat It’. Eddie Van Halen smoothed Michael Jackson’s crossover from darling of the disco/R&B scene to globe-enslaving pop/rock superstar with just a few boisterous licks of his axe. So to speak.
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Kings Of Leon – ‘The Bucket’. You can hear Kings Of Leon stepping up into the big league in the opening gallop of this first single from second album ‘Aha Shake Heartbreak’. The exhilarating, descending riff comes steeped in rock history.
The Kinks – ‘You Really Got Me’. Kinks guitarist Dave Davis slashed the speaker cone of his amp to create this riff’s distinctive distorted guitar sound. The band had been told they needed to have a hit within their first three singles, and with this riff behind, on their third attempt, they got it.
Manic Street Preachers – ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’. Still sounding ridiculously anthemic twenty years on, James Dean Bradfield’s melodic riffing, plus a few Slash-influenced guitar wails, announced the Manics as chart-conquering guitar heroes.
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Marion – ‘Let’s All Go Together’. The Britpop stars that never were, Marion drew Suede comparisons in 1995 with ‘Let’s All Go Together’ and its waltzing, Bernard Butleresque riff.
Muse – ‘Supermassive Black Hole’. Some warped cosmic timeshift found Matt Bellamy infused with the spirit of Prince. Actually, it was going out dancing New York clubs that really did it, as Muse dipped into some sci-fi funk for the first time.
New Order – ‘Ceremony’. Written as Joy Division but released as New Order, the band marked the transition with one of their most pulsing and invigorating riffs, shot through with melancholy.
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Nirvana – ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Is the most remarkable thing about this riff that it killed hair metal or that it made Nirvana superstars against their will? No, the most remarkable thing about this riff is that even after hearing it 87 million times it still sounds so visceral, so purely exciting, when you hear it kick in.
Pearl Jam – ‘Alive’. There’s a muscular, dragging, Led Zeppelin quality to Stone Gossard’s riff but it peaks with a hopeful note at odds with the grisly character of Eddie Vedder’s lyric.
Tom Petty – ‘Free Fallin”. Petty’s biggest and most gloriously singalong chorus is built on the sort of riff that you don’t mind burrowing into your skull. Altogether now: “I’m freeeee….”
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Primal Scream – ‘Jailbird’. The best riff to come out of the Primals’ delusional “we are The Rolling Stones” period, ‘Jailbird’ has the Keef filth but a bit of Jimmy Page churn too.
Prince – ‘Alphabet Street’. In the 1980s, Prince usually bathed his greatest riffs in oceans of synths, overpowering the guitar lines of ‘1999’ and ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, but here the Purple Pixie’s
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