If you think of being a rock star, chances are you’re either the lead singer or, more often than not, the lead guitarist, swaggering as your fingers conjure magic that makes the room jump.
So for those of us who dream of being the axeman, the guitar slinging dude who weaves rock’n’roll magic from six strings, here’s our definitive list of the 23 riffs that have defined rock music in all its various shapes for generations.
We stuck with one track per act, but as it was always so difficult to narrow it down, we’ve also selected a 'highly commended' for each artist – another riff from the same outfit that runs our winner very close.
For those about rock, we salute you!
The 23 greatest rock riffs of all time
23. 'Enter Sandman' – Metallica (1991)
Anchored by a mid-tempo, cyclical groove, the riff from Metallica's 1991 hit perfectly illustrates the power of simplicity. Building from an eerie clean-channel arpeggio into a heavy, palm-muted crunch, the riff’s physical 'swing" makes it instantly recognizable. It stripped away thrash complexity in favour of a massive, stadium-sized hook that defined the sound of 1990s heavy rock and metal.
Highly commended: 'Master of Puppets'
22. 'Paranoid' – Black Sabbath (1970)
Guitarist Tony Iommi said of ‘Paranoid’, "It was just a filler, but it became the title track and our biggest hit." The insistent power riff that opens the song creates a tension maintained throughout the track, helping it to evoke the insecurity and claustrophobia of actual paranoia.
Highly commended: ‘Iron Man’
21. 'What Difference Does It Make?' – The Smiths (1984)
Johnny Marr’s insistent, jangly guitar pattern that opens The Smiths’ ‘What Difference Does It Make?’ made thousands of teenagers pick up guitars and form bands. The Rosetta Stone of indie guitar music, this was the first time this band of seemingly scholarly introverts troubled the top end of the charts, and as such, gave hope and identity to countless disenfranchised British youths.
Highly commended: ‘How Soon Is Now’
20. 'Smokestack Lightnin'' – Howlin' Wolf' (1956)
Released on Chicago’s Chess Records in 1956, ‘Smokestack Lightnin’’ by Chester Burnett – aka Howlin’ Wolf – features a simple blues lick that repeats on an endless loop, over which the giant of the blues is true to his name, howling away.
That repetition of a riff is typical of the Delta blues, which Burnett had grown up on down in Mississippi. Armed with an electric guitar now in Chicago, he cut a record that inspired every guitar player from Keith Richards and Eric Clapton to Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page.
Highly commended: ‘Killing Floor’
19. 'Mr Tambourine Man' – The Byrds (1965)
Roger McGuinn’s 12-string Rickenbacker chimed for the moment that two genres merged and folk-rock was born, with The Byrds’ glorious cover of Bob Dylan’s epic 1965 song.
It was a bold move to cover such a complex song for their first single, especially given that it was released barely a month after Dylan’s version, but it worked and made them a household name instantly. On hearing the band rehearse it, Dylan was suitably impressed: "Wow, you can dance to that!"
Highly commended: ‘Eight Miles High’
18. 'Mommy, What's A Funkadelic?' – Funkadelic (1970)
George Clinton’s interstellar collective actually began in 1964 singing doowop, before moving through soul and psychedelic rock to become one of the pioneers of funk.
Their eponymous 1970 debut opens with an eerie, echoed voice delivering the ominous invitation "If you will suck my soul I will lick your funky emotions" before drums and organs flourish. And then the wah-wah guitars interrupt the chaos with a lick so infectious that even after nine minutes, you’re still left wanting more.
Highly commended: ‘Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow’
17. 'Pretty Vacant' – The Sex Pistols (1977)
These simple octave and fifth rotations in A sound like a siren calling all punks to join together and expel anyone daft enough to try and stop them. As Glen Matlock said, "’Pretty Vacant’ is a primal scream kind of thing: we don’t know what we’re gonna do, but we’re gonna do it anyway."
Highly commended: ‘God Save The Queen’
16. 'Ace Of Spades' – Motörhead (1980)
Motörhead’s masterpiece explodes with a relentless, driving riff packed with attitude that sets the fearsome tone that defines the song and the band’s identity. Urgent and violent, this is pure rock’n’roll adrenaline and leaves the listener breathless by the end.
Highly commended: ‘The Game (Triple H)’
15. 'I Can't Explain' – The Who (1964)
As with many of the riffs on this list, it’s the simplicity that makes Pete Townsend’s 1964 Mod anthem so universal. With guitar chops as sharp as his suits, Townsend’s guitar punches with youthful urgency. In ‘I Can’t Explain’, we have one of the earliest examples of a simple three-chord riff that drives a rock song home.
Highly commended: ‘Substitute’
14. 'Smoke On The Water' – Deep Purple (1973)
There can’t be many guitar players out there who didn’t feel pleased with themselves the moment they worked out how to play this instantly recognisable repeating riff. The pressure is palpable from the first stab, building powerfully to prove that a few well-placed notes can define an entire genre of music.
Highly commended: ‘Perfect Strangers’
13. 'Sweet Child O' Mine' – Guns N' Roses (1988)
Slash’s pealing, melodic opening guitar pattern moves around its shapes in such a mesmerising fashion as to become impossible to pin down. Countless budding guitar players made their fingers bleed in bedrooms around the world trying to master it, but few could make it ring like the master in the top hat.
Highly commended: ‘Welcome to the Jungle’
12. 'Sunshine Of Your Love' – Cream (1967)
When the supergroup Cream split, Jimi Hendrix was due to play ‘Hey Joe’ on the BBC’s Happening For Lulu TV show. But just as he began, he switched to play ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’, saying "We’d like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to The Cream" before blasting into it in tribute to one of his favourite bands.
It was so forceful and explosive that the producers pulled the plug on the broadcast and Hendrix was banned from playing on the BBC again. If Jimi Hendrix loves your riff, you know it must be good.
Highly commended: ‘Tales Of Brave Ulysses’
11. 'Beat It' – Michael Jackson (1983)
Most guitar nerds know that Eddie Van Halen plays the blistering solo on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’, but how many know that the iconic riff that defines the track from the off was played by that soft-rock god, Toto’s Steve Lukather?
The King Of Pop was known for his tight rhythmic arrangements, with Off The Wall (1979) covering soul, funk, disco and pop, but on ‘Beat It’, Jackson added a harder edge, with a riff that wouldn’t have been out of place on an 80s heavy metal album, underneath a legendary piece of shredding from Van Halen. And while that’s a scorching piece of work, it’s Lukather’s riff that gives the song its toughness.
Highly commended: ‘Black Or White’
10. 'Money For Nothing' – Dire Straits (1985)
By the mid-1980s, rampant consumerism was in full swing. While the nation was divided over Thatcherism, the miners’ strike was dragging towards its unsatisfactory conclusion, riots at football matches were a common sight on the evening news, and the new MTV channel showed day-glo music videos 24/7.
Dire Straits captured the zeitgeist perfectly with a guitar riff emerging as though robotically beamed in from a future that didn’t seem so far away. Few things sounds as 80s as that guitar riff.
Highly commended: ‘Sultans Of Swing'
9. 'Walk This Way' – Aerosmith (1976)
The unlikely inspiration for Joe Perry’s tight and tasty lick was New Orleans’ funksters The Meters. As he recalled, "I was fooling around with riffs and thinking about the Meters. I asked Joey [Kramer, drummer] to lay down something flat with a groove on the drums. The guitar riff to what would become ‘Walk This Way’ just came off my hands."
The original single went to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it had an unlikely coda when Aerosmith teamed up with rap group Run-D.M.C to revisit the track in 1986, returning it to the top 10.
Highly commended: ‘Sweet Emotion’
8. 'Johnny B. Goode' – Chuck Berry (1958)
In Robert Zemeckis’ time-travel caper Back To The Future, Marty McFly travels back to 1955 where he finds himself playing guitar at a High School dance. His entire future depends on playing one song, so he picks ‘Johnny B. Goode’ – Chuck Berry’s most timeless guitar riff of them all, a passage of music that signalled the future had arrived when it finally became a hit in 1958.
Ironically, the riff itself came from the past – give Louis Jordan’s 1946 recording ‘Ain't That Just Like a Woman (They'll Do It Every Time)’ a spin and you’ll see what we mean. Berry used a variation of it on the intro to countless of his hits.
Highly commended: ‘You Can’t Catch Me’
7. 'All Right Now' – Free (1970)
The British long-haired blues rockers Free were invited to play at Woodstock, but, like Led Zeppelin, The Doors and The Rolling Stones, they turned it down.
And yet somehow, few licks define the spirit of the cultural revolution of the Woodstock generation more than ‘All Right Now’, despite it having not featured. It’s just two chords, strummed in a spirited fashion, but the effect is sensational.
Highly commended: ‘Fire And Water’
6. 'Day Tripper' – The Beatles (1965)
Like ‘I Feel Fine’, another great John Lennon guitar riff, ‘Day Tripper’ was inspired by Bobby Parker’s ‘Watch Your Step’, while also owing a debt to Otis Redding – who returned the favour by recording a cracking cover of the song in 1967, on which the riff takes a backseat.
On The Beatles’ original, the riff kicks off with Lennon on guitar, soon joined by McCartney’s bass in unison. But the greatest effect is when it’s used an octave up for the instrumental break, which slowly builds to a crescendo, before the signature riff kicks us back into the groove again. Timeless.
Highly commended: ‘Paperback Writer’
5. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' – Nirvana (1991)
By Kurt Cobain’s admission, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was inspired by seminal Boston noise-popsters Pixies and Cobain said of its composition, "I was trying to write the ultimate pop song."
The opening riff is a remarkable hook, given that it is essentially just four pretty standard power chords strummed on repeat, but it’s played with such force that rarely have power chords packed such a punch.
Highly commended: ‘Lithium’
4. 'Purple Haze' – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)
In an earlier iteration of this list, before we narrowed it down to one piece per artist, Jimi Hendrix seemed to occupy every third spot.
The debate over which one to include went on longer than was healthy – ‘Crosstown Traffic’, ‘Voodoo Chile’, ‘Foxy Lady’, ‘Hey Joe’… but in the end, we plumped for the incendiary opening of his 1967 classic – from the discordant stomp that opens proceedings through to that liquid lick that introduced a whole new way of playing guitar.
Move over, Rover, and let Jimi take over.
Highly commended: ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’
3. 'Back In Black' – AC/DC (1980)
In many ways, it’s not just what you play but what you don’t play, and in the riff Angus Young conjured up for 1980’s ‘Back In Black’, it’s as much about the space he creates than the notes he hits.
It’s a monumental piece, which appeals well beyond the band’s traditional hard rock audience – when it’s used to welcome sports teams onto the pitch, the entire crowd pound their hands and stomp their feet in celebration.
Highly commended: ‘Highway To Hell’
2. 'Whole Lotta Love' – Led Zeppelin (1969)
Having come up with the riff on his Thames houseboat, Jimmy Page later said "When anyone plays the riff to ‘Whole Lotta Love’, it just brings a smile to people’s faces and a feeling of elation."
He’s not wrong – one of the most identifiable riffs ever created, the chugging and slightly discordant sound is much imitated, but never bettered.
Highly commended: ‘Kashmir’
1. 'I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)' – The Rolling Stones (1965)
The staggering simplicity of this three-note call to arms makes it almost too obvious to use, but in the hands of Keith Richards’ snarling fuzz guitar, it positively drips with an arrogance that elevates a song about sexual frustration to instant classic status.
It gave the Stones their first US number one (it received very little UK airplay as the BBC felt it was too sexually suggestive) and is in many ways the riff against which all other riffs are judged.
Highly commended: ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’
All pics Getty Images
