guitar zero

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

The NME are polling the greatest guitar riffs of all time. As per usual, their readership is completely wrong.

What's your favourite guitar riff of all time, poptimists? Mine is, indie-ly enough, the one in the last 1:52 of 'Hearts Alive' by Mastodon but I am also partial to a bit of the one from the so you think you can love me and leave me and diiiiie bit of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the chugging under the verses of 'You Freak Me Out' by Grills Aloud, the main one from 'The Tower' by Isis (whose new album has leaked, ambient post-metal fans) and 'Pull The Cup' by Shellac. Which is really extremely indie but there you go.

Related question, probably more relevant to our interests: do you think of songs as having "riffs," "hooks," etc. (there are, after all, a lot of pop songs that use guitars, particularly in a reductive, riffy/samply form) or do these things not stand out to you/do you deconstruct songs (if you do at all) by other methods?

(and no, we don't talk about guitar riffs very often but as part of NO CHEERLEADERS, NO FIREWORKS week we might as well)

(ALSO it is famous London club night POPTIMISM tomorrow in the Horse Bar, Westminster; there will be pop music, moderately priced beer, good company, drinking, dancing, bubbling, FUN and it's free to get into, unlike club Popjustice and it finishes at midnight, so you can get the tube home and everything)

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Arf arf a clean sweep for MUSE. The riff lives!

Hooks and riffs are completely part of how I approach music, often when I start a Popular entry the first thing I think is OK, where's the hook then? But I can't actually separate riffs as things to rate from the rest of the song - like "Oh yes, Cinnamon Girl has a good RIFF", it would be more "Yes, the riff is a big thing that makes CG a good song".

There are some records and bands which are basically abstract edifices of riff though - ZZ Top, ACDC. I like them in small doses.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Even as a non-Led Zep fan it is really quite difficult to conceive of a world in which you go 'you know what pisses all over the riff from Whole Lotta Love? the riff from Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand.' *faceplant*

I've realised I am often All About The Riffs on things, with a certain amount of total disregard for melodies, lyrics, etc. :/ Then again, if I'm going to listen to music with a definite riff, as opposed to a hook, then it quite often doesn't actually have any words.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I stopped paying as much attention to riffs when I stopped playing the guitar so much. But I was a big fan of QOTSA's, Nirvana's and indeed Muse's riffs. I was very pleased with myself when I managed to learn 'Plug In Baby'.

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

Wot no Seven Nation Army??!

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Judging by the Muse dominance, I assume they have had like five votes so far, two of them from mates who are obsessed with Muse. It's an absurd list, and I don't imagine the final version will be much less silly.

Yes, I could easily do a long list of favourite guitar riffs - and a few of the current top 20 (Satisfaction, You Really Got Me, My Generation) would be on my working list.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Mmm, that was part of why I asked the question, cus I'm not sure to what extent my concepts of how songs exist are based on how I'd play them (which as a violinst is obvs. 'using only my ego' but still).

[(Anonymous)]

John LenonのImaginが出た時に、あのレコードを新宿の紀伊国屋書店のレコード屋さんで買ったとき私は13歳くらいだったと思う。Bay City Rollersが大人気だった。その1~2後に、運命のQueenのBohemian Rapsodyを聞いて、それからQueenの大ファンになった。

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Good point, would've thought that was right up the NME's street, too.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I am leaving this spam here because it seems to be involving itself in the discussion.

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

Oh, TWS are SO three years ago, darling. Jack and Meg are off their hipster radar *eyeroll*

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Yes, there are definitely things on the NME list that would at least feature in a Top 20 guitar riffs, if I compiled one. They're not totally wrong about what might go in there in the vote-offs, just sort of ...oh I dunno, being a bit lame I s'pose. I guess part of my problem with the list is that the NME isn't going to write about metal, which is where the best riffs are as far as I'm concerned but still. :/

To be honest I imagine the Muse street team's been mobilised.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I find its choice of the Rollers intriguing.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Oh it's those other things now isn't it. That thing Jack White did with Brendon Benson that stole the riff off of that Eels song.

Err, the Raconteurs isn't it. *at the forefront of music knowledge, yeah*

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I thought that. 'Imagine' doesn't really have much of a riff, either.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

In a moment I will get bored of the spam and flock the post. I note that the amount of J-spam we get here is inversely proportional to the amount of Ru-spam I get in my hotmail inbox, tho. PARANOIA CALLING.

First they came for the synthesizers. Then they came for the bass guitars. Then they...

[koganbot]

Maybe they're not counting "bass guitar" as "guitar."

In which I don't vote for Smoke On The Water

[koganbot]

This is off the top of my head, in the order they come to me

The Rolling Stones "The Last Time"
The Rolling Stones "Satisfaction"
The Yardbirds "Heart Full Of Soul"
Paul Revere and the Raiders "Kicks"
Missy Elliott "Get Ur Freak On" (I'm counting the sitar riff as a guitar riff)
Ricky Nelson "Milk Cow Blues" (gtrst James Burton)
Kinks "Milk Cow Blues" (gtrst Dave Davies, copied from James Burton)
Dale Hawkins "Susie Q" (gtrst James Burton)
Johnny Rivers "Secret Agent Man"
The Yardbirds "Train Kept A Rollin'"
John Barry "James Bond Theme" (gtrst Vic Flick)
Billy Strange "James Bond Theme" (gtrst Billy Strange")
Howlin' Wolf "Smokestack Lightning" (gtrst Hubert Sumlin)
Muddy Waters "Still A Fool" and "Rollin' Stone" (same riff on each)
Jim Jones f. Ryan Leslie "Precious"
The Stooges "Search and Destroy"
The Outsiders "Time Won't Let Me"
James Brown "Give It Up Or Turn It Loose"
James Brown "I Can't Stand Myself"
Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze"
Jimi Hendrix "Voodoo Child"
Cream "Crossroads"
Elvis Presley "Mystery Train" (gtrst Scotty Moore)
Charley Patton "Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues"
MC5 "Kick Out The Jams"
MC5 "Rocket Reducer No. 62"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Green River"
Soundgarden "Pretty Noose"

Three great bass riffs

[koganbot]

Three great bass riffs:

Taana Gardner "Heartbeat"
Chic "Good Times"
Vaughn Mason & Crew "Bounce Rock Skate Roll"

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I meant to disable them the other day (having had no objections to anon comments disappearing) but forgot. I'll do it now...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Aha! Apparently we didn't have the Captcha thing turned on! I've rectified that now, and turned on IP logging for anon comments too so we can see where they all come from. If we still get lots of stuff through I'll turn them off completely.

Coupla riffs from this decade

[koganbot]

Eminem "Lose Yourself"
Miranda Lambert "Kerosene"

Re: In which I don't vote for Smoke On The Water

[koganbot]

(Unless that's a Vox on "Kicks." I think it's a guitar. I can't tell.)

On further review

[koganbot]

(No, it's definitely a guitar.)

Re: Three great bass riffs

[infov0re.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Vaughn Mason is epic.

[infov0re.livejournal.com]

A few thoughts:

Jane's Addiction - "True Nature"
There has to be some Dire Straits. "Money For Nothing" probably more identifiable than anything else, I guess.
Manic Street Preachers - "Gold Against The Soul"
Audioslave - "Cochise"
Television - "See No Evil" (probably a personal thing)
Rage Against The Machine - "Killing In The Name" (if you play lead) or
Rage Against The Machine - "Bonmbtrack" (if you play bass)

[plumsbitch.livejournal.com]

which as a violinst is obvs. 'using only my ego' but still

Ha. As an ex-violinist, this made me giggle.

I don't think I pay much attention to riffs these days. When I played bass, I listened to basslines more than anything, and I think I still get caught by a good bassline more immediately than anything else. *remembers teaching self to play 'She's Lost Control' as first thing I learnt and being supremely pleased with self.*

As well as, I guess, alot of the music I heart is bassline-driven.

*is a bit horrified by that list though*

[koganbot]

Speaking of Television:

Cinderella "Gypsy Road," the riff from which reminds me a lot of Verlaine.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Good call on the Dire Straits, I'd forgotten them.

I was writing out a top 20 but then Safari crashed. :(

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Ah jolly good; seems to have stopped 'em for now at least; no spam all afternoon.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

It's weird I can't think of any right now. Guitar solos have always been more important to me than the riff!

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I guess:

Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness

[petronia.livejournal.com]

There is a very small subgroup of insane Muse fans who are very tech-savvy with page reload macros. PLEASE DO NOT ASK HOW I KNOW THIS.

[koganbot]

Yikes! How did I forget this?



Also:
Miles Davis "Rated X"
Funkadelic "Funky Dollar Bill"