Are these the 40 best guitar riffs of all time?
Everyone loves music lists because everyone loves to argue over them. On New Year’s Eve, uDiscoverMusic (which is published by Universal Music Group, the largest of the major labels) dropped its ranking of the 40 best guitar riffs of all time. Before we get into it, yes, the first five riffs on the song are all from UMG artists. Make of that what you will.
Here’s the top 10.
- Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
- Chuck Berry, Johnny B. Goode (1958)
- Rolling Stones, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (1965)
- Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water (1972)
- Guns N’ Roses, Sweet Child O’ Mine (1988)
- Link Wray, Rumble (1958)
- Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love (1969)
- Jimi Hendrix Experience, Purple Haze (1967)
- ZZ Top, La Grange (1973)
- The Kinks, You Really Got Me (1964)
The rest of the list can be found here.
Not even close to the best. Maybe, the most popular riffs, but not the best. Smells like teen spirit is kindergarten guitar playing. Pretty vacant is just garbage guitar. I’m not going to go through the entire list, but not the best riffs. Popular yes.