Poll

There’s been a survey of the greatest guitar riffs of all time. Thoughts?

A British company called Muse Group (it deals in music content and software) conducted a survey of 1500 people throughout the UK to determine the greatest guitar riff of all time. The results are…interesting. Thoughts?

  1. Sweet Child O’Mine – Guns N’ Roses
  2. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
  3. Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
  4. Sex on Fire – Kings of Leon 
  5. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin 
  6. Beat It – Michael Jackson 
  7. Smells like Teen Spirit – Nirvana 
  8. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
  9. Layla – Eric Clapton
  10. Money for Nothing – Dire Straits 
  11. Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix 
  12. The Chain – Fleetwood Mac
  13. Back in Black – AC/DC 
  14. The Ace of Spades – Motorhead 
  15. Walk This Way – Aerosmith 
  16. Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple 
  17. You Really Got Me – The Kinks 
  18. The Wall – Pink Floyd 
  19. Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash 
  20. I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll – Joan Jett 
  21. Voodoo Child – Jimi Hendrix 
  22. Born to be Wild – Steppenwolf 
  23. Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes 
  24. Satisfaction (I Can’t Get No) – the Rolling Stones 
  25. Come as You Are – Nirvana 
  26. Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
  27. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor  – Arctic Monkeys
  28. Message in a Bottle- The Police 
  29. All Right Now – Free 
  30. Brown Sugar – the Rolling Stones

(Via Music Radar)

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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3 thoughts on “There’s been a survey of the greatest guitar riffs of all time. Thoughts?

  • Won’t Get Fooled Again

    Reply
  • Another One Bites the Dust? The main riff is a bass line (an amazing baseline no doubt but not a guitar riff)…. I find this list disappointing… AS a guitarist, any list of top riffs that can’t find one riff created by Edward Van Halen can’t be taken seriously. And there is an entire catalog of Nile Rodgers riffs that deserve attention regardless of one’s musical preferences. IMO anyhow…

    Reply

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