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Riffs that Rock

March 20, 2007 1:39 AM

s you may or may not know, I play the guitar. I'm not necessarily very good (let me know what you think), but I like to play anyway. Although I haven't gotten to do this as often as I'd like, I can tell you that there's nothing more fun than playing an awesome, loud, distorted riff with a full band. It's one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had. And definitely one of the best ways to get pissed/pumped. While I don't get to do that nearly often enough, I do listen to music fairly often, and a derivative form of entertainment is listening to a great guitar riff. So here, now, is my list of five awesome guitar riffs (in no particular order). Oh fuck yeah.

Rocket - The Smashing Pumpkins
This whole song is built around riffs, there's no discernable "rhythm guitar" part at all. But it's that opening riff in particular that catches you and pulls you in. It's simultaneously mellow and heavy, and it feels very "full" while leaving plenty of room for later variations and elaborations. A classic riff.

Schism - Tool
Although I'm not usually the biggest Tool fan (they waste too much time being pretentious assholes and not enough time doing serious rocking, in my opinion), this song, the main riff around which it is built, kick ass. It's extremely catchy and energetic. And, even though it's repeated almost throughout the whole song, it never gets old or boring, always the mark of an excellent riff.

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
I've proclaimed on several occasions that I'm done with The White Stripes. I honestly never understood the big deal with them in the first place, and I find most of their music boring and far too sparse. I still like this song, though, and the riff here is pretty decent.

Song 2 - Blur
Did you ever see the video for this song? If you did, then you know how I feel when I hear this riff. It's so simple, yet you'd have to be dead not to get psyched by this riff, regardless of whether it's being played quite in the verse or loud as all get out in the chorus.

Say it Ain't So - Weezer
This is an excellent riff and an excellent song. The whole thing is built around a little four chord progression played at various positions and in different voicings. Rivers also a few simple guitar flourishes to make the otherwise boring Db-Ab-A-E progression much more interesting and, in doing so, crafts a classic Weezer riff.



7 Comments


tRJ said:

Whoa, whoa, whoa. A Smashing Pumpkins fan complaining about TOOL being pretentious?

March 20, 2007 12:38 PM



Ismael Tapia II said:

Oh, please, tRJ, while SP can definitely be pretentious at times, there is almost no basis for an argument that SP is as pretentious as Tool! While SP sometimes writes long, overblown songs (Porcelina, Geek USA, The Aeroplane Flies High), they're all about lost loves, anger, and other primal emotions. Meanwhile, Tool's long songs (of which there are just too goddamned many) try to address headier issues, but fall flat. More importantly, Tool's long songs are boring as all get out.

Further, while SP's primary musicians are nothing to be sneezed at, their instrumentation is never overdone. Meanwhile, Tool inserts tempo changes and dynamics changes apparently at random, just to prove they can. Ticks and Leaches is a terrible song, for example.

Perhaps Rolling Stone said it best when they noted that Lateralus could be called, had it happened in a different time, "ten tons of impressive pretension".

March 20, 2007 3:08 PM



tRJ said:

I can't believe I am hearing this! Ticks and Leeches rules. It's called Prog Rock, and it's the best rock there is. See, e.g., Porcupine Tree, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush, Yes, King Crimson.

March 20, 2007 4:20 PM



Dee said:

while i totally agree with you about 7 Nation Army (an all-around awesome song, i love singing out "i'm goin to wichita!" apropos of nothing), i can't respect this list until you correct Song 2, performed by Blur not Blue. If their name were Blue, the songs would suck and Damon Albarn wouldn't be so sexy. PLEASE FIX IT. it is upsetting me quite a lot!

March 20, 2007 7:54 PM



Ismael Tapia II said:

tRJ,
Just to make sure that my original assessment was correct, I just listened to Tick and Leaches. I have to say that I agree with myself: the song sucks. It's way too long, it's boring, and it doesn't have any sort of melody or anything.

For me, it epitomizes the problem with metal music--there's too much of an emphasis on being loud, technically proficient, and not enough of an emphasis on writing good, memorable melodies. I also don't like the sort of "start-stop" guitar. It sounds like they're trying to start a car that refuses to turn over.

That's not to say that Tool is a bad band, I generally like them, but I do think they're pretentious as shit. And I strongly question your assertion that prog rock is the best of all rock. What about space rock, math rock, and post rock.

Dee,
I've fixed the issue.

March 21, 2007 1:45 AM



morenonesense said:

Ismael, why don't we cal a spade a spade? With your butt-rock worshipability, why are you hiding your true favorite riffs? Where is "Girls,Girls,Girls" by Motely Crue, or "We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister? Come on, I know that you just start clapping your hands to the beat as you read the titles of these songs; why not represent them on your list?

March 21, 2007 7:01 AM



tRJ said:

Space Rock is fine, but I prefer guitars over synths. Math rock is basically prog rock without any soul. And post-rock is good, but it doesn't rock at all. If it did, it could just be called rock.

March 21, 2007 8:25 AM



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