The Greatest Guitar Riff Ever: 1972
Jesus fucking christ we are so back with like a billion nominees again and my favorite bass riff ever
Alice Cooper - School’s Out
Not as cool as “I’m Eighteen” but still pretty fucking cool. I went back through the pre-solo act Alice Cooper records when Alice Cooper was just the band name and there’s some pretty underrated stuff in there. Cool band, insane guy, great riffs.
Big Star - In the Street
I love power pop and I didn’t want to mess this one up. There are twelve songs on #1 Record and like eleven of them have riffs that would have been solid choices (sorry “The India Song”). I wanted to pick the twelve-string riff during the intro of “The Ballad of El Goodo” and I also wanted to pick “Don’t Lie to Me” because that riff goes hard and I think people have this misplaced image of Big Star as twee shit sometimes and the riff to “Don’t Lie to Me” shakes that. Ultimately, I went with “In the Street” because a) the riff rules and b) I think of Cheap Trick as some Real Riffers and them identifying “In the Street” as thee riff is good enough for me.
Black Sabbath - Snowblind
Vol. 4 is my favorite Sabbath record and one of my top 20 or so records ever. I can exclusively reveal/spoil that “Snowblind” isn’t going to win Riff of the Week and that pains me. What a fucking song, a song that wouldn’t exist without this riff that makes up almost the entirety of the song until the solo begins just before the song ends. Has anyone ever made a guitar sound better than Tony? I can’t believe this isn’t going to win. What am I doing?
Blue Oyster Cult - Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
First of all, the fucking title. Lol. I’m going to choose to believe, despite my better instincts, that this was named in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way. Dudes have quite literally never rocked like this. Wikipedia credits the guitarist of BOC as playing a ““““stun guitar”””” which I think is just their way of saying there’s a fuzz pedal on the guitar???? So weird, so cool. I love this one.
Can - Vitamin C
Maybe my favorite rhythm section sound ever? This isn’t a drum newsletter but listen to those fucking drums, man. You think the drummer for Radiohead likes this? You think the drummer of Radiohead heard this song one time after making “High and Dry” or whatever pop shit and decided “oh this is what my band will sound like now.” Anyways, the bass. Maybe my favorite bass riff ever. Nothing sounds like this. If you peruse the band’s Wikipedia, it says that Can - a part of Germany’s Krautrock scene of the time - was equally influenced by funk music as all of the electronic music that influenced the rest of the bands in that scene. Listen to this song and you can tell. That’s some funky bass, brother.
Curtis Mayfield - Superfly
Speaking of funk bass, eat your heart out. Not me turning 35 and becoming a funk freak. God this is so fun lol.
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
My favorite artist ever making a top 10 record ever with guitar tones that sound literally out of this world and (spoiler) I’m not picking it to win??????? I named my dog Ziggy, I have a tattoo that’s partially for my dog but also just mostly for Bowie and this song, I have bought numerous guitar pedals that all sucked mostly just to mimic this mids pushed within an inch of their life honk. And it’s not winning??? Get a grip, man. This is the coolest song ever what am I doing.
Deep Purple - Space Truckin’
Last week, I got fussed at by a friend for picking a Black Sabbath song that wasn’t the Black Sabbath song he wanted me to pick. I stand by my choice because “Into the Void” is the better riff but to, sum up their argument, they thought “Sweet Leaf” should have been the nominee because they could hum the riff without having to listen to the song. I don’t want to bastardize my friend’s argument, but I’d imagine they’re saying they think “Sweet Leaf” should have won because they know the song more. Aka - it’s more popular. This is not a list of “here are the most popular riffs every year since The Riff was born.” This is already verging on Premier Guitar Magazine content but doing a list that way is incredibly boring to me. Sure, I’m being subjective here - it is my newsletter after all lol. But I find the “Into the Void” riff to be harder and sound more sinister - and thus cooler - than “Sweet Leaf,” which is undoubtedly a more popular song and, likewise, a more popular riff. Why am I talking about Black Sabbath right now? Because there is maybe no more popular riff in the annals of riffs than “Smoke on the Water.” It’s Baby’s First Guitar Riff and incredibly easy. You can basically play the whole song on one guitar string. For that reason, the song is going to live eternally in Guitar Centers worldwide. However, it isn’t going to live forever in this newsletter because guess what? That song fucking sucks. It’s bad and the riff is annoying. “Space Truckin’” - a song with essentially a tenth of the listens on Spotify of “Smoke on the Water” - does not suck. It fucking rules and the riff is awesome. It’s the nominee, cry about it.
Funkadelic - Wake Up
There are three bassists credited on America Eats Its Young so I can’t really say for certain if the bass riff on “Wake Up” is played by Boogie Mosson, Bootsy Collins or Prakash John so I’ll just say hats off to all three of them. God this whips ass.
Joe Walsh - Turn to Stone
This is credited to “Barnstorm” but like cmon it’s Joe Walsh. This sounds so massive. Just a brick shithouse of a riff. Joe Walsh is the coolest mfer who has ever played guitar.
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
A bass riff so cool it had to be played on two different basses. It’s no shocking surprise this riff has been sampled to death - most notably by A Tribe Called Quest. It’s simple, yes, but it still sounds cooler than anything done before or since. Ultimate groove.
Raspberries - Go All the Way
Some of the best guitar tones ever. Total distortion but not muddy at all and doesn’t cross into fuzz territory. Power pop rules when it’s good, I don’t know what to tell ya. It’s a genre for geeks but geeks who can riff.
The Rolling Stones - Tumbling Dice
You can’t tune your guitar to Open G and have a prayer of playing anything on those six strings without it sounding like Keith Richards and, more specifically, “Tumbling Dice.” A riff so all-encompassing that it basically ate up an entire guitar tuning. And he played it on a guitar without one of the strings. What a legend.
T. Rex - Telegram Sam
I said last week that “Get It On (Bang a Gong)” was a riff so good that Noel Gallagher couldn’t live without it and “Telegram Sam” is a riff so good that Josh Homme couldn’t live without it. People love to rip Marc Bolan off, truly a GOAT.
Yes - Close to the Edge
I cannot really cosign you listening to all 18 fucking minutes of this song as I have never done that myself but there is a bass riff around the five-minute mark of this song that sounds unlike anything else I’ve ever heard. Prog can be so daunting but there are some real gems if you have the patience, which I simply never do.
ZZ Top - Just Got Paid
Real tonal whiplash to go from Yes to ZZ Top lol. Just very few bands less proggy than ZZ Top. One of the coolest riffs. Look up Dudes Rock in your Merriam-Webster dictionary and you just autoplay this riff in your head and get the definition.
What is the Best Riff of 1972?
Our finalists this week are “Snowblind” and “Ziggy Stardust,” which I already spoiled don’t win; “Vitamin C,” which I labeled as my favorite bass riff ever lol; “Walk on the Wild Side,” which requires two basses to play the riff; and “Tumbling Dice.” I like the bass guitar. I decided early on that I cannot proceed with this newsletter without highlighting bass riffs. Is my favorite bass riff ever going to top Keith Richards? Not a snowball’s fucking chance in hell, mate. “Tumbling Dice” takes it.
Does it top the previous Best Riff?
All due respect to Keith Richards and all due respect to friends of mine who thought I selected the wrong Black Sabbath riff. Y’all can get a grip. No. “Tumbling Dice” has a killer riff but “Into the Void” slaughters it. Come back next week to see if this juggernaut-in-the-making gets taken down. Cheers.