The Greatest Guitar Riff Ever: 1977

Maybe the year where punk really broke through? Does a punk riff get the honor of Best Riff of 1977? Tap in and Find Out

Coming to you early this week with the Riffletter because the proper HYLI product will be back on Thursday for the holiday with a ~Spooky Albums~ theme. Have you missed Andy’s writing? He’s back folks. The boys (the two of us, obviously) are back in town (your inboxes). Hope you like it!!!

AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie

Maybe the first great album by one of the great riffers ever. As much as Angus Young gets kinda first-billing for the band as the lead guitarist, Malcolm Young is - for my money - one of the best rhythm guitarists ever and rhythm is thee juice for riffing. This is one of his best performances off a truly insane record. RIP a GOAT.

Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla

Truly goofy song + truly sick riff. You think the folks on the Wikipedia page for “desert rock” like this song? I’ll take my answer off air but you can just imagine Queens of the Stone Age getting their whole schtick from this one song.

Bootsy Collins - The Pinocchio Theory

I feel similarly about this one as the Bootsy riff last week: incredible bass playing and groove but I appreciate his playing more in P-Funk and it seems like the vocal duties are kinda holding back the bass a smidge.

The Damned - Neat Neat Neat

One of the best debut albums ever. So much of punk is rhythm-driven and yet so few punk songs have incredible bass riffs. The bass is this song's driving factor and the riff pops out because of it. Just incredible.

David Bowie - Sound and Vision

Just one of the perfect songs of all time. There are two riffs of note here: the main guitar theme played by Ricky Gardiner and the thumping bass groove from longtime Bowie collaborator George Murray. I’m always hearing both, along with the backing vocals from producer Tony Visconti’s wife Mary, in my head.

David Bowie - “Heroes”

I’m including two Bowie riffs this week because a) he’s my GOAT and b) this is probably the last year he has music that really is riff-driven in any sort of way. This is definitely the more iconic part compared to “Sound and Vision” but it feels less riffy given that it’s just kind of two notes the whole song. But man did those two notes do so much.

Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer

I got told by multiple people that I fucked up not including “Blitzkrieg Bop” and, for the first time, I agree with the haters. I fucked up. “Sonic Reducer” is kinda doing the same thing as “Blitzkrieg Bop” here with the guitar and, similarly, it fucking rules. Perfect song.

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

If you thought the riff choice from Rumours was going to be anything other than the bridge bass riff off of “The Chain,” you are high as a fucking kite.

Heart - Barracuda

All the classic rock British white guy bands died out in the ‘70s because Heart ate their lunches right in front of them. This fucking rips.

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - Born to Lose

Hilarious to name your band the Heartbreakers in 1977 and have Tom Petty beat you to it by a year. “Born to Lose,” indeed. This song rules and, in general, more people need to get hip to Johnny as a guitarist.

Iggy Pop - Lust for Life

Probably my second favorite song of all time, only topped by a song by the producer of this track (Bowie, duh) which we will cover in six weeks’ time. I remember the time and place I first heard this because there was a Royal Caribbean commercial from 2003 that made the insane choice to feature this song in the commercial. I wanted to hop on that boat immediately and, as I would come to find out shortly after that commercial, I fucking hate cruises. That’s what this riff does to you. It makes you want to get nauseous and hurl off the side of a boat the size of a hotel. Lust for life, indeed.

The Jam - In the City

More perfect punk bass riffing. This album has been on rotation pretty constantly for me since Oasis announced their reunion a few months ago, since Paul Weller, the guitarist of the Jam, plays the solo on “Champagne Supernova.” To my knowledge, Bruce Foxton - the bassist of the Jam - has never appeared on an Oasis album. The Gallagher Brothers know better than to let a bass riff show them up on their own album. Idk what I’m talking about right now because I’m just bouncing around in my chair listening to this bass, let’s move on.

Judas Priest - Dissident Aggressor

Here Judas Priest is again just eating the Big Four’s lunch, releasing some incredible thrash full of riffs more than a half-decade before Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica or Slayer had dropped anything.

Kiss - Shock Me

This is probably the most I’ve liked a Kiss song. Go figure, the song written by the band’s lead guitarist has the best riff.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - What’s Your Name

Skynyrd’s plane went down in 77 and, unfortunately for us and our ears, the band didn’t hang it up after that. But man did they ever fucking riff prior to that. *35-year-old man from North Carolina voice* Good Lynyrd Skynyrd is so good.

Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell

Fucking incredible out-of-this-world riff. It’s insane that dude dropped this and just decided to do fuck all after until showing up in Fight Club. Just one of the craziest and weirdest careers. This riff sounds the way the bike on the cover of the album looks.

Motorhead - Motorhead

Track 1 on Album 1 is such a good place for a song named after the band. When you have a song this propulsive, why waste it with some bullshit normal song name? You hear this bass going 110mph and you’re like “yeah this song and this band is called Motorhead, 100%.” Lemmy rules.

Ramones - Carbona Not Glue

My 1.5-year-old daughter has had pneumonia for like a month now and this is her favorite band of all time. Shoutout to her. Perfect punk riff.

Ramones - Teenage Lobotomy

There’s a reason this is perfect music for an 18-month-old. These are songs made for humans who don’t know better than to try to reach into their diapers after they filled them with crap. Just total ridgeless-brain-rock. I mean this in the most charitable way possible. Riffs for children are incredible riffs. This is A+ rock and roll and Johnny Ramone rarely sounded better than he does here, downpicking like a moron.

Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation

As we’ve discussed this week, there are Smart Punk Riffs (The Jam and The Damned) and there are Dumb Punk Riffs (Ramones and Sex Pistols, coming below). “Blank Generation” is firmly between the two. It feels like if you bumped the bpm up by five it would be Totally Stupid and if you syncopated it just ever so slightly, it’d be Intellectual Punk. I love it for what it is. Richard knew what he was doing.

Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen

If Ramones make music for 18-month-olds, the Sex Pistols made music for 18-day-olds. Once you are old enough to drink milk from a cow you kinda have passed the peak age for this song. But I’d be lying if this guitar didn’t fucking go. It is Riffing for Dummies rock and, for that, it rules. This album sucks though lol, Music for Brits in the worst way.

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer

Tina Weymouth just forever the coolest motherfucker alive.

Television - Marquee Moon

Another top 20 or so song ever for me. Probably the most technically gifted band here, for whatever it’s worth. Nothing has ever sounded like this and nothing ever will. An attempt to imitate this is an invitation to failure.

Wire - Ex-Lion Tamer

Tone matters. Making your guitar sound like it’s coming from within an active garbage disposal is one of the most based choices you can make. Chef’s kiss.

What is the Best Riff of 1977?

If I wanted to make it difficult for myself and subject myself to Yelling and Comments more than I already choose to do on a regular basis, I would just get rid of the obvious choices here and go only with Patrick Favorites because there are so many of them this week. However, I would feel like a Fraud if I did this and, for that reason, I’m not going to even bother with finalists this week since the winner is so abundantly obvious. It’s “The Chain.” It was always going to be “The Chain.” Ho hum.

Does it top the previous Best Riff?

Respect to the lads from Ireland but I think it does. You could argue this is the single most important and recognizable bass playing in the canon of rock music. It was never not going to be “The Chain.”