The Greatest Guitar Riff Ever: 1965
We're back after a week off with almost too many riffs to choose from. Who will come out on top?
The Best Riff of 1965
Hey y’all, sorry for the week off. My daughter and then my wife both got sick and it seems like the country decided to go batshit for a few days and I lost track of time. What do you think is Kamala Harris’ favorite riff? Nevermind. Best not to ponder. Let’s get into the nominees. We have some bass riffs this week! Hell yeah!!
The Beatles - Ticket to Ride
The 12-string guitar, ladies and gentlemen! Wikipedia is telling me the instrument came about in the 19th century and was used by the Wrecking Crew in 1963 but you could tell me that it was invented in 1965 and I’d believe you, simply based on the sheer amount of bands that began using them this year. In fairness, Rickenbacker began manufacturing them in 1964 and that kinda seems like the main contributing factor to them becoming so omnipresent. George Harrison is definitely one of the main people synonymous with the instrument (along with another guy I’ll discuss in a bit) and I have to imagine “Ticket to Ride” is the main reason why. What a riff.
The Beatles - Drive My Car
“Drive My Car” isn’t just a bass riff, as it’s mirrored by the guitar, but I like to think of this one as a bass song. Maybe it’s because Paul’s vocals are mixed higher than John’s or maybe it’s just because the bass sounds more sick, but in any case, bass song. Out of the two Beatles riffs this year, it’s kind of apples and oranges between 12-string guitar and bass, but this one grooves a bit more, so it has the advantage in my book.
The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)
Perhaps this one should be dinged as it’s both a cover of a folk standard and it’s off the second release by The Byrds of 1965, but, to me? This is thee iconic 12-string guitar riff. Again, sure, “Ticket to Ride” predated it by about half a year and the Byrds themselves predated it with their cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” but whereas the latter is just an intro riff and the former kinda plays the same six notes on loop throughout the verse, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” hinges almost entirely on the arpeggios from Roger McGuinn that last throughout the whole song. Idk. I’m biased certainly just because I Like This Song More but it’s my newsletter, buzz off.
The Rolling Stones - (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
I’m not going to get political here and enter in a Beatles vs. Stones debate. I’ll even be upfront and acknowledge that Out of Our Heads is easily the worst of the albums released by The Rolling Stones (inferior to December’s Children (and Everybody’s)) or either highlighted by The Beatles above. However, there’s something that “Satisfaction” does that none of the other riffs highlighted above does and it’s extremely fucking important: it rocks. Keith Richards used a fuzz pedal for one of the first recorded times ever and guess fucking what fuzz pedals are sick as all hell. Is this the first Dudes Rock anthem? It might be.
The Sonics - Have Love Will Travel
I won’t lie to you, my loyal HYLI readers: the majority of my enjoyment of this song comes from Gerry Roslie’s vocals and not really from Larry Parypa’s guitar. Dude is on one. BUT this is kind of thee stereotypical ‘60s riff to me in that the song begins and ends with the riff and there’s a whole fucking lot of it going on in the middle too. It’s a pretty eternal riff, so much so that you can almost forgive the Black Keys for recording one of the worst covers known to man of this. They couldn’t help themselves.
Them - Gloria
More bass! We are going to focus on the bass and only the bass and completely ignore the singer of the song! Part of what I really love about ‘60s music is the amount of songs where the verse and chorus instrumentally are basically the exact same. The dudes just play a little bit harder and maybe a little bit faster but the riff remains the same. The bass is holding down the same little pattern for the majority of the song and it rules. It’s the glue. Every song needs some glue.
The Zombies - She’s Not There
This is running a bit long this week but since we haven’t included any bass riffs prior to this week, I’m going to allow for one extra one here. “She’s Not There” and The Zombies, as a whole, can be a bit of a blind spot for me but man this fucking rips. The little bass fill that comes in between the chorus and verse resuming is so rad too. Flowers to Chris White, the man could riff.
What is the Best Riff of 1965?
Probably the toughest choice I’ve had yet. Three rad bass riffs, two sick 12-string guitar riffs, and two kinda proto-punk guitar riffs. To go category by category, I’d say my three winners are “Drive My Car,” “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” I think if you were to poll some guitar geeks, the answer would pretty easily be the latter - it seems to have the most lasting legacy as A Riff. I don’t really want to do that lol. I’m going “Drive My Car.” Keith will get his in due time, anyways.
Does it top the previous Best Riff?
Not a chance in hell. “Oh, Pretty Woman” takes it for another week.