The Greatest Guitar Riff Ever: 1988
The arrival of proto-grunge has brought along a different flavor of riffs, mixing with the continuation of thrash and hardcore. What's thee riff of 1988?
Bad Religion - You Are (The Government)
Not the most groundbreaking shit of all time by any means but early pop punk that doesn’t absolutely suck shit. Congrats! Gurewitz and Hetson are about as good of a guitar duo as you can ask for from this kind of music.
Danzig - Twist of Cain
Some dipshit dork will inevitably come in here and tell me I picked the wrong Danzig riff (I did not) and tell me it is “Mother” (it is not). Get a fucking life. This riff rules. Does “““heavy metal””” get better than these, like, six notes on guitar? It does not.
Death - Pull the Plug
*Hardlore voice* Death metal is so cool, brother. This shit rules. Chuck S. has been one of my favorite guitarists since HYLI Andy introduced me to Death a few years ago. There are so many riffs crammed into these four-and-a-half minutes. My personal fave today is the one that kicks in around 1:45. Riffs for those whom are sick in the head.
Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene
Come onnnnnnn. If you’re asking what the riff here is, it very obviously in my mind is the part with the flanger guitar that comes in after the choruses. I said it last week and I’ll say it again, Dino is more of a solo band to me than a riff band but I’m not going to put J. in a box and limit him. Sick riff.
Green River - Swallow My Pride
Grunge is here! Grunge is a great riff genre. Rehab Doll is the full-length debut of Real Riffer Stone Gossard (yeah, the Pearl Jam guy) and he comes out of the gate firing with an insane riff here. Loooove this.
Jane’s Addiction - Mountain Song
Hard to hear this and not laugh in the aftermath of the kerfuffle between Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro but, once that passes, the bass from Eric Avery really is so sick. Not really a grunge band but, like, adjacent and you totally get that vibe with this song. Grunge by way of, like, Robert Plant. A great riff.
Joy Division - Transmission
Peter Hook is so important. Listen to this bass, man. Post-punk is so cool.
Metallica - Blackened
Insane. Unfair. Rude. Psychotic. What the fuck were they thinking when they cooked this up? Does thrash get better than this?
Mudhoney - Touch Me I’m Sick
Sometimes the coolest thing a guy can do on a guitar is make it sound like it’s inside of your sink as the garbage disposal is running.
Pixies - Where is My Mind?
Feels a little silly to position the simplicity of this riff so close to the technical prowess of Metallica but, also, this is awesome. This is maybe more iconic? Maybe?? I hear the first two notes of this riff, and I already know how the entire song will play out. I can see the Fight Club scene in my mind. Because of two notes in this riff. That’s not nothing.
Slayer - South of Heaven
Be fucking serious dude this is the heaviest shit ever.
Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
Ah, yes. They’re here. They arrived. Maybe thee guitar band of a generation. Riffers so insane they basically invented different guitar tunings for each riff. On one hand, this is real loser shit. On the other hand, the riffs are eternal. Nothing good sounds like this. The biggest negative I can say about this riff is that it is so great that everything that tries to rip it off sounds like a turd. That’s a classic.
What is the Best Riff of 1988?
Not as much depth as some years but about as strong of a crop of finalists as any other year, I’d say. I think we got Danzig, Joy Division, Metallica, Slayer and Sonic Youth this week. As much as I love post-punk, I think picking Joy Division here would be insane even by the sicko standards that I have set here previously. Sonic Youth also have the coolest sounding riff, which goes for something, but they aren’t winning here as they top themselves in weeks to come. Of the three metal bands, I’m tempted to give it to Danzig because Slayer and Metallica have already won for what is, IMO, riffs better than the ones they are represented by here this week. Fuck it, I’m doing it. Congrats, Glenn, you need this W lil guy.
Does it top the previous Best Riff?
Best Riff of 1988: Danzig - Twist of Cain
Best Riff Previous Champion: Slayer - Raining Blood
While I was willing - and I think correct in doing so - to give it to Danzig over a different Slayer song, I’m not saying “Twist of Cain” is a better riff than “Raining Blood” lmao. That would be insane. I really don’t know what is going to top this one.