Best riff in a song

[JimK]

Let's give this a go.
List your choice (just nominate one - lists get too long to read).
Just a riff - not a whole solo, chorus, etc. e.g. - "EVH's solo in Eruption" doesn't count.

…if you like "Eruption", give Terry Kath's "Free Form Guitar" piece a turn. It's on Chicago's debut album.

I'll start the thread with Don Felder's crazy pinch-harmonic riff in the Eagle's "Already Gone" (just after the lyric "Heaven knows it wasn't you who set me free").
That's just over the top.

…if you like pinched harmonics, Billy Gibbons is a master ("La Grange", etc).

Riffs?
"Black Dog"
"Cult of Personality"

 

[Tituscrow]

24/7 Spyz...'Granma Dynamite'.

 

[Happynoj]

'Show Me How To Live' by Audioslave. Sick groove.

 

[Tituscrow]

Anthrax 'Medusa'.

 

[Tituscrow]

Sanctuary 'Battle Angels'.

 

[Tituscrow]

Entombed 'To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth'.

 

[fraublugher]

Simple bass lines are the best.

The bass line from the Peter Gunn Theme tops them all. Four notes gets it done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oysMt8iL9UE

It can be played by anything from a 3-piece band to a full orchestra and it still kicks ass. Very, very few musical numbers are that versatile.

Have to give honorable mention to this ELP version

 

[chuck norriss]

Loud Love - Soundgarden

 

[Eric Perry]

The intro to Chevelle's Face to the Floor is great. Couldn't be more simple, but I love it.

 

[Eric Perry]

…"Cult of Personality"

Good call. Great song off a great album.

 

[IncX]

mine definitely has to be led zep's Immigrant Song

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[jcbrown]

Silly Love Songs...McCartney and Wings...

 

[knexfreak32]

Dissidents by thomas dolby, to me this is just freaking awesome. Look it up peeps

 

[FilterFunk]

"Fire" - Ohio Players; the main riff is iconic, but the break riff is even better, starting at 1:41

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKAiMTMqJ_Y

"Superstition" and "Higher Ground" - Stevie Wonder. Killer clav work.

"Pass the Peas" - the JB's. Maybe the coolest horn riff of all time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUkfiLjooxs

And the horn riff from James Brown's "Make It Funky":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKJ5sVbIooc

 

[Tituscrow]

Good call. Great song off a great album.

Indeed, although 'Middleman' shades it for me in the riff department.

 

[icks]

The guitar riff of We Will Rock You - Queen
Absolutely amazing!

 

[nukes_da_bass]

Agreed- Brian May's solo in we will.rock you is one of the most inspiring of all time. And if you count it out, he gets it all done in exactly 18 measures!

 

[Immigrant]

Smooth Criminal


Also... What about great riffs used in inappropriate ways? I just heard a loop of "Shake Hands With Beef" used as a bed under an "entertainment news update" on a local conservative talk radio station. Ugh.

 

[madman4string]

The break down in The Grass Roots Wait a Million Years.

 

[Atshen]

Mississippi Queen