Songs built on ONE riff or chord?

[Flatwound]

I can think of a few right now - Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine by James Brown, Stranglehold by Ted Nugent, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Wang Dang Doodle (I'm liking the Savoy Brown version)...

Can you think of others?

 

[foq1978]

My favourites (all bass riffs, mind you):

Early To Bed, by Morphine

French Fries w/ Pepper, by Morphine

Stagger Lee - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

 

[Flabass]

With or Without You -U2

 

[Alkali Ike]

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Run Through The Jungle

EDIT: I think Invalid Link Removed also qualifies.

 

[nysbob]

Leave Me Alone - Lou Reed

 

[Tom_RCJ]

Chain of Fools is pretty much just the one chord with a few breaks.

Born on the Bayou by CCR is sorta/kinda just the one chord, depending on how you choose to play it.

Johnny Lee Hooker played a whole slew of songs on one chord.

 

[Marty Forrer]

Stir It Up.

 

[bendy]

Every song on Talking Heads' "Remain in Light"

 

[Baer]

John Mellencamp's "Authority Song". For the bass player it's just two variations on the same phrase.

 

[Flatwound]

Cool. Working my way through the list. I really like a lot of what I think of as "trance" music, even though it may not fit the modern "trance" genre. Songs like In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Stranglehold, With or Without You, and others with driving bass riffs that, because of the repetition, I find relaxing. We actually did a trance-ish version of Born on the Bayou in the band I was in for the last five years. We played Authority Song, too, but that's pretty bouncy. I had forgotten about that one.

I'm also a fan of tabla and sitar, and Indian classical music. I like Tabla Beat Science (hey, Bill Laswell plays with them!) as well.

 

[Twobass]

One Thing Leads to Another- The Fixx

 

[Duckwater]

Lots of Funk & Jazz-Fusion is just E minor, sometime they go modal with it though.

 

[Curmei]

God Machine's Desert Song:

 

[agreatheight]

Talkin' Bout A Revolution - Tracy Chapman.

1 progression of 4 chords. All about the vocal melodies and the dynamics. Good stuff.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[john_g]

Every AC-DC Song lol Just kidding

 

[Deathblade Eric]

Rory Gallagher - Seems To Me

 

[mccartneyman]

American Woman

 

[lowendfriend]

Junior Walker and the All-Stars, Shake and Finger pop...

Tons of Mles Davis modal jazz...

Stevie Ray Vaughan's only popular charting hit: Crossfire

 

[ANEVILSPAR7AN]

I'm Broken by Pantera.

 

[leegreenman]

Tomorrow Never Knows-The Beatles