Paste Magazine Greatest Riffs of the new Century

WOOHOO another list to discuss!
Totally agree on 1,2 and 9. Even Kosmette whose not a big White Stripes fan totally digs "Seven Nation Army".
Riff's Are Fundamental

1. â??Seven Nation Armyâ? - The White Stripes

2. â??Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand

3. â??No One Knows" - Queens of the Stone Age Like Jack White, Josh Homme has a nearly bottomless bag of riffs, but this is the one that has reached the greatest level of saturation.

4. â??Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - Jet Largely disposable band; utterly unforgettable riff.

5. â??Float On" - Modest Mouse

6. â??American Idiot" - Green Day

7. â??Talk" - Coldplay The best U2 riff of the 21st century (on par with â??I Will Followâ? and â??Gloriaâ?), strangely, was not written by U2. Actually, it wasnâ??t written by Coldplay either! They borrowed it from Kraftwerkâ??s â??Computer Love.â?

8. â??Last Resort" - Papa Roach

9. â??Hate to Say I Told You So" - the Hives

10. "Circle of Cysquatch" - Mastodon

I think the Hives best riff *was* Main Offender, until Tick Tick Boom came along, which is massive.

Lists like these make me really, really miss Rocket from the Crypt. Nothing on here comes close to On a Rope or Hippy Dippy Do.

Really, they could've helped everyone by just saying that the top ten riffs of this decade are the first nine songs on the Sword's album, plus Main Offender.

Gee Thanks… I now got "On A Rope" stuck in my head. Use to crank up "Scream, Dracula, Scream!" when ever I did my taxes, it mirrored my frustration with the process.

Originally posted by kosmo:


2. â??Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand

A better, catchier riff than "Do You Want To?" Impossible!

It's like Ebola!

Even "The Fallen" has better riff.

Also, I like this keyboard-sounding guitar riff from the movie "Tron."

Brian

Kinda lame that no 'electronic' artists are included for the new century.

Robot Rock - Daft Punk

I won't lie that I'm pretty ignorant to electronic music for the most part, but wouldn't the "Greatest Riffs" indicate that a guitar is needed? And even if an electronic song has a great riff, aren't the odds in favor of that being a sample?

Originally posted by slappy:
Kinda lame that no 'electronic' artists are included for the new century.

Robot Rock - Daft Punk

Originally posted by nkotb:
I won't lie that I'm pretty ignorant to electronic music for the most part, but wouldn't the "Greatest Riffs" indicate that a guitar is needed? And even if an electronic song has a great riff, aren't the odds in favor of that being a sample?

From OED:

riff, n.[superscript 7]

1. A simple musical phrase repeated over and over, often with a strong or syncopated rhythm, and freq. used as background to a solo improvisation. Also attrib. and in Comb.

2. In extended use: a repeated phrase, idea, or situation.

ostinato, adj. and n.

A. adj. Of a melodic or rhythmical figure or phrase: continuously repeated.

B. n. A continuously repeated melodic or rhythmical figure or phrase. Also in extended use. Cf. basso ostinato n. at BASSO adj. and n. Derivatives.

So a riff is really just a form of ostinato, which can be played by anything.

To be fair the intro refers to this being a list of great rock riffs in the tradition of "Smoke on the water" or "Purple Haze". And this is confirmed with the bonus riffsters mentioned like Earthless, Baroness, The Fucking Champs, etc

To me a lot of those are more like chord progressions than riffs. A true 'riff' would be like Gorillaz' Fell Good Inc

Earthless is the fucking JAM. Basically two 20-minute instrumental tracks, with a guitar, bass and drums. But it's EPIC. One hot riff after another. One of my favorites of the year.

Originally posted by Stairmaster E:
To me a lot of those are more like chord progressions than riffs. A true 'riff' would be like Gorillaz' Fell Good Inc

I can see where you are coming from, especially in the case of SNA, as the "riff" in question is actually the bassline of the song and could also be considered more of a hook. one of my favorite tracks of late was how The Dynamics were able to take SNA and turn it in a dubby reagge song.

Originally posted by nkotb:
wouldn't the "Greatest Riffs" indicate that a guitar is needed? And even if an electronic song has a great riff, aren't the odds in favor of that being a sample?

both robot rock and aerodynamic feature real guitars, played by daft punk (specifically guy-manuel). but there is a good reason why these aren't on this list - they're effective but probably not top-10 material. i love'em, but can recognise why someone might look elsewhere.

Well put.

Originally posted by Relaxer:
Earthless is the fucking JAM. Basically two 20-minute instrumental tracks, with a guitar, bass and drums. But it's EPIC. One hot riff after another. One of my favorites of the year.

That list is a joke. How the hell could papa roach crappy nu metal song be on there. And "take me out" is probably the worst song Ive ever heard. And Green Day? hahahahahaha.
Anything by Zakk Wylde or Dragonforce would do.

seven nation army sounds a lot like the cure's 'subway song' to me.

Please… Brian - I am awaiting your words of wisdon with anticipation and excitement.

this list is a fucking joke, and i agree with relaxer about earthless. those guys have more – and better – riffs in five minutes than all of those bands mentioned in the list combined (with the possible exception of queens of the stone age). no high on fire/comets on fire/pearls & brass/boris/witchcraft/the hidden hand?

"Circle of Cysquatch" - Mastodon thats probably the best song on here but this song isnt even the bands best riff. Queens of the stone age are alright too.