Best guitar riff of the 21st century?

[Robert]

I saw this today. It's according to Total Guitar.

I must be getting old... or does this make sense to you?


British rockers Muse have taken the title of Best Guitar Riff of the 21st Century for their 2001 hit Plug in Baby.


Top Ten:
1/ Muse - Plug in Baby
2/ Velvet Revolver - Slither
3/ Avenged Sevenfold - Afterlife
4/ Dream Theater - The Dark Eternal Night
5/ Muse - Knights of Cydonia
6/ Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
7/ The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
8/ Machine Head - Halo
9/ The Killers - Mr Brightside
10/ Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and The Harlot


Read more: http://www.live4ever.uk.com/2010/10/muse-track-tops-best-riff-of-last-decade-poll/#ixzz11QUizlcK

[Tig]

There are so great riffs in some of those songs.
Velvet Revolver - Slither is a good choice, IMHO.

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[Robert]

My vote would go to Seven Nation Army. That's koolio.

[Jx2]

I saw Muse several years ago, they opened for RHCP and Foo Fighters at Assembly Hall in Bloomington IN. This was around the time of Californication, on the way to the show we stopped at our favorite music store and picked up a copy of Muse. We didnt even listen to one entire song, just kept hitting the skip button. Seeing them live didnt help our take on them either. At this time, they sounded no better than a decent garage band. We couldnt figure out how they ever got signed. I never listened to them agian nor even remotely attempted to follow up on them. To see them have 2 songs in that list is a total shock. Maybe they got it together I wouldnt know. But Im amazed.

[sunvalleylaw]

My vote would go to Seven Nation Army. That's koolio. I am with you there Robert. :dance

[Kazz]

Given those choices...I would have to pencil in "Other" _________________

[R_of_G]

I saw Muse several years ago, they opened for RHCP and Foo Fighters at Assembly Hall in Bloomington IN. This was around the time of Californication, on the way to the show we stopped at our favorite music store and picked up a copy of Muse. We didnt even listen to one entire song, just kept hitting the skip button. Seeing them live didnt help our take on them either. At this time, they sounded no better than a decent garage band. We couldnt figure out how they ever got signed. I never listened to them agian nor even remotely attempted to follow up on them. To see them have 2 songs in that list is a total shock. Maybe they got it together I wouldnt know. But Im amazed.

To my ears, Muse does little more than ape the sound of early Radiohead.

I'd say I'm surprised not to see the Black Keys on this list anywhere, but these kinds of lists ceased to surprise me a long time ago.

[Eric]

Hmm. That Afterlife song is pretty neat. It's pretty much the only one I didn't know that I liked when I listened to it.

I've seen Plug in Baby on this sort of list before, and I never could figure out why. I don't really like that song, and the "riff" is pretty much just Matt Bellamy ascending a scale. Bo-ring.

The thing about these lists is that they don't even seem to have riffs, really. They're more like little guitar licks that are played in the intro; these songs have hooks, but I'm not sure I'd call them riffs. When I think of riffs, I think of repeating guitar parts a la AC/DC and tons of bands from that era. To R of G's point, one of the few bands I can think of that does that stuff these days is the Black Keys.

FWIW, I think Muse started out as Radiohead clones, but by this point I'd say that they've diverged a bit. They do their own thing, and it's usually jammed full of ideas and way too many arpeggios, but at least it's their sound.

--

So...assuming you disagree with songs on this list, what are some of your favorite riffs?

For me, I think they're regularly scorned, but the Fratellis have some fricking catchy riffs. Chelsea Dagger is one that drills into my head almost immediately.

[R_of_G]

The thing about these lists is that they don't even seem to have riffs, really. They're more like little guitar licks that are played in the intro; these songs have hooks, but I'm not sure I'd call them riffs. When I think of riffs, I think of repeating guitar parts a la AC/DC and tons of bands from that era. To R of G's point, one of the few bands I can think of that does that stuff these days is the Black Keys

Precisely. Too many people seem to use the words riff and lick as if they're interchangeable.

When someone asks me about favorite guitar riffs, my mind almost immediately goes to Led Zeppelin. If there's one thing Page excels at it is generating memorable riffs around which a song can be built. One of the things that appealed to me upon first listening to the Black Keys was that Dan Auerbach approached songwriting in a similar way.

A perfect example, and one of my favorite Black Keys' riffs is the main riff in "I Got Mine."

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It's infectious, grooving, and exceptionally easy and fun to play.:dude

On the subject of Radiohead, the riff that is the bulk of "The National Anthem" is another simple yet infectious riff. It's played on the bass, though if you want to hear a guitarist play the living daylights out of it, check out Vernon Reid's version on his "Other True Self" album.

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[Retro Hound]

I must not understand the word "riff" because many of these don't have what I would call a riff. Not that that makes them bad songs (well, some of them) but I don't hear a "riff" in Slither or Afterlife at all. Now that could just be my ignorance. However, if this list is the best of the 21st Century, then I'd say the last 10 years have sucked big time. Seven Nation Army is the only one that jumped out at me and made me say "I want to learn that riff!"

[aeolian]

I don't see Franz Ferdinand on that list. In my opinion they have written some of the best riffs in the last decade.

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[Retro Hound]

I posted at the same time as R of G. I think perhaps I am thinking of "licks."

[MAXIFUNK]

The Normal list foolishness.