It figures that Mitch's list starts off with a song that has a bagpipe solo...

"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. I used to stand around doing that air guitar/vocalized riff thing long before Beavis & Butthead ever came up with it.

"Man On the Silver Mountain" by Rainbow. "Smoke..." might be Ritchie Blackmore's best known, but not his best. I could go on for hours discussing great Blackmore riffs.

"Frankenstein" by the Edgar Winter Group. Beavis & Butthead did this one, too. Gave me a whole new appreciation for it.

Too many great riffs to mention, but that's a start.

"Metallica, Fuel..."

No complaints here, but then again I'm the guy who likes the melodic side of Fear Factory...

Ahh, "Frankenstein." The nerd meter is going to hit the peg now, but that is one of the few hard(ish) rock songs that worked well as a marching/pep band song.

Jethro Tull-Locomotive Breath

I can't believe nobody's mentioned 'Satisfaction' yet.

Or the Animals' version of 'House of the Rising Sun.'

Famous ones that non-musicians would recognize
Zep - Black Dog, Dazed and Confused - oh heck just about everything.
Metallica - Enter Sandman, and the big double kick drum deal in One (it may be one note but it is effective)
Pearl Jam - Alive
Ozzy - Crazy Train
Stone Temple Pilots - Plush - I'm not a fan but its memorable
Neil Young - Rockin' in the Free World

Less know but killer riffs:
Alice in Chains - It Ain't Like That
Soundgarden - Slaves and Bulldozers - crazy dissonance and tension

Oops - all those grunge bands and I forgot Smells Like Teen Spirit! You may know the band

John Hiatt, Perfectly Good Guitar, title song off the album.

Riff tunes...
- Ozzy - Suicide Solution (yeah, I know, listed yesterday but a snazzy riff, it is.)
- Robert Palmer's "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" riff, played by the slick Eddie Martinez on guitar.
- Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" riff, again, played by Eddie Martinez (yep, I'm a pop fan.)
- "Walk" by Pantera.
- "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince
- "What I Am" by Eddie Brickell & the New Bohemians
- "Run Runaway" by Slade
- "The Zoo" by the Scorpions

Holy bats#%t!! AC/DC has to be on the top here. As much as I like to be all snobbish with my indie rock, AC/DC takes the cake for over-the-top riffs.

1- Back in Black
2- TNT
3- Highway to Hell
4- You are 100% right about "It's a long way to the top"...have you seen "School of Rock"?

Non AC/DC songs:

1- "The Hook", by Stephen Malkmus (for those of you who don't know who SM is, you need to pick up his latest album "Face the Truth". He is the modern day Tom Verlaine.
2- The little guitar turnaround after the chorus in "Here Comes the Sun", by the Beatles (Day Tripper is their 2nd best)
3- "Maybellene", by Chuck Berry
4- "Tumbling Dice", by the Rolling Stones (don't kid yourself about Satisfaction; this is the best part Keith Richards ever played.)
5- "Minor Threat", by Minor Threat
6- "Anarchy in the UK", by the Sex Pistols
7- "I Fought the Law", as done by the Clash
8- The entire Joshua Tree album

Oh, one more. There is a band from Canada called "Neutral Milk Hotel". They have a song called "King of Carrot Flowers". This song has the single greatest acoustic opening riff in rock history.

I'll put in a good word for ELO's "Fire On High" or, for you bagpipe fans, pretty much anything by Big Country.

Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum.

To hear http://www.spiritinthesky.com/

Or pretty much anything by the Screaming Blue Messiahs or the Reverend Horton Heat

B-52s Rock Lobster

Or a tune from Wild Cherry known as "Play that Funky Music".

From the Greatest Rock Guitarist of them all, Pete Townshend:
1)I Can't Explain
2)Pinball Wizard
3)Summertime Blues
4)My Generation
5)Substitute

Doors-LA woman

go ahead and bash Mitch----
Kansas-Carry On My Wayward Son (not even close to my favorite Kansas song but...we'll discuss Kansas over beers next reunion!!!)

Anything off Moving Pictures--Rush (you knew I would have to go there!) Again, not my personal favorite Rush Album, but trying to keep up with the mainstream!

The Who--Where to begin...?...Pinball Wizard, Baba O'Reilly, Who Are You, Won't Get Fooled Again, Behind Blue Eyes, Magic Bus, etc, etc, etc

Just about anything by Dire Straits (didn't want to beat the 'Sultans' Dead Horse, but...)

Must...Get...back...to...work!

Any great riffs list should only includes tunes that you can actually sing the rhythm part, and makes the track instantky recognizable. Here is my list:

Lots of AC/DC. Angus may get the glory and the signature guitars, but Malcolm is the one who drives that band.

Led Zeppelin too. The first album is loaded with 'em.

"Peter Gunn" - any version. Best riff ever written.

"Satisfaction" - Rolling Stones. "Tumbling Dice" may have been better playing, but not a better riff.

"You Really Got Me" - The Kinks or Van Halen. Best two-chord riff ever written.

"All Day and All of the Night" - The Kinks. They were riff gods back then.

"Cold Shot" - Stevie Ray Vaughn. The SRV Vamp is so good it makes the solo from the track take second place.

"Enter the Sandman" - Metallica. Something about that band rubs me the wrong way, but I do like that tune.

"Rhiannon" - Fleetwood Mac. Might be Linsey Buckinham's best moment.

"Maybelline" - Chuck Berry. The best part is watching him duckwalk while playing it.

"The Joker" - Steve Miller Band. Except for the wolf whistles, there's no electric guitars on this song.

"Can't Get There From Here" - R.E.M. Peter Buck is a ace rhythm player.

"Party Out Of Bounds" - B-52s. Like all good four-chord riffs, simple but rocking.

"Rebel Rebel" - David Bowie. Another great instantly recognizable riff.

"Double Life" - The Cars. I could drop everything else in the track and just listen to that dampened riff for hours.

"Smokin" - Boston. Classic.

"King of Hollywood" - The Eagles. I still get charged over this one.

That's enough.

Come on Tumbling Dice was the bomb-diggity. Right at the beginning...come on, hum it now...dah da da da da da da da da...

Plus, the tumbling riff in the corus...

Satisfaction was just a guitar as horn section.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more support for Brown Sugar or Street Fighting Man.

Paul:

You are 100% on with Rebel Rebel. That is the greatest "sloppy" riff ever done. There is a really slick version of it in the movie The Aquatic Life.

Wrong. All wrong. There is only one:

"My Girl," The Temptations, MOTOWN

Eracus,

Whoah. Dude. "Soul Man", Sam 'n Dave.

STAX/VOLT!

Ah, yes. And Otis, sittin' on the dock. Sublime. Whether it was the Funk Brothers in Detroit or the Mar-Keys in Memphis, it was hit after hit after hit, riff after riff. The best stuff ever.

Everything since is just imitation.

Don't forget about the White Stripe's "Seven Nation Army"

bum, ba, bum, bum, bum, bum...bum!!

You never hear it on the radio now and your a geek to mention the band since they became POWERBALLAD but Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" is instantly recognizable and for 1969-70 very powerful and innovative..

Here's a few that haven't been mentioned yet:

"Do Ya" - E.L.O.
"Don't Fear the Reaper" - Blue Oyster Cult (more cowbell!)
"Here Comes Your Man" - The Pixies
"21st Century Schizoid Man" - King Crimson
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" - Yes (or "Tempus Fugit")
"Pretty Persuasion" - R.E.M.
"Boys Don't Cry" - The Cure
"Dancing With Myself" - Billy Idol / Generation X
"Oh! Pretty Woman" - Roy Orbison
"Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison
"Ziggy Stardust" - David Bowie
"I Will Follow" - U2
"The Ocean" - Led Zeppelin
"Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" - The Clash
"Cult of Personality" - Living Colour

And a riff/chord progression that MUST be good, because three different bands all used it within a year or two of each other:

"Need Your Lovin' Tonight" - Queen
"Since You Been Gone" - Rainbow
"Arizona" - The Scorpions

I think Rainbow was first, but that Queen album came out at almost the same time.

Oh! Almost forgot:

"Hey Hey, My My (Out of the Blue)" - Neil Young

(speaking of tone, you gotta love those overdriven Fender Bassman amps - crunchy!)

Sponge: It's just a difference in opinion between "Tumbling Dice" and "Satisfaction." Both are great riffs, but "Satisfaction" is universally recognized. You and I can sing "Tumbling Dice" (and probably every commenter on this thread) but not just anyone, which is why I didn't give it the nod.

I did forget one other great riff: "Loser" - Beck. Best slide riff not buried on a Ry Cooder album.

golly, dare i mention

iron butterfly "in-a-gadda-da-vida",
cream - "sunshine of your love",
derek and the dominoes - "layla",
eric clapton - "cocaine"
jimi hendrix - "purple haze"
buffalo springfield (neil young) - "hello mr soul"
ride - "vapour trail"
ten years after - "choo choo mama"
t-rex - "bang a gong"

Paul...I know, I know. Satisfaction ispretty cool. I'm just a big open G fan and Tumbling Dice is the best there is in open G. Loser is a nice call. As much as I didn't like the last Beck album, E-Pro also had a killer riff.

I've always been sucker for the opening guitar from "Journey to the Center of Your Mind" by the Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent) and the opener from the Moody Blues "The Story in Your Eyes." (sorry Mitch)

Now you need to go with best guitar album of all time. Here are my top 5

1- Marquee Moon, Television
2- Great 28, Chuck Berry
3- Joshua Tree, U2
4- Exile on Main Street, Rolling Stones
5- High Voltage, by AC/DC

I can't believe nobody listed the riff to the opening of "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith. That has Got to be one of the best riffs in history.

And how about "You Say Its Your Birthday" by the Beatles?

Sponge: I love open tunings also; and you're absolutely right, "Tumbling Dice" is a great Open-G riff.

I best like open tunings in a blues context; those early bluesmen could make open tunings scream without a Marshall stack pumping wattage into the sound.

Best Guitar Albums? I'll have to think about that one because they are so many nominees. I agree with the ones you named, all of them are dynamite. Maybe not in that order or in the top 5...

Like I said, I'll have to think about it.

Of course if we are talking about non-rock guitar albums, Tony Rice's Manzanita is without peer.

I don't know what a riff is and didn't understand the explanation.

But if you're talking about songs with instantly recognizable guitar openings:

Layla (Derick and the Dominos)
Pinball Wizard (The Who)
Birdland (I like the Weather Report version)
La Grange (ZZ Top)
MTV (Dire Straits)
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)

.

Sweet Home Alabama -- L.S.