Okay, so I'm not asking what the best songs of all time are, just the best riffs. It has to be a repeating guitar part, no solos! A few of my faves are...

Pantera - A New Level

Slayer - Angel Of Death (the bit after the chorus where the new guitar riff comes in)

Radiohead - Lucky (the bit after the second chorus)

Anthrax - I Am The Law

Metallica - Fight Fire With Fire

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

Nirvana - In Bloom

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I am all the days that you choose to ignore.

Of the top of my head, some favorites are:

King's X - The World Around Me (main riff...and riffs from about 100 other songs by them)
maudlin of the Well - Riseth He, the Numberless 2 (starting around 2:00)
Opeth - The Funeral Portrait (at about 1:15)
AIC - Them Bones (main/opening riff)
Type O Negative - Gravitational Constant (starting around 6:17)
Soundgarden - Birth Ritual (main riff)
Rush - Red Barchetta (at about 2:30-3:00)

But the award for best riff of all time still indisputably goes to:
Metallica - The Frayed Ends of Sanity (at the 4:00 mark)

I've heard many tunes in my days, but there's still no riff that's quite as great as that one. 

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No point in me being original.

 

Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' ‘Bout Love

The Beatles - Day Tripper

The Kinks - You Really Got Me

Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water

Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing

Guns ‘N Roses - Sweet Child ‘O Mine

Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida

ZZ Top - La Grange

Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run

The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica

Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker

Kingsmen - Louie, Louie

Pantera - Walk

Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin'

Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son

Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

Joe Satriani - Circles

Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World

Leadbelly - Midnight Special

Pearl Jam - Alive

..............................The Typical classics

 

Personal Favorites:

 

Motorhead - Stone Dead Forever (Not the guitar, the bass)

Mother Love Bone - This is Shangri-la

Believer - Shadow of Death

Alice in Chains - It Ain't Like That

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Testify

INXS - Need You Tonight

Undertones - Teenage Kicks

The Pretenders - Tattooed Love Boys

Eric Clapton - Lay Down Sally

Budgie - Breadfan

Pearl Jam - Do The Evolution/Unemployable

Type O Negative - Christian Woman (00:07:17 - End)

Slayer - The Antichrist

King's X - Black Flag

Iron Maiden - Aces High (Bass and Guitar)

Dio - Stand Up and Shout

CCR - Run Through The Jungle

Blue Oyster Cult - Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll

 

........I could go on but, I'm not.

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Rifugium ®
“Pitying your absence of musical eclecticism since 1981”

"Sittin' here resting my bones, and this loneliness won't leave me alone"

I liked the INXS - Dun Dun Dun...DuhnananaDuhnanaDun

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I am all the days that you choose to ignore.

AIC- Get Born Again

 

What about these?

AC/DC - Back in Black

GNR - Sweet Child O' Mine  and  Paradise City (love both)

Ozzy - Crazy Train

Led Zep - Black Dog

VH - Running With The Devil

SRV - Pride and Joy

Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden - one of the most brilliantly simple guitar riffs of all time. LOVE IT!! 

AIC - It Ain't Like That

AIC - MITB

AIC - Rain When I Die
 

 

 

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"We play so fine, don't you agree?" ~ Layne Staley

"We want to celebrate what we did and the memory of our friend." ~ Jerry Cantrell

Crikey, you all know your music

Taking it on a guitarist by guitarist thing, i would say that Tony Iommi is the riff king. Virtually all early sabbath songs have killer riffs. bands like Budgie and Hawkwind did a sterling job as well, and early Alice Cooper.

More up to date wise i'd say that Jerry is the modern master

In my humble opinion i'd say that too much metal/rock guitar playing these days is soloing, and they forget the structure for the song, i.e. bass, drums, and a good fuckin' riff.

I'd rather listen to grunger/stoner stuff all day than have to endure one 'widdly widdly' Dragonforce, Trivium style song!!!!!

 

 

Soundgarden-The Day I Tried To Live

Soundgarden-Flower

 Kim Thayil deserves respect.

Chris Cornell wrote many of the great riffs for Soundgarden. Flower is Kim's but the music for The Day I Tried To Live, Black Hole Sun, Fell on Black Days and Spoonman (amongst others) is by Chris according to the credits  

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I am all the days that you choose to ignore.

Yeah Sabbath can't be overlooked, since they pretty much invented the metal riff. My favorite = Sabbath Bloody Sabbath @ ~3:15.

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evilgenius:

Okay, so I'm not asking what the best songs of all time are, just the best riffs. It has to be a repeating guitar part, no solos! A few of my faves are...

Pantera - A New Level

Slayer - Angel Of Death (the bit after the chorus where the new guitar riff comes in)

Radiohead - Lucky (the bit after the second chorus)

Anthrax - I Am The Law

Metallica - Fight Fire With Fire

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

Nirvana - In Bloom

How Soon is Now?!?!?! 

I love it!!!  That song is in my head almost daily!

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Hip ROCKS!

Standing in the shower...thinking-Jane's Addiction

Tripping on a hole in a paper heart-STP

 

Ooh, forgot one.

Cream - Crossroads

Killer riff (10/10) 

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Rifugium ®
“Pitying your absence of musical eclecticism since 1981”

"Sittin' here resting my bones, and this loneliness won't leave me alone"

Here, I'll get another obvious one-

Nazareth- Hair of the Dog

Then, though I love that song, here are my more original ones-

Cantrell- Psychotic Break

Mudhoney- If I Think (verse riff, especially right before the chorus)

Scorpions- 321 (the intro and everywhere else it's repeated)

Queensryche- Breaking the Silence (intro)

White Stripes- Hardest Button to Button (the verse riff, it's simple as hell, but those repetitive 4 notes are killer)

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HiP QWNS

Smells like teen spirit - Nirvana

Smoke on the water - Deep Purple

Angry Chair - Alice in Chains

Cut you in - Jerry Cantrell

Paranoid - Black Sabbath

Walk this way - Aerosmith

Man in the box - Alice in Chains

Give it away - Red Hot Chili Peppers

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What does friend mean to you? a word so wrongfully abused