Total Guitar and the online version of Guitar World embarked on a difficult task to discover the best riff of all time, and the result was somewhat expected.
A popular vote has chosen the riff from Led Zeppelin as the best of all time, beating out the historic riffs of Randy Rhoads in "Crazy Train" and Malcolm Young in "Back in Black," which came in second and third place respectively.
“In 1969, the year Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, Jimmy Page took his own giant leap for mankind. The guitar part of 'Whole Lotta Love' took only 2.7 seconds to play, but it immediately propelled the song into the next decade,” wrote Total Guitar in the article.
The journalist also says that although it wasn't the first great riff in history, it was the one that "defined everything." He wrote: "It's the reason why riffs have become central to guitar music, the reason why bands look for the guitar melody that can propel an entire song—or perhaps even an entire career."
It was no surprise that Jimmy Page won the vote, as he created or even inspired many great rock songs and riffs. Page is definitely one of the biggest names in history. Relive the riff below and see the complete list of the top 10 riffs.
- Led Zeppelin – “Whole Lotta Love”
- Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”
- AC/DC – “Back in Black”
- Deep Purple – “Smoke on the Water”
- Van Halen – “Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love”
- Metallica – “Enter Sandman”
- Black Sabbath – “Iron Man”
- Panther – “Walk”
- ZZ Top – “La Grange”
- Jimi Hendrix – “Purple Haze”
