10 Perfect Rock Guitar Riffs
1. Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
When rock was first starting to morph into itself, most of the snot nosed kids with guitars were just trying to imitate what came before them. Compared to what the Beatles were coming up with around the same time, the most that some of the other British Invasion bands could do were just knock off versions of songs that Little Richard and Chuck Berry had already done better before. Then again, it only takes one happy accident to change the course of rock history.
Once the Rolling Stones started to make a name for themselves in the London club scene, Keith Richards came up with the riff to Satisfaction almost in his sleep. Waking up to record this melody he had in his head, Richards originally didn't think that the track would have even worked as a guitar song, thinking that it was more suited to being a horn line.
Going into the studio though, the riff became a totally different beast once the guitars were given a heavy dose of fuzz, sounding so much more menacing than any other band at the time. Whereas the Beatles were the pretty boys singing about wanting to hold your hand, this is what made the Stones the polar antithesis of the Fab Four. This wasn't about love...this was about danger and anarchy, and it was all summed up in just 5 notes.