12 Best Ever Hard Rock Riffs

Towards the end of the 80's, the entire idea of the guitar riff seemed to have lost its luster. With more hair metal bands getting created by the hour, most of the crunchy guitar riffs tended to take a back seat to the more polished looks and glamorous fashion statements.

Just when it seemed that it was time to move on, "Welcome to the Jungle" made its way onto the airwaves and woke up the entire rock scene. At a time when everything was about glam-tastic power ballads, Slash emerged as the next genuine rock guitarist with a riff that felt like it came crawling out of the gutter. The actual tune seems to be just a typical power chord exercise, but the actual presentation makes it feel so much more important. The way that Slash played felt like he had taken all the best elements of greats like Joe Perry, Jimmy Page, and Keith Richards and meshed them all together to create one of the best rock songs ever made.

At a time when rock was starting to look and sound stale, "Welcome to the Jungle" was Guns N Roses stripping rock and roll back down to its badass roots. After years of glam metal slosh, things were now going to be much different going forward.