12 Best Ever Hard Rock Riffs

Metallica seemed to be at a breaking point at the end of the 80's. While the band had weathered a terrible tragedy with the loss of bassist Cliff Burton, the band were slowly starting to write music that was more complicated than they intended on And Justice For All. Going into the studio with Bob Rock for the Black Album, the goal was to write simple songs compared to the more adventurous tunes of their early period.

While James Hetfield is known as the riff master in Metallica's ranks, the riff that brought the band to mainstream attention actually came from Kirk Hammett. After staying up all night, Hammett was determined to a riff that would put all other heavy riffs to shame. Once Hetfield and Ulrich flipped it around, the band had "Enter Sandman," whose presence seemed to be far removed from their earlier output.

Everyone was excited about each of the songs on the record, but Ulrich was convinced that "Sandman" was the song that could really break the band. Metallica may be known for putting many great riffs in their songs, but "Enter Sandman" is one of the band's only tracks that's based around one riff. It may seem a bit redundant, but there are no complaints when the riff is this badass.