12 Greatest Hard Rock Riffs Of The 1990s

Change was definitely in the air once the '90s kicked into high gear. After the stench of hair metal became too much to bear and arena rock started to wear out its welcome, bands started to blow up that later become known as alternative rock. Though they may fall under a different label nowadays, these riffs packed one hell of a punch.

As opposed to the more traditional songwriting mentality of decades prior, many of these songs live and die on the strength of these little musical fragments, some of which are still engrained in our head to this day.

While most of the offerings came from the city of Seattle and beyond, some of the outliers of the day ended up scoring some pretty intense guitar work as well, from the sounds of pop punk to the beginnings of nu metal starting to rear their head.

Regardless of which genre they came from, these riffs helped inspire the next generation of musicians to pick up guitars of their own and try to work out the amazing music they were hearing.

Whether they be the evergreen riffs that people still can't get enough of or the undiscovered gems from the era of flannel, these riffs have withstood the test of time as some of the greatest musical pieces in rock history.

In the grand scheme of things, Slipknot never get nearly enough credit for their guitar work. Aside from the occasional sick lead break from Mick Thomson, no one would blame you for bypassing the guitar work just to watch a couple of maniacs produce absolute chaos on a stage. The focus may be on the collective, but "Wait and Bleed" does have some of the sickest guitar work of the band's early years.

From the moment the song starts, the guitars gear you up for something intense coming, but once the verses show up and Corey rides the riff with his melodic shouting, all bets are off as you are thrown directly into the pit without so much as a safety net. It would have been enough for any metal fan to go through that and survive, but things take an even sharper turn after the second chorus.

As Taylor dials it back, Jim Root's riff going into the breakdown sneaks up on you, almost like its bringing everything down a notch before igniting the metal explosion for one more go around.

There have been plenty of jokes made about the nu metal scene, but in the case of "Wait and Bleed," Slipknot have earned tons of praise and probably deserve even more for it.