20 Best Classic Rock Guitar Riffs Of All Time
5. Iron Man - Black Sabbath
There's no chance someone can talk about classic rock riffs and not bring up Tony Iommi. The man is a riff machine who has made some of the most demented guitar parts the rock world has ever known. Where many would single out tracks like "Paranoid" or "Black Sabbath," "Iron Man" is an instance of Iommi teaching a masterclass on how to write a good guitar hook.
Even without proper notes, the tone bending intro could be a fantastic riff unto itself, but the track doesn't truly take off until Iommi starts with his thunderous power chord sequence. When asked about composing the riff, Iommi said that he wanted to write something that had the same effect of seeing a monster creeping up behind you. The riff certainly lives up that title, with the entire song feeling like a slow dirge from a giant looking to stomp out everything in his path.
The other members seemed to think it was a great riff too, with Ozzy Osbourne's vocal melody being just the guitar riff with words added to it. There have been guitarists cut from the cloth of Tony Iommi, but none have ever succeeded him when it came to writing bone-chilling guitar pieces.