12. Money - Pink Floyd (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYN96RWEo28 I love Pink Floyd. Like, to a ridiculous degree. In fact, I've taken the opportunity to
discuss my love for
Pink Floyd on
several occasions before. But this time around, we're focusing more on specific songs and their riffs. And when it comes to Pink Floyd guitar riffs, you can't possibly get much better than 'Money', taken from their landmark 1973 album "The Dark Side of the Moon". The song - in true Pink Floyd fashion - begins in 7/4 time, and at various points switches between that and 4/4 timing, 8/4, and 6/4. If you are a musician of any sort, trust me, you're impressed right now. The bass plays this riff throughout nearly the entire song, occasionally switching to a different pattern, but for the most part letting this swing riff carry the song. Even when the saxophone solo begins (of
course there's a saxophone solo!) the riff keeps going.
11. Walk This Way - Aerosmith (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6HDsPzdHC0 Think back to a time... a long time ago, before Aerosmith recorded the soundtrack for the Michael Bay movie 'Armageddon'. Remember those days? Aerosmith was cool back then. In fact, it was this song that brought them to mainstream attention. It isn't hard to see why, with the incredibly catchy riff that drives the song throughout its entirety. Admit it, even if you hate Aerosmith (and I fully expect to hear from quite a few of you in the comments), you still like this intro. In fact, this song made their career
twice. In the 1970's when it was first released, then it also led to their comeback in the 1980's when they collaborated on a remake of it with hip hop group Run-D.M.C. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk