20 Greatest Guitar Riffs Of All Time

9. Blitzkreig Bop - The Ramones (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K56soYl0U1w The 1970's gave way to the music scene being dominated by increasingly complex music that was performed along with massive and elaborate stage shows. Longing for the early era of Rock 'n' Roll, when you could just play simple songs with three chords, three friends gathered to form a band with no objective other than to play the music they loved - simple and to the point - but play it incredibly loud and fast. Their names: John Cummings, Douglas Colvin, and Jeffry Hyman. Later to become known to the world as The Ramones. Their debut album, 'Ramones', was released in 1976, and it began with the song Blitzkrieg Bop. It thundered forth with a fast, hard and simple three-chord riff. And thus, Punk Rock was born, and the mainstream was forever changed.

8. Beat It - Michael Jackson (1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B2wtC91_0U Who would've though that Michael Jackson would have a widely known and appreciated hard rock riff in one of his songs? However, he did. It began when he was wanting to write a rock song, the type of song he would go out and buy. So he brought in an all-star cast of rock musicians to fill out a song he had about life on the street. These included - Jeff and Steve Porcaro playing drums and synthesizer respectively; Paul Jackson Jr. on guitar; and even Eddie Van Halen. However, contrary to popular belief, the iconic riff at the beginning was not Eddie Van Halen's playing (he played the solo). The riff at the start was Steve Lukather, best known as the lead guitarist of Toto. The opening of the song became instantly famous and helped propel sales of the single, which in turn helped sales of his album 'Thriller', which went on to be the best selling album of all time, a label it still holds to this day.