Top 10 Guitar Riffs Which Altered Rock For Eternity

Come on, it’s a killer riff that separates rock gods from roadies. You’ve heard it once and you’re air-guitaring down the highway in your car like it’s 1985 and your mullet still grew itself. These riffs weren’t songs, they were revolutions and they rewrote your DNA.

Here is the list of the 10 most iconic guitar riffs that rocked the world and remade it.

10. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana

Yeah, it’s grunge, but this riff hit like a sledgehammer in the early ‘90s and put hair metal in a chokehold. Four chords, distortion cranked and suddenly everyone in your neighborhood owned a flannel.

9. “Day Tripper” – The Beatles

Before the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus,” they released this snarky, bluesy riff that’s been teaching newbies how to groove ever since. Proof that less can actually be more cool as hell.

8. “Iron Man” – Black Sabbath

It’s heavy, it’s slow, and it sounds like a robot stomping through a field of combat. This Tony Iommi riff single-handedly made metal, and scared the crap out of your mom in the bargain.

7. “Sunshine of Your Love” – Cream

This one came in like a velvet hammer. Eric Clapton sexualized the blues. All that has ever played this, badly, in every dive bar rock guitarist, but that’s only testament to its power.

6. “Sweet Child o’ Mine” – Guns N’ Roses

Slash caused his guitar to weep, warble and swagger simultaneously. That intro riff? It prompted you to take up a Les Paul whether you could play a damn chord or not.

5. “Back in Black” – AC/DC

One riff. Unlimited power. Angus Young doesn’t play frilly, he plays loud. This riff charges in like it’s taking over and leaves shattering beer bottles on the counter.

4. “Enter Sandman” – Metallica

The riff that made moms in America nervous. Chuggy, heavy and instantly iconic, it branded the ’90s with steel-toe boots and no regrets.

3. “Whole Lotta Love” – Led Zeppelin

Jimmy Page didn’t just play this riff, he used it. This giant groove launched Zeppelin’s dynasty and gave every teenage guitarist something to ruin for years to come.

2. “Smoke on the Water” – Deep Purple

That riff everybody knows, despite having never picked up a guitar. It’s the de facto anthem of every record store. Try playing it without someone shouting “No Stairway!”

1. “Satisfaction” – The Rolling Stones

Three notes. Total world domination. Keith Richards dozed off and composed it inadvertently and it still rocks harder than the entire discography of most bands. This riff is rock ‘n’ roll.

A good riff doesn’t need flash. It merely has to hit you in the chest and stay in your head for eternity. These ten did exactly that and the world’s been louder, grittier and greater ever since.