Greatest Guitar Songs: Bridges and Riffs

In the process of listening to these many songs, and wondering what else was out there, I came across a few videos that got me thinking about the riff:

100 Famous Guitar Riffs in one take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNq94ZaZ0Yk

(see list at http://www.brodiecumming.com/events.html)

100 Riffs: A brief history of Rock and Roll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiC__IjCa2s

(see list at http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/100riffs/)

200 Greatest Rock Guitar Riffs - One Take!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X4rTRA5uxQ

They all have their own approaches. Honestly, the last one is probably a bit show-offy, and he comes up against some technical issues, but also, he is doing something that I totally can't, and it is difficult - I'm not going to look down on him for that.

The history one does go in chronological order, and sometimes you can hear some correlation and evolution. Sometimes it is less obvious, and maybe what you would need is more than 100 and some notes to really make it great, but I like that someone did it that way, and is thinking about the history.

My favorite is the one by Brodie Cumming. I think the sound balances well, and I like listening to it. As a teacher, looking for students, I believe his approach is "Look what this guitar can do." That seems like a reasonable approach.

At the same time, there are really cool riffs that you can learn, but there is this work that goes into playing the whole song, which may not be as cool. I think this is why you get the disagreement on Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" and Boston's "More Than A Feeling". The riffs are better than the rest of the songs.

So with a song like Metallica's "Master Of Puppets", there is this composition that does all of these amazing things, and you know why it makes the list, but I'm not sure I could point out a hook in it.

I have been thinking about this, and if I were to create my own list, what would be on there. I don't believe it is possible to come up with anything definitive. Even in the video with 200 songs being sampled, there are things missing, and that is due partly to the subjectivity of the issue, but also due to the richness of the material available. The historical riffs started in 1953; that's 60 years of music in between.

As impossible as a finite answer is, it is not a useless undertaking because I keep listening to rock. Revisiting things has been fun, and there are two of those things that I wanted to cover today.

One is an observation I made shortly after college. It was that the most obnoxious bands had the best riffs. The specific bands behind that were Green Day, Blink 182, The Offspring, and The Warlock Pinchers, though I thought that the Warlock Pinchers might be The Offspring. My introduction to them was that someone in the dorms played their Morrissey song a lot. I didn't know who was playing it, or what band they were playing, and I didn't want to ask around too much because my roommate liked Morrissey and she did not like the song.

I actually kind of agreed with their sentiments, but I wouldn't state things in that way, and, you know, that was their thing. Once the internet caught up and I did learn more about them, they are not really my type of band, and they are obnoxious on a level that the other three did not even aspire too. Good guitar players though.

(For the others, I believe the key reasons for the thought were "Basket Case", "Dammit", and maybe the Americana album, but it's been a while.)

The other thing I was thinking about is my Best Bridges playlist. I should have picked a different name for it anyway. It started with "Desolation Row" by My Chemical Romance. At points it reminded me of Jimi Hendrix's "Star-Spangled Banner", due to the use of feedback, and it did not remind me at all of the Bob Dylan version of "Desolation Row" despite lyrics, but also, it reminded me a little of "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister, and that took me to "Cum On Feel The Noize" by Quiet Riot and "Run Runaway" by Slade, and those four ended up belonging together for me, except that Spotify did not "Run Runaway", leaving it incomplete.

Are those actually the best bridges out there? Probably not. If I were to truly do that list, it would need "Summertime". "Songs that go together but missing one" is a clumsy title though, so it has stayed. There are some pretty cool things going on in those songs though. There may be recognizable riffs, but it's beyond that. Honestly, "Cum On Feel The Noize" should have made the regular list, between the solo and the accompaniment. It is an excellent guitar song.

So, I said this post is about riffs, and that is kind of true, but it is also moving beyond that into the different parts of songs, and why we choose songs, and maybe this is when we address one more comment that has been bugging me.

One of the comments arguing against the inclusion of "Eruption" by Van Halen was really down on it, calling it something along the lines of a masturbatory ego trip. I see where he's coming from, but I disagree.

Listening to accounts of the impact it had on people who were into music, and got more into music, like Henry Rollins and Jim Abrahamian, and I have to feel like it is more along the lines of "Let's see what this thing can do!" There may be some ego in that, but there is also joy and wonder. There is appreciation of music and love for guitar, and it makes more sense to make that its own thing rather than tack it on to another more basic song.

Therefore, if I am going to call anything a masturbatory ego trip, it will be that guitar solo at the end of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince and the Revolution.