There are many lists out there for the great guitar riffs, most of which are in the classic or hard rock genres. So, for this list, it is out-and-out indie rock or left-of-the-dial tunes. Indie of course is now more of a vibe than a record label thing, otherwise the Clash and Sex Pistols are out.
The working assumption here is that a guitar riff is a guitar line that powers along the song with rhythm and groove and reoccurs in the song. Outright guitar licks to embellish a song deserve their own list. So here we go in alphabetical order, as I would procrastinate for weeks, even months, on a countdown to number one. Even though it is going to be ‘Seven Nation Army.’
‘12XU’ by Wire. It is just one minute fifty-five seconds of chord-driven guitar with the amp in overdrive. It builds, it fades, and the guitar riff lands it in the climactic chorus each time.
‘Adults and Children’ by the Gordons. A lesser-known outfit from Aotearoa with a monster sonic sound and never bettered than on this fast-skanking shards of glass guitar riff. It rips along, interweaving with the looping bass. Even better, the lyric is the back of a painkiller pack.
‘Alternative Ulster’ by Stiff Little Fingers. As schoolboy metallers they had the guitars down. So when they switched to punk after the Clash dropped into Belfast, they were well ahead of most contemporaries in the six-string arts. No more so than on this song, where a ringing intro’ drops into a churn of punk guitar spite and vocal despairing at the plight of Northern Ireland.
‘Another Girl Another Planet’ by The Only Ones. It just comes straight out of the box at you with a surging hurricane start. Then it is guitar solo after guitar solo. I think it is a riff if a collection of recurring guitar work counts. It comes in at any time the singer pauses. No wonder it is covered live by so many bands (the Replacements et al.), as it must be a joy to play if you have the chops.
‘Bastards of Young’ by The Replacements. An early classic by the Mats, it is buzz-saw rhythm and saw-cutting lead riffing that produces the underpinning to the Westerberg rasp—an ode to the great unwashed.
Beautifully Unconventional by Wolf Alice. Often a twin guitar soundscape band but here the guitar riff bounces off the bass and provides the setting for the vocal.
‘Black Sheets of Rain’ by Bob Mould. It would be hard work keeping this indie guitar master out of this list. On this blazing solo album, he is all moody menace. On this song, it is ice-cutting sheets of guitar that reoccur around the black and bleak outlook of the lyric.
‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ by the Ramones. Honestly, you could throw a dart at their discography and hit a winning, simple, and stupendous riff. This one is as good as any and delivers a fast and furious three-chord race to the song’s end. All delivered from the man with a singular guitar sound and haircut that never changed.
‘The Bottom Line’ Big Audio Dynamite. An extended intro’ based around a post-Clash statement from Mick Jones, which leads into this strong song of new sounds. Underneath the wizardry is Jones supreme with a clean and ringing guitar riff. Post Clash, he was back.
‘Calling On’ by Weta. The little-known but great Aotearoa 90s/2000s guitar band helmed by Aaron Tokona, who shows off a monster guitar riff intro, slows it down, and winds up to lofty peaks before surrendering the song.
‘Cannonball’ by The Breeders. This one has it all, bouncing bass intro, the stringy guitar line and the crunching guitar riff and drums.
‘Colour Me Impressed’ by The Replacements. It is a down-and-dirty sound that backs the snide vocal. The guitars keep turning up. Is it fun to play? Jeff Tweedie and Billie Joe seem to think so.
‘Dark Therapy’ by Echobelly. It is a slow dark song with moody lead and backing vocals. Underneath the guitars are building and each reset come in higher, building to a fiery burn.
‘Debaser’ by the Pixies. The riff starts and propels the song, we have no idea what Francis is singing about, but the guitar riff is awesome, and the chorus is an easy singalong. I had to limit myself to just the one; there are so many more Pixies riffs from the wonderous Joey Santiago.
‘Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely’ by Husker Du. Bob Mould again in his first band. Drummer Grant Hart is on the vocal, so Bob gets to riff and riff with short and punchy contributions that expand out as the best accompaniment to a song of loss and longing.
‘Eighties’ by Killing Joke. Which of the thundering guitar lines from Geordie of Killing Joke to choose? Well, this monster was so big and impressive Nirvana could not resist and later sent Dave out to drum on a later album as penance. It is huge and impressive, and there were many more.
‘Fields of Fire’ by Big Country. This has Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson conjuring up the Highlands and igniting this song with incessant and glorious guitar riffing before playing out high on the fretboard. What is not to like if it invokes pipers in the glen?
‘Follow the Leaders’ by Killing Joke. There might be a dance beat setting the direction, but it is a crunching guitar riff that absolutely powers this angry song into verse and chorus.
‘Gepetto’ by Belly. Starts slow and builds into a light swagger. Drum and guitar pairing well.
‘Into the Valley’ by the Skids. Stuart Adamson is alone in the song that launched his guitar genius to the world. It starts on the bass and then swings into a masterclass of guitar work with effortless switching between backing rhythm and out-front swathes of bombastic guitar punch.
‘Jacket Hangs’ by ‘The Blue Aeroplanes. They love their guitars, and there are usually three of them. On this number, there is an underpinning riff that twists and winds around the vocal. There is a recurring downward piece that branches out to embrace the narrative lyric and builds each time before finally landing the song.
‘Knockin' On Mine’ Paul Westerberg. A classic out-and-out riff played on the Gibson. It was so timeless the studio engineer let it slip to Paul that Keef blasted it out each day as a warm-up to recording his solo album of the time—one master to another.
‘Ladykillers’ by Lush. I had to find a way to include a track from them, tracks are heavy on the vocal narrative but always backed by nifty guitar lines. Here the guitar line is set up early and underpins throughout.
‘Learn to Fly’ by Foo Fighters. How do you fill stadiums with a two then three-guitar rock band steeped in punk ethos? Write some killer riffs that ring aloud.
‘Lester Leaps In’ by The Monochrome Set. So, nifty in riffery, the Set just let Lester rip. No vocal, just Lester Square riffing. Guitar and drum in partnership.
‘London Calling’ by the Clash. The genius of Mick Jones at its zenith. It opens with a chopping guitar riff that moves you into the beat and has echoes and refrains that keep emerging in between a rare harmonic Simonon bassline.
‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by Joy Division. Strictly speaking, Hooky’s melodic harmony bass line provides the riff, with the guitar sprinkling the atmosphere. The bass riff slots in with the keys and supports the vocal; start playing it, and it is sacrilege to stop it. You would not want to.
‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ by the Manic Street Preachers. The audacious coupling of a Marshall Shred Master guitar effect to a Boss Super Chorus pedal, all wired to a Telecaster Thinline guitar, gives an existential lift to a song that just evokes its lyrical detachment, the guitar line bobbing and weaving throughout. That is one pulled from the riff vaults, never to return.
‘The Passenger’ by Iggy Pop. The riff starts and never lets up. It is the classic juxtaposition of a jaunty guitar line behind a miserable lyric. I know little about sideman guitarist Rick Gardener, but here he has his place on the bus, and it's no surprise he came into the Bowie orbit.
‘Pony Boy’ by The Blue Aeroplanes. It sounds fun, it is fun—a guitar tune for the ages. The guitars interweave around the beat with a reoccurring reset to re-calibrate the song throughout, from verse to verse to instrumental interludes.
‘Pretty Vacant’ by the Sex Pistols. Simple, loud, and ringing guitar from Steve Jones. He claims Glen Matlock brought along a weedy tune that he then gave a full-throttle power chord tune-up. It worked.
‘Rain’ by the Cult. The companion Billy Duffy riff has diving, swooping, and soaring guitars. It starts on a high, goes low, then evens out to support the vocal.
“Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes. Is there any more to be said? The thump of drums builds into the first minute until the first snatch of the riff rolls in. It resets and builds again, and the riff becomes more glorious and expressive. The riff vault has been plundered to its deepest recesses for this treasure.
‘Sexuality’ by Billy Bragg. There are so many Johnny Marr choices, but his sparkling and jaunty guitar line perfectly backs the droll Bragg lyric. Oh, and the vocalist is a good dude.
‘She Sells Sanctuary’ by the Cult. The Billy Duffy riff opens with the notes, then stomps into a riff that picks you up, throws you onto the dance floor, and never relents. It chugs, it chews, it spits out its supreme savagery. All the while drawing you in with irresistible force.
‘Shine On’ by The House of Love. Guy Chambers has tried the HoL without Terry Bickers, which is never the same. Bickers brings the guitar magic that transcends Chambers's songs into something else. It sparkles, jangles, and propels the song to the light.
‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ by The Clash. Challenged by Strummer in the studio to stop being electronic and twee and bring in a rocker. Jones overdelivered with a timeless riff that hammers through the lover’s conundrum.
‘Shot by Both Sides’ by Magazine. Astonishing modern guitar sounds from John McGeoch weave in and out of Howard Devoto’s quandary of choosing a side.
‘Song 2’ by Blur. Has drum, bass, vocal, and guitar ever sounded so simple, so sparse, so good? A Graham Coxon jam is let loose from the studio, and the world loves it.
‘Tantalized’ by The Church. Twin guitar attack heaven by Marty Wilson-Piper and Peter Koppes at their finest. This one starts fast and burns with an urgency. The guitars weave a platform of duelling alchemy.
‘That’s Entertainment’ by The Jam. Stripped down to acoustic strum, the riff perfectly accompanies a song of spite and spat-out lyrics of urban gloom.
‘There She Goes’ by The La’s. It is in the indie bucket for when it was conjured up, but it could have been plucked from the 60s—a timeless ringing riff.
‘This Fire’ by Franz Ferdinand. It kindles and ignites into a fiery riff. They had the swagger, the beat, and the guitars that inflame the dance floor.
‘The Unguarded Moment’ by The Church. The guitars open, step back, and keep coming back. The riff refrain is unusual and, once heard, never forgotten.
‘You Must be Prepared to Dream’ by Ian McNabb. Dream he did. Can I play with Crazy Horse? Yes. If the Horse is backing you, you should bring a killer tune. This one surges and smacks with a punch.
‘You’ll Never Get to Me’ by Killing Joke. Can a riff be slow and monumental? With Dave Grohl on drums, Youth on bass, Jaz singing deep, and Geordie doing what he does on amps set to ten, you bet. Can it be orchestrated and sound even more immense with more strings? Yes.
It’d be cool to hear your thoughts and favourites in the comments.