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motorhead's thread got me thinking

Avatar for twentyfive
twentyfiveLiving well and enjoying my retirement

Not about the bands, but songs with great opening riffs, you know the ones that the first few notes make you perk right up cause look what's coming so in no particular order here's a few of mine

Smoke on the Water-Deep Purple

Sweet Home Alabama Lynyrd Skynyrd

A Day in the Life-The Beatles

Brown Sugar-Rolling Stones

Piece of my Heart-Big Brother and the Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin

Give us your favorites, and none of that rap crap

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Avatar for motorhead
motorhead

You pretty much nailed it with Smoke on the water and Sweet Home Alabama

I might add Layla to the list

And Limelight by Rush is a personal favorite

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Avatar for doctorevil
doctorevil

I’ve got quite a few:

Doors, Light My Fire

Cream, White Room

David Bowie, Fame

The Guess Who, American Woman

Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze

Lords of Acid, Pussy

Rolling Stones, Can’t Get No Satisfaction

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Avatar for EastCoaster
EastCoaster

Great thread, and some outstanding choices for memorable opening riffs. Some more that come to mind:

Beatles: Day Tripper

Rolling Stones: Start Me Up

Cream: Sunshine of Your Love

Blue Oyster Cult: Don't Fear the Reaper

Free: All Right Now

Eagles: Life in the Fast Lane

Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years

Sam and Dave: Soul Man

But for sheer numbers in memorable opening riffs, you can hardly beat Creedence Clearwater Revival:

Proud Mary

Fortunate Son

Green River

Down on the Corner

Bad Moon Rising

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Avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive

Another one that gets your motor running

Born to be Wild

and just because Coolitas are a thing

Hotel California

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Avatar for Cashman1234
Cashman1234

The opening riff of Sweet Child O Mine by Guns N Roses is pretty iconic.

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Avatar for skibum609
skibum609

Godzilla - Blue Oyster Cult; You Really Got me - The Kinks; Panic in Detroit - David Bowie; I wanna Be Sedated - Ramones; Wish you were Here - Pink Floyd; Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison; American Woman - The Guess Who; Ripple - The Grateful Dead; Tommy - The Who; Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison; Little Willy - The Sweet; The Boys are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy; Hocus Pocus - Focus. Taking Care of Business - Bachman Turner Overdrive. You keep me Hangin On - Vanilla Fudge.

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Avatar for SirLapdancealot
SirLapdancealot

Thunderstruck & You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

One - Metallica

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

Be All, End All - Anthrax

Sweet Dreams - Eurhythmics

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths

City Baby's Revenge - G.B.H.

Thieves - Ministry

Bust A Move - Young MC

California Love - Dr. Dre & Tupac Shakur

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Avatar for rattdog
rattdog

jane-jefferson starship

l.a. woman-doors

wild nights-van morrison

bark at the moon-ozzy osbourne

junior's farm-wings

cold sweat-thin lizzy

heartbreaker-rolling stones, led zeppelin, pat benatar

rock the casbah-clash

fire it up-black label society

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Avatar for newmark
newmark

Obviously, Sweet Home Alabama is super-recognizable. But Lynyrd Skynyrd had several very memorable opening riffs.Freebird, Gimme Three Steps, Tuesday’s Gone all pop right into my head. A few other bands are the same way. Somebody already pointed out CCR. GnR has several in addition to Sweet Child o’ Mine. Lots of stuff by U2, Rolling Stones, Eagles, Van Halen too. And I’m missing a lot more. I think the point us that memorable riffs and iconic songs seem to be a hallmark of great bands.

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Avatar for wld4tatas
wld4tatas

Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Venus - Shocking Blue

The Width of a Circle - David Bowie

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TheeOSU

Gerry Rafferty, Baker Street

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Avatar for bang69
bang69

Back in Black AC/DC

Dirty deeds AC/DC

Shook me all nite long AC/D

Thunder struck AC/DC

Girls girls girls Motley Crew

Kick start my heart Motley crew

Rattle snake shake Motley vrew

Heart breaker Pat Banatar

Detroit Rock City Kiss

Good vibrations Beach Boys

And so many others I can't think of.

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Avatar for whodey
whodey

A lot of the greats have already been mentioned but here are a few more.

Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses

Straight Outta Compton by NWA

We Will Rock You and We are the Champions by Queen

Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey

What was I thinkin' by Dierks Bentley

9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

Final Countdown by Europe

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Avatar for jaybud999
jaybud999

Funkadelic: Maggot Brain

Black Sabbath: Into the Void

Rage Against the Machine

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Avatar for Warrior15
Warrior15

I like Bang69's list.

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Avatar for Hank Moody
Hank Moody

Barracuda - Heart

Whole Lotta Rosie -AC/DC

Crazy Train - Ozzy

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Avatar for gammanu95
gammanu95

None of that rap crap?

Lose Yourself - Eminem

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Avatar for whodey
whodey

Just heard Hot Blooded by Foreigner come on the radio and decided it had to be included here.

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Avatar for TheeOSU
TheeOSU

Speaking of Foreigner, 'I Want to Know What Love Is' and 'Waiting for a Girl Like You'

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Avatar for loper
loper

More than a feeling by Boston

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Avatar for datinman
datinman

China Grove - Doobie Brothers

Money for Nothing - Dire Straits

Woodstock - CSN&Y

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Avatar for Hank Moody
Hank Moody

Right after I hit submit I thought shit, I should’ve added Lose Yourself, but my bestie wingman Gamma had my back. To add to the rock genre dominating the riffs I’d also add:

Coolio - Gangsta’s Paradise

50 Cent - In Da Club

House of Pain - Jump Around

And a rock song,

Chili Peppers- Under the Bridge

Opening notes on all of those get me hyped

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Avatar for Huntsman
Huntsman

Foreplay/Long time by Boston.

And I know that the Van Halen song Eruption is it’s own song but is even better as a lead in to You Really Got Me.

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Avatar for Hank Moody
Hank Moody

One of the greatest crimes is that Spotify doesn’t allow you to link songs. If your playlist has Eruption, it should always be followed by You Really Got Me. We Will Rock You followed by We Are the Champions. Heartbreaker followed by Living Loving Maid. It should be a law.

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Avatar for rockie
rockie

Ain't Wasting Time No More - The Allman Brothers, Baba O'Riley - The Who, Backstabbers - The O'Jay's, Dancing In The Moonlight - King Harvest, Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf, Lowdown - Boz Scaggs, Money - Pink Floyd, Right Place, Wrong Time - Dr. John, Taking Care of Business - Bachman Turner Overdrive, Taking It To The Streets - The Doobie Brothers, These Eyes - The Guess Who, and Young American - David Bowie.

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Avatar for Muddy
Muddy

ZZ Top's hits are all awesome riffs: Sharp Dressed Man, Got me under pressure, Legs, La Grange, Give me all your lovin

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Avatar for londonguy
londonguy

Some great mentions on here. Nice to see Thin Lizzy get a mention (thanks Skibum). I saw them back in the day in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Easily in the top 5 concerts I have been to, especially as Gary Moore was on lead guitar as well as Scott Gotham.

I’d like to add

Bad Company by Bad Company

Jane by Jefferson Starship

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Avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive

Hey folks I like all the music mentioned, but what I. actually talking about are the opening riffs, play Smoke on the Water, or Sweet Home Alabama, those riffs are not only unique, they are electrifying, not to take away from how great most of what y'all posted is, but aside from maybe The Joker by the Steve Miller Band, or the Jimi Hendrix version of Star Spangled Banner, they don't quite open the same way I/m trying to describe.

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Avatar for misterorange
misterorange

This is tough to choose because there are so many great opening riffs. This list is actually whittled down by about half from what I had. Tried to take out any repeats...

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Ted Nugent - Stranglehold

AC/DC - Givin the Dog a Bone

Volbeat - Doc Holliday

Foghat- Slow Ride

The Cars - My Best Friend's Girl

Edgar Winter - Frankenstein

Megadeth - Tornado of Souls

The Doors - Soul Kitchen

B-52's - Private Idaho

Moorhead- Suicide

Rick James - Superfreak

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

Don Felder - Heavy Metal

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misterorange

Ugh... Motorhead, obviously not Moorhead.

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Avatar for crosscheck
crosscheck

Van Halen - Unchained

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Avatar for Cashman1234
Cashman1234

R Kelly - Thoi Thong

I’m guessing it isn’t getting played much anymore - but it’s a very identifiable start to a song.

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Avatar for ATACdawg
ATACdawg

Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkel

Peace Train - Cat Stevens

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Avatar for rockie
rockie

25: Funny! While I like "Smoke On The Water", the opening riff is unremarkable to me. From where I sit - Sweet Home Alabama and Brown Sugar do resonate! Perhaps that feeling is an individual thing and you've already fulfilled your list.

I do have another opening riff that has always resonated with me, but the song not as much - "Don't Wanna Fight" - Alabama Shakes

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Avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive

^ Ok I can respect that point.

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Avatar for mike710
mike710

Mississippi Queen by Mountain comes to mind along with a lot that have been mentioned here.

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Avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive

^ I’m a fan of that group i especially like their album Nantucket Sleighride

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Avatar for Jascoi
Jascoi

99.9% all good picks!

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Avatar for Mate27
Mate27

“What’s the Frequency” by REM. Really sets the tone at the opening. Wasn’t a big fan of them, but I believe this was their best song with rock and roll characteristics.

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Avatar for skibum609
skibum609

^Damn I agree, my day is ruined. Add in More than a Feeling and I wanna be sedated.

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Avatar for DrStab
DrStab

Gimme Shelter - Stones

Immigrant Song. - Led Xep

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Avatar for skibum609
skibum609

Enter the Sandman - Metallica. Wish you were here. Pink Floyd.

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Avatar for elmer
elmer

+1 for Give me Shelter

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Avatar for Hank Moody
Hank Moody

Kinda roundabout way to get here but Howard Stern was interviewing Lizzo and they were talking about the flute (she went to college on a flute scholarship). Anyway they talked about Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull. Iconic opening riff:

Aqualung

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Avatar for azdd
azdd

Great thread! I was scrolling through and saw a lot of favorites, and Mike710 finally mentioned Mississippi Queen by the amazing Leslie West and Mountain. My contribution is Stay With Me by Faces. Rod Stewart’s best era IMHO.

Finally - wld4tatas - Venus by Shocking Blue??? Are you kidding me? You are really dating yourself with that one bud!

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Avatar for gammanu95
gammanu95

I'll comment where i want

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