A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: Banjo99uk on July 15, 2014, 07:47:58 PM
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Another silly but bit of fun poll.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3CPpg0bvRvy4kVLtv49MyD6/radio-2-top-100-greatest-guitar-riffs-vote
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LOVE IT! Nice to have them all together.
In my youth I always had a soft spot for Jack & Diane, now I got really impressed and emotional with Beat it, I think I know for sure MK would vote for Apache, and I also think Eddie Cochrane was one cool SOB for sure...
but of course there's no riff I listened more to than Money For Nothing.
The Winner will probably be I Can't Get No Satisfation.. although I think some others would be better choices... so many good ones... cool...
;)
LE
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You know of course that the famous guitar solo on Beat It is from Eddie van Halen but did you also know that Steve Lukather played that intriguing rhythm guitar riff which I love so much on that song and that it was Jeff Pocaro on drums?
LE
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Toto was trendy at that time, the core of the band played on Thriller, Steve Lukather, David Paich,Steve and Jeff Porcaro, even Steve Porcaro wrote a song that Jackson recorded for the record, that was left from Toto records, the song was "Human nature"
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Love the title of this thread! :lol
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Love the title of this thread! :lol
was it a bit biased
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Love the title of this thread! :lol
was it a bit biased
Spot on man. Spot on! :thumbsup
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hmmmmmmmm, I don't wanna fall out with anyone..... ;D
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Truly great list! I would probably go for Back in black, because MFN is not one of my favorites. ;D
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The results are in and MFN got to number 8.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28929167
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quite good :)
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Status quo 7 - Dire Straits 8: Come on! No way! :'(
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Status quo were the kings of boogie rock because they had the double guitar attack riffs. It is more than right to have a song in this list, while DS were not a riff based band, and MFN was probably included due to massive sales as a hit and as a group, and a hats off to the genius fingerwork of MK.
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Yes, but vgonis the riffs of Status Quo are standard rock riffs, whereas MFN-riff is an example of musical finesse. It's an creation, not an imitation. To me finesse counts more! And MFN is certainly a guitar-riff! No, i can't agree with you, sorry...
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No, I don't want you to agree with me. I find that a variety of opinions is much more interesting than saying "Yes, it is", especially if you don't mean it. But I can give it a try to convince you:
http://youtu.be/BbfkiJUiWgg
http://youtu.be/3a2SsdgDnqY
http://youtu.be/Z_mHSGlyRa0
http://youtu.be/iMG1NCQ_oo4
My original point was that Status quo, being a band that was famous for its riff leading songs(and very good ones, I might add-with nearly 30 albums, half of them very well crafted and rocking), should have a place in the list. I know it was a riff song contest and I was happy that DS got a place in it (although I am so bored with MFN), I was just saying in case you haven't delved in the 60ies and 70ies records of Quo. :wave
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Oh, and by the way, I really don't understand why ZZtop are not in the list. I would trade anytime How soon is now (although i love the riff) with any well known ZZtop song from the 70ies. The poll has way too many UK bands(all but 1or 2?-some consider AC/DC a British band and Derek , well...) , which I prefer as well, but still...
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yes ZZTop is a definitively riff band, as well as the Stones.I don't understand why Keith Richard isn't in the list. He is THE riff guitar man
Sweet child of mine and Layla are not really a "riffs" to me, they are more "lead themes" I may say.
I remember that Aapache was in the list, it's not a "riff" to me
to me, typically riffs are :
Hiwgway to hell
Back in Black
smoke on the water
start me up
brown sugar
bitch
jumpin' jack flash
etc..
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I agree with ZZTop and TheStones :D, but i disagree with Status Quo (although i like the very beginning of Down Down). I admit that they are a riff band, but the riffs have alway been very standard to me. It's not very difficult to play them. These are often exactly the riffs you learn when you start with rock guitar. But of course it's always a point of view. I'd have the same problems with Quo like the guys in the Live Aid documentary (starts at 13:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWj0ZjDKqA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWj0ZjDKqA) ;)
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I agree with ZZTop and TheStones :D, but i disagree with Status Quo (although i like the very beginning of Down Down). I admit that they are a riff band, but the riffs have alway been very standard to me. It's not very difficult to play them. These are often exactly the riffs you learn when you start with rock guitar. But of course it's always a point of view. I'd have the same problems with Quo like the guys in the Live Aid documentary (starts at 13:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWj0ZjDKqA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWj0ZjDKqA) ;)
but the contest is not about the riffs being difficult, right?
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Yes, but vgonis the riffs of Status Quo are standard rock riffs, whereas MFN-riff is an example of musical finesse. It's an creation, not an imitation. To me finesse counts more! And MFN is certainly a guitar-riff! No, i can't agree with you, sorry...
MFN is Mark imitating Billy Gibbons guitar sound.
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but the contest is not about the riffs being difficult, right?
Ah, if the contest was to choose the most simple one then status quo is underrated ;)
The point is, that apart from the introduction, it's not a Status Quo Riff. It's a riff played by many rock - guitarists before, so why should go the honour to Status Quo? It's like saying you copied it well.
@ds1984: But it's not a riff that Billy Gibbons played before, right? It's a riff that nobody played before.
I'm not talking about imitating sounds, i'm talking about playing well known old rock patterns. It's ok to do that for the song, but it's simply strange that you reach in a contest with 100 rock riffs the Top 10 with a riff that was played at least a hundred times before, exactly the way they do it. No way, guys, you'll never convince me that the Down Down riff is a better riff than Money for nothing. No,no, thinking about it... that's too funny :lol
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yontwocrows, I can agree with you that they play easy riffs that other bands might have used during their songs as part of a solo, although that is a more of a generalization. But, making a song out of such a riff, and a good one, at least until 1977-78, (by the way rockin all over the world is a cover song by CCR, John Fogerty, so although everybody might have a point at the documentary about them playing the same riff for 20 years, it does not stand with that song). And anyway, I still believe that their first 10 years of albums are more than interesting, they contain original riffs and very nice songs. And I am not even a fan. Their last record I bought was in 1991, (the previous was from the late 70ies) and haven't listened to it in ages.
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Vgonis, i don't want to attack Quo. It's a good Rock band, they have been playing together for years. I've listened to several albums. They did a good job. Still i don't think that any of their songs has a better rock riff than money for nothing.
Anyway, i don't like polls that much, and there were no categories defined what a "good" guitar riff is. So it's not clear wether a good riff is (1.) a riff that is easy to play so that everyone can replay it (2.) a riff that shows musical creativity (3.) a riff that requires high technical skills (4.) a riff that makes people move (5.) a riff that is getting famous and copied by many follow bands (6.) a riff that is immediatly recognisable (7.) a riff that brings nice memories (8.) a hard, soft, romantic and so on riff.
in my opinion a good riff should be created by the artist, should be iconic (recognisable) for the song and should have a wow effect. This Wow-effect i had when i first listened to the Money for Nothing - Riff, i don't have it all when i listen to Down Down. (Whole lotta love, Back in black, Smoke on the water, Layla are good and iconic riffs, very recognisable), Sweet child o#mine is a good riff but imho a little bit overrated. So i don't have a problem that these songs are under the top10. - But Down Down and How soon is now? - Am i the only one that thinks these two are overrated (better than Money for Nothing? in comparison with all the other named riffs) - I can't believe it...
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I like your list of what a good riff can be! ;)
I think that it is all the above and then more.
Down down is not even one of my favorite SQ songs, but if I remember correctly it was atheir very big hit in the UK. So memory of fans and common people might have been "tempered" with . ;D
I love how soon is now, although the riff is a two note riff, because the song is superb and atmospheric. And in my opinion this is an other rule: No matter how good a riff is, the song has to be equally good or better and also a hit to appear in such lists. Ted Nudgent has gret riffs but many of his songs are not up there...
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Vgonis, convincing you costs effort :think
I try it one more time. You're sitting in a taverna beside the sea. You're reading a magazine. There is a poll with only two choices, and the question is
Which song has the better guitar riff?
(a) Down down
(b) Money for nothing
You would really choose (a) ??? Be honest!
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Ha, ha! Sitting in a taverna beside the sea! I wish I had! ;D
Well MFN, it is. But if it was MFN or Brown sugar, well I would think twice! ;)
Anyway, I totally get your point, and although MFN doesn't do it for me anymore, I would vote for it, since it is one of the few DS songs lead by a riff.
Enjoy exchanging emails with you yontwocrows!
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mfn. no doubt about it. as much as i like status quo and down down...
now if the question would be "in the army now" vs. mfn...
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http://youtu.be/KyzgK67qf3I
Pottel, I never cared much for the SQ cover version, I always loved the original. Maybe because I danced to it in the childhood 80ies parties. Silly I know, but we could barely say our name in English back then. Or Greek. ;D
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Oh God! Finally! It's really hard to convince all the Knopfler fans in this forum, that Mark Knopfler is really able to write good riffs and that MFN is not so bad, either. Puh!
I like the conversations with all of you, it's funny and it's also interesting. It's really astonishing what you guys know! I haven't listened to MFN too, it became a skipper. Overplayed it a bit! But nevertheless it's a hell of a riff! And i could never listen to Down Down as often as MFN. Brown sugar is clearly the better riff than Down Down, no protests if it had been under the TOP 10. There are so many more riff-songs that are better than Down Down.
In the army is a good song, one of my favourites of Quo, but riffwise, Hm?
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Shame on me! I thought the original was by Quo... Thanks for teaching me
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It isn't really hard to convince any of us here about DS or MK. It is why we are here anyway! ;) It is just fun to have this kind of conversations, pretending we are objective!
And the duo Bolland and bolland were one hit wonders, although they issued many albums (I have two of them) but what a song! And the record cover was clever!
http://www.discogs.com/Bolland-The-Domino-Theory/master/47370
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I know ;)
But to support the big hits - the mass appealing songs (Brothers and Money for nothing) - you have to be very courageous here.
I like also the temper of the discussions of the MK rockers vs.the MK folkers and the rhythm sections vs the tune section and the Straits fan vs. the Knopfler purists, the lyric fans vs. the music fans. There is always something going on here... 8)
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Most of us have a long relation, since our childhood, with DS and MK. Also, although it is hard to tell, we love both DS and MK solo, but we have a certain orientation as you very well notice. I will admit that the last 20 years I have been listening to so much non DS and MK music, that I should probably not even be here. But old loves die hard! :)
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I know ;)
But to support the big hits - the mass appealing songs (Brothers and Money for nothing) - you have to be very courageous here.
I like also the temper of the discussions of the MK rockers vs.the MK folkers and the rhythm sections vs the tune section and the Straits fan vs. the Knopfler purists, the lyric fans vs. the music fans. There is always something going on here... 8)
You now have me in a very complex situation.
I can't pick a group :smack ;D
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:smack Oh, i've forgotten one pair: The group that feels attracted by everything that MK does vs. those who want him in certain direction.
Everything ok now, Holaknopfler ?
Vgonis, without you this forum would be like Greek without islands...
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I'm able to sleep again now, yontwocrows!
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Vgonis, without you this forum would be like Greek without islands...
You make me blush and I haven't been to any of the islands to get a tan and cover it up! Thank you! :wave