Where Have All the Timeless Riffs Gone?

Do bands write timeless riffs anymore? You know, riffs like "Smoke On the Water," "Balls to the Walls," "Back in Black," "Eye of the Tiger," "No Remorse," "Whole Lotta Love," "Runnin' with the Devil," stuff like that. Hell, Van Halen and Zeppelin have a ton of them, those iconic, simple riffs that still kick ass decades later.

I just don't often hear that sort of thing anymore with newer bands. Not all of them, of course. I think Daron from System of a Down understands how to perfectly craft a simple yet catchy-as-hell riff like those classics. But where are all the others?

And I'm not talking about memorable stuff, good, solid riffs, you know. I'm talking about those riffs that'll have people pumped up decades from now the moment they hear it. Do bands make those anymore?

Or have I entered the Get Off My Lawn! stage of life? Haha.

They are still there.

You know who I think writes great riffs? Rage Against The Machine. OK, not a "newer band" but newer than most of the examples you gave. I'm still trying to think of a more recent band that writes classic riffs but I think you might be on to something. Memorable? yeah lots of memorable stuff out there but classic? I'm drawing a blank.

I think there are plenty of great riffs in new music, but they tend to blend in too much because everybody sounds the same these days. Not the same style, but the sound of a heavy guitar is too uniform. It's less memorable when there are 2,000 similar sounding releases each year.

It's the recording, the tools, the amps and the production that lacks uniqueness and soul.

Back in the day every album sounded different, and no two guitar tracks sounded the same. But when you weed out what is perceived as "weak sounding", you are only left with what is considered "good" and thus everything sounds generic. Even if the riffs are amazeballs.

I haven’t heard any for quite some time... maybe the early 90’s. Nothing anywhere as memorable and catchy as Holy Wars and Cowboys from Hell.

Of coarse there has been some good stuff since then, but overall... not much that I would label timeless.

I haven’t heard any.
2020 - dry as the Mojave Desert.
The 80s really were special.
Right now I’m listening to a DIO tribute cd.
I just sense how iconic his songs were. The guitar riffs.
The music scene today.....it’s tough.
Let’s face it.
When FASTWAY came out with “ Say What You Will “...that’s a riff.
There’s 100’s of 80’s examples.
2020 ? There’s not much there.

There are recent riffs I like, newer Death Angel & MegaDave for example, but... Nothing that is gonna resonate years from now, much less decades.

A lot of the Cool riffs I  here now are on newer albums by old band (Saxon, accept, Judas Priest, Grave Digger, etc) ... However a few bands like night demon, striker, hammerfall, Calderon, primal fear and burning witches come up with some cool riffs..

Start a "biggest & best metal riffs of the 21st century!" thread. And I'll try and come up with a few.

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

Lari wrote:

I think there are plenty of great riffs in new music, but they tend to blend in too much because everybody sounds the same these days. Not the same style, but the sound of a heavy guitar is too uniform. It's less memorable when there are 2,000 similar sounding releases each year.

It's the recording, the tools, the amps and the production that lacks uniqueness and soul.

Back in the day every album sounded different, and no two guitar tracks sounded the same. But when you weed out what is perceived as "weak sounding", you are only left with what is considered "good" and thus everything sounds generic. Even if the riffs are amazeballs.

I blame Andy Sneap.

Glower wrote:

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

That's close to what I'm talking about, but a clear Accept rip-off. Haha. Never heard of that band, though. Gonna check them out now...

As I said, lots of great riffs out there, tons of killer choruses, but very few riffs I feel stand up to those iconic riffs.

And I don't think it's my age; I don't think it's because I'm not as impressionable anymore. I just think music is written differently these days, like bands overcomplicate things. Just think about the most iconic riffs out there: they're all riffs that new guitarists could learn in a day.

I think nostalgia plays a big part in this kind of thinking. Not to mention rock music is, for the most part, dead in the mainstream, so even the good stuff gets less attention than it once did. It tends to come off as less impressive since it isn't embraced by as many as it once was, including the media.

I also think, speaking for myself, I am just so overwhelmed with music these days. So many bands, so many songs/albums, so easy to obtain. I've become a bit jaded.

Glower wrote:

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

Pure UDO worship .

Gilbert wrote:

Glower wrote:

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

Pure UDO worship .

Probably not the best band name in 2020, though.

Eyesore wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

Glower wrote:

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

Pure UDO worship .

Probably not the best band name in 2020, though.

Their album release party was at White Castle.

Troublezone wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

Glower wrote:

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

Pure UDO worship .

Probably not the best band name in 2020, though.

Their album release party was at White Castle.

I didn't know there was an actual chain called White Castle. I thought it was only in the Harold & Kumar movie .

Gilbert wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

Glower wrote:

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

Pure UDO worship .

Probably not the best band name in 2020, though.

Their album release party was at White Castle.

I didn't know there was an actual chain called White Castle. I thought it was only in the Harold & Kumar movie .

It’s real.

Troublezone wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

Glower wrote:

I think this is a solid riff Big time M

Pure UDO worship .

Probably not the best band name in 2020, though.

Their album release party was at White Castle.

Tony Iommi was pretty selfish for using up so many of the timeless riffs.