“Hey, I know that song!”
- Jeff Spicoli/Fast Times at Ridgemont High
A question I saw recently was, “What is the greatest opening guitar riff in rock history?" I took that to mean, not your personal favorite, but the one you think would be recognizable to even the most tin-eard, music-indefferent person out there.
As you'd imagine, there are many opinions. Music dorks love to debate these things. The non-obsessed would be more likely to wonder about the price of taffy in Liberia. If you check the internet, you'll see that many of the same songs pop up as popular choices. Some of the usual are:
Back in Black - AC/DC
Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns-n-Roses
Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
Smells Like teen Spirit - Nirvana
And on it goes, all viable selections. I picked three of my own that I didn't see on most of the lists. What about you?