I'm loving this Wikipedia thing. I recognize it's not guaranteed to be accurate, nor are many of the articles written objectively, but it's still fun to browse things. For instance:
"Smoke on the Water" is a famous and influential rock song by Deep Purple. The song is known for and recognizable by its central theme, a crunching four-tone minor key blues progression (I-III-IV with a passing flat V) that is perhaps the single most famous riff in heavy metal music history. The riff is properly played without a pick, using two fingers to pluck two adjacent strings held in a V interval. Ritchie Blackmore is said to have been angry that it is so commonly played as chords with a pick nowadays.
The riff, played on electric guitar by Blackmore, is immediately joined by drums and contrapuntal electric bass and organ parts before the start of Ian Gillan's vocal. Despite the heaviness of the guitar part, constant movement and interplay within the supporting parts keeps the feel of the song from becoming leaden. The song's structure takes a contrasting verse-chorus form, with the driving verse sections building musical tension while the soaring chorus releases it.
That, you can be certain, is far more than I ever knew about the song. But darn interesting. I wish I knew more about music to better appreciate what this author was saying.
But, here's why I posted this: I'm not sure the opening riff of "Smoke on the Water" is the most famous riff in music. To be fair, the article doesn't say "in music," but rather "in heavy metal music." But I don't wish to draw that distinction here.
So, here's your opportunity to express your opinion. Which of the following riffs do you think is the most famous, the most instantly recognizable:
- Opening riff to "Smoke on the Water" (Deep Purple)
- Opening riff to "Can't Get No Satisfaction" (Rolling Stones)
- Other (make your case)
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