Du-Dah-Du-Dah-DAH d-d-d-d-d-d Du-Dah-Du-Dah-DAH d-d-d-d-d-d *
It’s been a great week to celebrate brutal yet catchy guitars and face-melting riffage.
40 years ago Led Zeppelin released ‘Physical Graffiti’, Royal Blood and Foo Fighters won a couple of awards on Wednesday night and Billy Corgan went on a bit of a rant calling for rock musicians to “take an aggressive stance” against pop music.
It all points to Now Playing celebrating the mighty riff on this Sunday’s show (1 March, 6pm-8pm).
So give us classic metal riffs, rich bluesy licks, jingly-jangly shoegazing tinkles, thunderous power chord progressions and timeless 6-string noodlings.
Choose any song that sums up the art of the riff, be it big, loud and beefy, subtle, gentle and melodic or just plain old catchy. Experts in the field include AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and of course Royal Blood.
But it’s not just balls-out rock that claims to dominate the riff market. You may also celebrate the guitar genius of Radiohead, The Smiths, Blur, Bloc Party, Beck, The Kinks, Oasis, and - er hello! - The Rolling Stones obvs.
In the words of Angus Young, “There’s always another great riff just around the corner”, so get your riff-inspired suggestions to Tom via the hashtag #Riffs6Music to help create a playlist. Comment on the Now Playing Facebook page, here on the blog, email nowplaying@bbc.co.uk or drag tracks onto our Spotify and Rdio playlists.
* It’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’, btw
