Guns N' Roses voted top of the classic rock riffs

THE Guns N' Roses pop-rock anthem, Sweet Child O' Mine, has the greatest guitar riff of all time according to music fans.

The famous track came top of a poll of 100 Greatest Riffs Ever, voted for by readers of Total Guitar magazine.

Hits by Jimi Hendrix, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC and Nirvana also made it into the poll's top 20.

However, tracks by the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols failed to make it into the list of 20 favourite riffs.

Guns N' Roses once looked outdated in comparison to grunge rockers, Nirvana, but Nirvana's legendary 1991 track, Smells Like Teen Spirit, faltered in second place.

Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love was third, followed by the Deep Purple track Smoke On The Water.

Guns N' Roses also have another track in the top 20 - Paradise City, which reached number 19.

However, lead guitarist Slash and singer Axl Rose will not be celebrating the poll's outcome together as the pair no longer speak to each other.

Long-haired rocker Rose started the group in 1984 with guitarist Izzy Stradlin. Over the next couple of years they were joined by drummer Steven Adler, bassist Duff McKagan and Slash.

But Rose fell out with Slash, who was born in England and whose real name is Saul Hudson, in the mid 1990s and the pair have not spoken since.

Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits is currently top of the album charts.

Total Guitar editor, Scott Rowley, said the poll represented a new canon of classic rock. He said: "What this poll shows is that the canon of classic rock - Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix - is as popular as ever, but being added to all the time. To a new generation of guitarists, Metallica are more important than the Rolling Stones; Guns N' Roses more thrilling than the Sex Pistols; Black Sabbath better than the Beatles."

He added: "Riffs are an interesting measure of people's tastes because they're usually easy to play and very catchy - they're the hook of the song.

"This isn't about who's the flashiest guitarist. It's more about the guitarists and songs that get you most excited."

However, Pat Kane of Hue & Cry thinks the top 20 ist focuses too heavily on rock riffs and has failed to feature important tracks by artists such as Prince and the Isley Brothers.

"I have never been a great fan of the guitar in rock music," he said, adding: "The guitar riff that Prince used on his track Kiss has become one of the most influential pieces of guitar playing in R'n'B music."

The magazine's last poll, in 1999 saw Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love voted top of the list, followed by Smoke On The Water and the Derek & The Dominoes track Layla, with its Eric Clapton solo.

More than 2000 readers voted in the poll in Total Guitar magazine, which goes on sale this Wednesday.

The TOP 20 riffs of all time so far 1 Sweet Child O' Mine Guns N' Roses' most famous pop-rock track 2 Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana's 1991 seminal grunge anthem 3 Whole Lotta Love From Led Zeppelin II album - Smoke On The Water Classic from Deep Purple 5 Enter Sandman Metallica give a demonstration in rock 6 Layla Eric Clapton with Derek & The Dominoes 7 Master Of Puppets Another Metallica classic 8 Back In Black AC/DC title track on 1980 album with guitarist Angus Young, right 9 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Jimi Hendrix classic makes top ten 10 ParanoidClassic Black Sabbath 11 Crazy Train First Ozzy Osbourne solo single 12 All Right Now Free's sing-a-long classic 13 Plug In Baby Hard rock from Muse 14 Black Dog Led Zeppelin again 15 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout LoveVan Halen's 1978 track 16 Walk This WayAerosmith colloboration with Run DMC 17 Sunshine Of Your Love Clapton again, with Cream 18 No-One KnowsQueens Of The Stone Age bring the poll up to date19 Paradise CityGuns N' Roses again 20 Killing In The Name Militant punk from Rage Against The Machine

Copyright 2004 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.