MUMBAI: Led Zeppelin’s 1969 rock track ‘Whole Lotta Love’ has been voted as the greatest guitar riff of all time in a poll by BBC Radio 2 listeners. The classic rock track was one of 100 riffs selected by a panel of record producers, critics and music DJs from BBC Radio 2 and 6.
Speaking about the win, the English rock band’s guitarist and producer of the track- Jimmy Page said to BBC, “I wanted a riff that really moved, that people would really get, and would bring a smile to their faces, but when I played it with the band, it really went into overdrive. There was this intent to have this riff and the movement of it, so it was menacing as well as quite sort of caressing.”
Coming in second on the poll was Gun ‘N’ Roses’ only US chart topper ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, which was followed by AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’. Fifth and sixth places went to Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ and Derek and the Dominoes’ ‘Layla’, respectively.
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The top ten riffs include ‘How Soon is Now’ by The Smiths in sixth place, ‘Down Down’ by Status Quo in seventh and Dire Straits’ Grammy winning track ‘Money for Nothing’ in eighth place. Rounding up the list was The Kinks’ ‘You Really Got Me’ in ninth place and Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ in ten.
Some of the other bands that were considered in the poll were Metallica, Sex Pistols, The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys and Daft Punk.
