UK’s favourite guitar riff revealed in new TV survey

Sky Arts have revealed the UK’s favourite guitar riff in a brand new three part documentary series, titled, Greatest Guitar Riffs, which aired on November 24.

• READ MORE: Sam Fender – ‘Seventeen Going Under’ review: a portrait of the artist as a young man

A poll of 2000 music fans votes was carried out to find out the nation’s favourite riff, and included in the top 40 were Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’, Arctic Moneys’ ‘Do I Wanna Know’ and Pharrell William’s ‘Happy’.

But the top choice was revealed as ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns N’ Roses. The track, which was released in June 1988, quickly topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the rock band’s only US Number One single.

It came in at number 88th on Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list in 2021, and is clearly still a favourite of the UK public.

‘Purple Rain’ by Prince was the runner-up, with ‘Sultans Of Swing’ by British rock band, Dire Straits, coming in at third place.

Director of Sky Arts, Phil Edgar-Jones, spoke on the series saying: “Whether its’ the late, great Jimi Hendrix, the stalwarts such as Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin, or the new artists coming through, rock n’roll will never die.”

“There’s new talent coming through constantly. The appetite for new tunes and sweet riffs is as great as it ever has been,” he continued.

But the classics remained triumphant, with the poll finding that Queen’s Brian May was voted the greatest guitarist of all time, beating both Hendrix and Eric Clapton.

According to the 30 per cent of the participants, the “golden age” of the guitar riff was in the 1970s, while 21 per cent believe the 1980s to be superior.

The series features guitar legends Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, The Police’s Andy Summers and Heart’s Nancy Wilson. Joining them are guitar stars from Bon Jovi, The Killers and many other legendary bands, to find out the impacts of guitar riffs on music history.

In other news, Bon Jovi released an original Christmas song, titled ‘Christmas Isn’t Christmas’.