Reddit Users Name ‘Worst’ + ‘Most Annoying’ Riffs in Music

Rock and metal fans named the “worst” and “most annoying” guitar riffs on Reddit in a post that has resurfaced.

The thread, titled “Worst/most annoying riffs you’ve ever heard?,” was originally written this past December on the Music Reddit page. The author of the post explained that they can’t listen to Trapt’s hit “Headstrong” because of the riff.

“I’m a person who very rarely hates anything, especially when it comes to music, but that initial riff just doesn’t work with me (yes, that’s enough to keep me from listening to that music), other than the lyrics,” they elaborated.

Because it was written in the general Music subreddit, there’s a wide variety of responses from fellow Reddit users, so we picked the ones most relevant to rock and metal and listed them below, with the responses to each particular song bulleted underneath.

Guns N’ Roses, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”

The person who mentioned “Sweet Child O’ Mine” noted that they originally didn’t have a problem with the riff, “…until I dated someone using it as an alarm tone … that he always snoozed, so it repeated again and again.”

See the replies below.

• Came here to say this one; seriously can’t stand that riff
• That opening riff was actually just a warm up routine Slash did before a show. Axl [Rose] suggested it as a riff.
• Same with the swell from “Welcome to the Jungle” being constantly used at American football games.
• Same. “Sweet Child” and “Think About You” are the only songs I skip on ‘Appetite.’ “Sweet Child” solo though is amazing.

Guns N’ Roses, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”

The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”

The user who wrote this comment argued that the riff in “Seven Nation Army” isn’t “bad” by any means, but they’re sick of hearing it so frequently. As they explained, they’re subjected to the riff on the radio, at the gym, at sporting events, on commercials and so on.

• I remember one year, just one year after that song came out, I saw Audioslave cover it at a concert. I knew that moment it wasn’t going anywhere ever.
• I agree. Funny how it works, though. The riff itself isn’t what grates; even the repetition of it is not necessarily so bad. But it’s just too much! It doesn’t take long to go from ‘cool riff!’ to ‘Ugh! I want to poke pencils in my ears!’
• But man, imagine the ego rush Jack White must get whenever he thinks about the fact that he wrote possibly the most famous riff in the world. When you’ve got stadiums full of people chanting your riff at the World Cup, totally unrelated to your band, you’ve made it.

The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”

Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”

We know it’s already playing in your head just from reading the title. The individual that mentioned this song said that they think the song is great, but while working at a waterpark at the age of 17, they had to hear it constantly because their boss let people play it on the game Rock Band.

READ MORE: The Guitars Used by Some of the Most Legendary Guitarists

“Everyone chose that song,” they continued. “It was played more often the Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ in retail stores. That was a long summer.”

Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”

Pink Floyd, “Wish You Were Here”

It’s unfortunate that with a lot of these songs, people never would have found them annoying if they weren’t forced to hear them so often. In this case, the person worked at a music store and had to hear aspiring guitarists practice (and “butcher”) Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”

“[It’s] a damn shame because I used to really like it,” they concluded.

Apparently, this is a shared experience among other music fans.

• There was a music store in my town that had a printed sign listing all the songs you weren’t allowed to play when trying out the guitars – “Enter Sandman,” “Sweet Child of Mine,” “Smoke on the Water,” “Purple Haze,” etc. It had additional songs after the printed ones written angrily in pen. Ages ago and I can’t remember what they were. Wish I’d taken a photo, because it was actually pretty funny.
• It’s also a shame because it’s not hard to play either. Bummer it got ruined for you, it’s a great one
• That’s too bad because the riff is a classic and the entire song is excellent. Especially live. One of my favorites. Sucks when circumstances ruin something like that.

Pink Floyd, “Wish You Were Here”

Other Songs Mentioned

Some other tracks that were mentioned for a variety of reasons were AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” Pantera’s “Walk” and more.

Read the full Reddit discussion here to see the rest of the arguments.