Greatest guitar riffs, Sky Arts

BluesLover

A new three part series to be broadcast 24/25/26 November.
Sky Arts is a Freeview channel, so not on subscription.
1. With Tony Iommi
2. Andy Summers
3. Nancy Wilson
I'll be setting my recorder in advance because I hate sitting through adverts.

Offset

BluesLover said:

A new three part series to be broadcast 24/25/26 November.
Sky Arts is a Freeview channel, so not on subscription.
1. With Tony Iommi
2. Andy Summers
3. Nancy Wilson
I'll be setting my recorder in advance because I hate sitting through adverts.

Would that be Andy Summers, the 250th best-ever guitarist? (Source: Rolling Stone)

Philly_Q

It's a very odd line-up.  So presumably they're selecting their favourite riffs by other artists, with maybe one or two of their own chucked in?  Or maybe the title's totally misleading and it's not about riffs at all.

BluesLover

From sky arts website

Episode one

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi pulls back the curtain on the creation of Sabbath’s classic riffs and the creation of heavy metal, delving into tracks including Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man. He’s also joined by Queen’s Brian May for an exclusive jam session.  

Episode Two  

Legendary guitarist Andy Summers reflects on his favourite riffs of all time and tells the stories of the riffs that brought fame and fortune to The Police, including the opening bars of Grammy Award-winning hit Every Breath You Take. Andy also pays a visit to one of the best jazz guitar players of all time, George Benson 

Episode Three

Heart’s Nancy Wilson takes us on a very personal journey through the music and the riffs that influenced her, tracing a through-line from the music of Heart into the grunge scene of the 1990s. She’s joined by Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil.

The iconic music trio will be joined by an array of guitar stars, including jazz guitarist George Benson, Dave Keuning (The Killers), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), Hank Marvin (The Shadows) and Orianthi (Michael Jackson/Alice Cooper). Together, they will cover riffs from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Rage Against The Machine and more

boogieman

Does seem a slightly strange choice of guests. I’m guessing it’s different people to cover different genres: maybe Iommi for metal, Summers for rock and Wilson for pop? But who knows? Iommi and Summers actually have a common interest in jazz guitar too, so it’ll be interesting to see if any jazz actually comes up. 

EricTheWeary

Was it Channel 4 who did that Greatest Guitar Riffs show without apparently understanding what a guitar riff actually is? But these are interesting guitarists from an old bloke point of view so I will see if I can catch it, cheers. 

Philly_Q

Ok, it sounds fairly interesting, with a slightly odd array of guests based on who was available rather than who was the obvious choice... although I know Tony and Sir Bri are great mates, and Nancy Wilson has worked with some of those slightly younger Seattle guys.

Presumably Richie and Orianthi will not be appearing together...

MagicPigDetective

Sounds great, all 3, especially Nancy with McCready and Thayil 

blobb

Andy Summers has Canterbury history, he was in Strontium 90 with Mike Howlett which gives him a direct connection to the Om Riff. Wonder if it will make his list? As I don't have access to that there 'television' thing, one of you lot will have to tell me.

BluesLover

Reminder bump, 1st episode tonight.

bertie

cant say (Tony aside) thats exactly great list of classic riff big hitters.......................bit like one of those Channel 5 programs where they get a load of C-list Gen Zers  to talk about how good 70s TV ads were...................


kind to do the heads up - but not for me thanks, I think there's some Jim Reeves on BBC3..................................

Ozzie744

Wish I could get that here in the States. I love that kind of history behind the riffs / songs / influences type of stuff.

Headphones

thought it was quit good as these things go.

idiotwindow

bertie said:

cant say (Tony aside) thats exactly great list of classic riff big hitters.......................bit like one of those Channel 5 programs where they get a load of C-list Gen Zers  to talk about how good 70s TV ads were...

I haven't seen the show but it sounds like an impressive list of names involved over the 3 episodes. Iommi, Brian May, Andy Summers, George Benson, Nancy Wilson, Hank Marvin, Mike McCready... Hardly C-list IMO.

bertie

idiotwindow said:

bertie said:

cant say (Tony aside) thats exactly great list of classic riff big hitters.......................bit like one of those Channel 5 programs where they get a load of C-list Gen Zers  to talk about how good 70s TV ads were...

I haven't seen the show but it sounds like an impressive list of names involved over the 3 episodes. Iommi, Brian May, Andy Summers, George Benson, Nancy Wilson, Hank Marvin, Mike McCready... Hardly C-list IMO.

that's not what I was saying,   I never said they were C-listers (just dont recognise some of the names) -  I know what I meant,  you didnt.  and that's a wrong assumption on your part  



Its my ball, and Im going home

Funkfingers

Seems like a rip-off of It Might Get Loud in the sense that two or three guitarists whom you might not consider similar meet up and compare notes.

Perhaps, the series requires a better title?

It should be obvious to anyone why Iommi looms large in riff-based guitar music. Summers, whilst a superb guitarist, is probably better known for his interpretation of the compositions of somebody named Gordon than as an originator of riffs.

Philly_Q

I didn't know what time it was on and missed it.  Hopefully there'll be a repeat.

boogieman

Philly_Q said:

I didn't know what time it was on and missed it.  Hopefully there'll be a repeat.

I missed it too. Sky Arts do tend to repeat stuff a fair bit, so no doubt it’ll be around. Although of course they’ll have to squeeze it in between all the Andre Rieu concerts.  

Cols

Philly_Q said:

I didn't know what time it was on and missed it.  Hopefully there'll be a repeat.

It’s available in Sky On Demand (freaked out slightly on seeing this post, as I’d lazily not set it to record).

CavemanGrogg

I'm always interested to see how many of the people featured in these lists are in them more than once, especially if they're in the top 10 - like do they have a second riff rated in the top 10 as well.  The lists themselves don't really interest me, or who's on them, or do I agree with the list, did my favourite make the grade and so forth.

Besides everybody here already knows that Lil'Wayne, will get the top spot.

Philly_Q

Cols said:

Philly_Q said:

I didn't know what time it was on and missed it.  Hopefully there'll be a repeat.

It’s available in Sky On Demand (freaked out slightly on seeing this post, as I’d lazily not set it to record).

Dumb question, but presumably you need to be a Sky subscriber for that?  I only have access to Sky Arts because it's on Freeview.