Now on 6 Music: Top 10 Synth Riffs

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All voting for your favourite synth riffs is now closed - you'll be able to hear your top ten choices between 19.00 and 20.00 with Andy McClusky from OMD tonight on 6 Music...

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

starting the show with: Joy Division - Atmosphere

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

OMD Andy McClusky's number 1 was Joy Division - Atmosphere, but not in the actual voted top 10

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

10. Kraftwerk - The Model

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

"Only Time Will Tell" by Asia will surely win.

― tim ellison (tim ellison), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

strange choice:
9. Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

more discussion:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mb6music/F1950413?thread=3682112

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

listen to 6 music on the interweb:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

8. ?

7. Gary Numan - Metal

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:23 (nineteen years ago)

6. Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

5. Daft Punk - Da Funk

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

4. John Foxx - Underpass

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:38 (nineteen years ago)

what a tune this is ! John Foxx is a genius

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

3. Duran Duran - Chauffeur

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

2. A Flock of Seagulls - Wishing...

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

1. Europe - The Final Countdown

― o. nate (o. nate), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, sorry, I thought this was just a thread to list our favorite synth riffs.

― o. nate (o. nate), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

1. Gary Numan - Are Friends Electric

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

no this was voted by 6 music listeners / web site users

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 November 2006 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

1. Europe - The Final Countdown

INFIDELS!!!

― Tad (Eisbär), Thursday, 30 November 2006 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha

― Bimbler (Sourkraut), Thursday, 30 November 2006 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

What, no "Jump"?

Well, if only synthpop counts that is OK. "Jump" is still better than "The Final Countdown" as far as "rock" synth riffs go though.

Other obvious contenders missing seem to be "Take On Me", "I Just Can't Get Enough", "Everything Counts", "Enola Gay", "Souvenir" and "Love Action".

― Geir Hongro (geirhong), Friday, 1 December 2006 03:03 (nineteen years ago)

All the good ones are here:

ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/8bitpeoples/8bp029-05-nullsleep-depeche_mode_minimix.mp3

― step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Friday, 1 December 2006 04:46 (nineteen years ago)

2. A Flock of Seagulls - Wishing...

really? christ's teeth, i said that should win but nobody would vote for it. wow.

i taped this and haven't listened to it yet. expect more gibberish from me here when i get round to it.

― grimly fiendish (simon), Friday, 1 December 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

how's about D-Train's "You're The One For Me"?...not synth enough?

― henry s (henry s), Friday, 1 December 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

Do synth lines entail monophonic notes in succession?

If not then Idioteque.

― Cap'n Guthrie (retardo1), Friday, 1 December 2006 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

just listened to this now.

8. ?

this, shockingly, was "la femme" by naked lunch, which i think was on the some bizzare compilation. haven't heard it in years.

what a strange and skewed list that was. no human league! no depeche mode! no soft cell! they should have just let AM play his own favourite tracks for an hour.

i really can't say i've ever shared the love for john foxx's solo stuff: a couple of the tracks are good, but "underpass" sounds almost like a parody. and that duran duran song is fucking honking.

― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:21 (nineteen years ago)

No "The Crunch" by the RAH Band, no credibility.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

sweet dreams are made of this

― lexpretend (lexpretend), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:33 (nineteen years ago)

Otherwise known as Message In A Bottle

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

is 'Da Funk's hook even a synth riff? i would like to know exactly what they used to get that sound - clearly they were aiming for the dirty funk guitar thing (but possibly without using a guitar woo DYS). not really top 10 material anyway (tho i love the track as a whole of course).

― sede vacante (blueski), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

What about the bass line from "You Got The Love"? Is that not really enough of a "riff"?

― tissp! (tissp!), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

I have no idea why I put inverted commas around 'riff' there

― tissp! (tissp!), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

You're getting old! All those "groovy" young "hipsters" "digging" the "fab" sound of "pop"!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

A Daily Telegraph column is yours for the taking.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

bassline would be a separate top 10 presumably.

― sede vacante (blueski), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:22 (nineteen years ago)

The only two basslines I can play are Rock Lobster and Public Image so I would have to nominate one of those.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

A Daily Telegraph column is yours for the taking.

"On the road with Britain's edgiest band, Franz Ferdinand"

― tissp! (tissp!), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

"With their latest single, 'Do you want to (sit and chat about how society is going to hell in a hand-cart)'"

― tissp! (tissp!), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

"I could have been in U2. Throw those bombs away! Er, on second thoughts..."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

More people voted for A Flock Of Seagulls than Just Can't Get Enough, Sweet Dreams and BLUE MONDAY?!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

'Blue Monday' doesn't have one specific synth hook to hang on to tho, just lots of different great bits

'Just Can't Get enough' does spring to mind all too quickly tho. But my favourite Vince Clarke hook is probably 'Situation'.

― sede vacante (blueski), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

I just read, Lily Allen could have been one of the Sugababes!

― M Grout (Mark Grout), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:15 (nineteen years ago)

couldn't we all

― sede vacante (blueski), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

I am shocked, shocked that Emerson Lake and Powell's Touch and Go failed to chart.

― kornrulez6969 (kornrulez6969), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

I could never have been a Sugababe.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

'Blue Monday' doesn't have one specific synth hook to hang on to tho

Erm, it doesn't? What about the one that runs the entire way through the song?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

I think you're mixing up "synth hook" with "Peter Hook."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

I think you're mixing up "Peter Hook" with "Gillian Gilbert (playing a synth hook)"

― step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

What about the one that runs the entire way through the song?

I don't know which bit you mean. There's the synth bassline (plus Hooky's Bond-esque bass) but no specific part to act as equivalent melodic 'whistle this' element except the bit after Sumner's second line which re-occurs extended further on but is no more standout than numerous other elements of the track (the more famous/recognised bits of 'Blue Monday' are the bassdrum pattern and the bassline/bass guitar surely).

― sede vacante (blueski), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:27 (nineteen years ago)

THERE IS NO PATTERN IN BLUE MONDAY WHICH REPEATS THROUGHOUT EVERY SECOND OF THE TRACK KTHNXBYE

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

How bout Love Will Tear Us Apart, then? And geez, no Human League or Depeche Mode?

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

I was gonna say, "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" by the Human League has one of my favorite synth riffs.

― Sébastien (LeRoo), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 22:45 (nineteen years ago)

i think the basic problem is that the idea of a synth "riff" is a slightly odd one: synths don't really tend to riff. indeed, talking to my equally sad and bored friend at work about this before the result of the poll, we agreed that the two most riff-tastic synth lines we could think of were, umm, "are friends electric?" and "wishing". looks like a couple of other people agreed :)

the godlike mccluskey did say - several times - "this is to find the best synth riff OR SONG" but i think that was a bit of an afterthought: i feel the silly wording confused everybody.

i mean: "enola gay", for instance, isn't what most people would call a riff. it's a melody or hook or whatever, but not a riff. same goes for a lot of DM stuff - "sequences", there's a good word for it. "dare" positively drips with hooklines, but riffs? nah.

by this basic definition:

a short repeated phrase, frequently played over changing chords or harmonies or used as a background to a solo improvisation

almost everything counts (see what i did there?), but "riff" to most people equals crunch, power, weight, and that's not something you'd associate with most legendary synth lines.

i'm on shaky ground, though - i don't know shit about musical theory - so i'll shut up.

as for blue monday: could someone possibly post a clip of this mystical synth hook that runs through the whole song? because i'd love to hear it. it's obviously out of my frequency range :p

― grimly fiendish (simon), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 00:33 (nineteen years ago)

How bout Genius of Love?

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

your point, caller?

― grimly fiendish (simon), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

For the record I was joking/pointing out the absurdity of saying that Peter Hook runs through the whole of "Blue Monday" (though I know Marcello was also joking). In conclusion, I make dumb posts.

― step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 06:36 (nineteen years ago)

but "riff" to most people equals crunch, power, weight, and that's not something you'd associate with most legendary synth lines.

i'm on shaky ground, though - i don't know shit about musical theory - so i'll shut up.

A riff is just any repeated melodic motif. You can't get much more riffy than the Just Can't Get Enough riff. A hook on the other hand isn't necessarily musical. The hook can be a sound effect, a lyric, the singer's peculiar voice: anything that "hooks" the listener.

A riff also doesn't need to run through the entire song and it certainly doesn't even in the most famous guitar riff songs. I think it's fair to call the first synth line in Blue Monday that enters after the kick drum a riff. And then later in the song the synth bass is nearly playing the same line. I think it's safe to say that you could play that sequence of notes on a piano and anyone familiar with the song would recognize it as the Blue Monday riff.

― walterkranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 09:40 (nineteen years ago)

coma.jpeg

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

Frankie Knuckles-Your Love
PSB-Always On My Mind (the initial explosive one)

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

more great memorable 'uns:

Soft Cell - Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Lipps Inc - Funky Town
Orbital - Chime
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
808 State - Cubik (like 'Da Funk' synth riff made to sound a bit like guitar)
Inner City - Big Fun
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Behind The Mask
Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (is this riffy enough?)
New Order - Thieves Like Us

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

some great timbo synths:
sexyback - JT
my love - JT
maneater - furtado
diddy rock - p-diddy

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

otm, this one sticks out like the proverbial. and opens the door to 303 riffs. is a 303 a 'synthesizer'?

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

where is the love for 'new gold dream'?

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

never heard of it grandad

― Thatcherkid (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

the hypnotic, reptetitive nature of 303 patterns suggests they would be thought of as hooks but not riffs. similarly arpeggiated synth patterns (e.g. 'Silent Shout') are probably too complex to qualify as riffs. this all based on the idea that riffs should always be fairly simple. could be bollocks.

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

Who cares whether they're riffs or hooks?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

troll ye not missus

i can't remember how 'new gold dream' goes but 'theme for great cities' may warrant mentioning.

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

the hypnotic, reptetitive nature of 303 patterns

ech, but they aren't always. and synth/guitar riffs sometimes are ('robot rock'). kernkraft 3000 (sp) to thread.

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

never heard of kernkraft 3000 (sp). are they as good as the pussycat dolls.

― Thatcherkid (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

worst troll ever

ech, but they aren't always.

gimme some examples of when they're not.

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

that 'kernkraft 3000' track, you know what i mean. or aaliyah's 'try again'. but even when they're repetitive, so are other riffs!

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

kernkraft 400 ahem.

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

whos alliyah. i dig ciara son.

― Thatcherkid (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

i can't remember any 303 in 'zombie nation' tho 'try again' may be a good example. only it's not necessarily the first thing you think of about that track (R&B stuff different again because it became so bereft of melodic riffs anyway, like much pop music).

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

much post 80s pop music i mean

i do actually feel a bit like Geir now...

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:00 (nineteen years ago)

possibly 'zombie nation' is not an actual 303 but i rly just meant "riffs" in dance tracks, and how 'da funk' is one of them, and not so much a "synth riff" in the way the others are.

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

It is correct that you pinpoints bereft of melodics. Riffs are amelodic by definition. They are rhythm dominate and it is no wonder that coloured people blow up the buildings because it provokes the violence we see today worlds. If they do not want a Ku Kux Kan government then they need to set former examples and write melodics content songs like "Second Hand Emotion" and "You Having My Baby."

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

could someone possibly post a clip of this mystical synth hook that runs through the whole song? because i'd love to hear it.

Oh for god's sake there's no synth hook running all the way throughout every second of Da Funk either. You know what I'm talking about.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

i know the one matt means. it's on the opening bars of the '88 version, possibly higher in the mix all round.

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, the 88 one was the one I was talking about. The one that if you said 'sing the riff from Blue Monday' most people who've heard the song would do.

(Sorry, I hadn't realised this was the thread for talking about pointless minutiae but maybe I shouldn't have been so naive)

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

Anyway, "Pump Up The Volume," though not the Shadows cover version.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

i THINK i know which bit Matt meant now. the first thing to come in after the bass drum loop yes? it's more pronounced in the Hardfloor mix also.

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

arpeggiated synth patterns (e.g. 'Silent Shout') are probably too complex to qualify as riffs

Baba O'Riley?

― Johnney B has zeros off the line (stigoftdumpilx), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

not a key element of the track is it?

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

Frankie Knuckles-Your Love

That's actually Jamie Principal. I don't know the story how or why it became "Frankie Knuckles Presents", but Principal wrote/produced/sung it.

― dan selzer (dan selzer), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, God, I totally forgot about "AM 180"!

― tissp! (tissp!), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

Hashim 'Al-naayfish (the soul)' - that lead synth bit may not seem that big a deal but first time i heard it i was awestruck so strangely bleak/longing/menacing but beautiful. Link's 'Anatacid' nods to it accordingly.

808 State 'In Yer Face' (or 'Olympic'). 'Cobra Bora' also had a similarly great, bombastic synth riff.

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

prince - '1999'

(=synth?)

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

i THINK i know which bit Matt meant now. the first thing to come in after the bass drum loop yes?

that's the bassline, isn't it?

i've not heard the 88 mix in years and i can't remember the first thing about it. genuinely, matt: if someone said to me "sing the riff from Blue Monday" i'd plump for either the (synth) bassline, the (peter hook) bassline or, er, the lyrical melody, none of which is i think what you mean.

or maybe you do mean the bassline. hmm. geniunely, i'm at a total loss here.

― grimly fiendish (simon), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 16:57 (nineteen years ago)

also:

Sorry, I hadn't realised this was the thread for talking about pointless minutiae but maybe I shouldn't have been so naive

IT'S ILM, DUDE :)

― grimly fiendish (simon), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

that's the bassline, isn't it?

no it's the 'grindey' looped 'hit same note twice, first one on the offbeat, second one on the beat' synth bit with slight reverb - if that makes sense. def not the bassline.

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

that's not an accurate enough description, dammit. but it's the first thing to come in after the bassdrum on the original '83 version so perhaps this is not what Matt meant after all.

― sede vacante (blueski), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

no it's the 'grindey' looped 'hit same note twice, first one on the offbeat, second one on the beat' synth bit with slight reverb - if that makes sense. def not the bassline.

you'd think, for a song that i've heard probably 1000 times, i'd have "blue monday" perfectly mapped out in my mind. but now i can't actually remember how the fucking thing begins at all. i shall listen later :)

― grimly fiendish (simon), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

the '88 version (7" edit) (ie the one on '?') begins just drums and this synth line, and then a robot voice comes in, and then the EXTRA DRUMS and bassline come in. i can't be clearer than that. and the synth line is what i'm talking about. there is also a nice synth flourish that maybe is what matt is talking about, which comes after the line, i think, 'to treat me like you do'.

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Thursday, 7 December 2006 09:27 (nineteen years ago)

But my favourite Vince Clarke hook is probably 'Situation'.

A great hook, but somewhat atypical of his style. Sounded very much like a typical Alison Moyet thing that hook.

― Geir Hongro (geirhong), Thursday, 7 December 2006 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

yes it's atypical of him but it's my favourite (bar 'Just Can't Get Enough' perhaps)

― sede vacante (blueski), Thursday, 7 December 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

No "To Cut A Long Story Short"?
No credibility!!

― zeus (zeus), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

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