Top 15 'Dark'' Riffs/Songs
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- I had originally planned to do this last October, but didn't get round to it. However, as it's dark, cold and 2021 has gotten off to a not-so optimistic start to say the least, I thought I'd upload a selection of 'dark' riffs to fit the mood. The music in this video ranges from '60s 'counter-culture' era groups to 70's rock and mid '90s 'grunge'. If you were expecting to hear some obscure Scandinavian Death Metal, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'd love to hear your suggestions.
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TRACK LISTING
0:00 Joy Division - Day Of The Lords
0:17 The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
0:27 Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
0:39 Nirvana - Polly
0:55 Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
1:06 Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
1:21 Radiohead - Paranoid Android
1:37 The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
1:50 The Doors - The End
2:15 The Beatles - I Want You (She's So Heavy)
2:39 The Cure - A Forest
2:55 Alice In Chains - Frogs
3:11 Metallica - One
3:30 The Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs
3:44 Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - เพลง
By the way, feel free to throw out some names of dark sounding songs or riffs below. I'm sure others have their own favourites across various genres that aren't represented here. This is just my list.
Imo another dark AIC riff would be Angry Chair
Something in the way is very dark in my opinion.
something in the way is hella dark
Off top of me 'ead
- Hamlet (POW POW POW) by the Birthday Party but idk if you'd call it dark or campy?
- New Nails - Mission of Burma
Yeah, Something in the Way by Nirvana is pretty dark.
I knew the song Black Sabbath by the band Black Sabbath off their debut album Black Sabbath would be on here.
Its funny because imo theres so many more sabbath songs that sound “darker” but everyone lists that as their “heaviest”. Like lord of this world, megalomania, into the void, and sabbath bloody sabbath sound sooooo heavy
What u need is a dark song By Boston, named Boston off their album Boston performed live in Boston but that never happened
Its a tritone itself
@@PiperAtTheGatesOfYourMom N.I.B is also pretty dark sounding
Iron Maiden has a cool number called 'iron maiden' in their debut album iron maiden
polly is not even a dark sounding riff. its just a dark song
something in the way should’ve been on this instead
Exactly what I was thinking, polly’s chords are very joyful sounding. Something like Paper Cuts, a song I love personally, has a much much darker guitar riff than most of these
Heart shaped box. Definitely one of his darkest rifts. Simple yet powerful
dive, milk it, and anorexorcist are pretty dark
Agreed
I’ve gotta say “I want you” has one of the heaviest riffs to come out before metal was a thing
Helter Skelter too.
YES
“I Want You” by the Beatles was the first doom riff. Change my mind.
If I didn’t know it was the Beatles I’d think it was a Sabbath riff tbh.
“I Want You” wasn’t even the first song to have a doomy riff. There have been songs before that have had doomy riffs.
@@joshuaibarra3377 like…?
Actually the oldest song in here is Venus In Furs by the VU
venus in furs is before abbey road
Top 15 darkest riffs:
All songs by Alice in Chains
In what universe are the riffs in tracks like 'Swing on This' and 'Sunshine' 'dark'?
I wouldn't even say the majority of AiC's music is dark. The influence of bands like AC/DC and Guns n' Roses stands out in more tracks than the influence of heavier and 'darker' bands does.
I know something bout you, yeah very dark
I thought about AIC too...
@@_Stroda Well, maybe you can't say that for the entire 'Facelift' album, which is partly influenced by street and sleaze metal, but 'Dirt' and 'Tripod' are as dark as can be... Damn, even some of their acoustic songs are: 'Am I Inside' and 'Rotten Apples' for instance.
Opening riff for bleed the freak is pretty dark to me
Something in the way by Nirvana it's pretty dark
@Tom Mccarthy big long now sounds even darker imo
@Tom Mccarthy floyd the barber is the darkest in this reporter's opinion.
*Laughs in Alice In Chains*
I think Come As You Are is pretty dark if you think about it
Serve the servants more darkest(maybe for me)
Paranoid android has always been a really interesting one to me - it has a brightness to it from the acoustic and the voicings higher up the neck but sounds really menacing at the same time
Seriously, I’m not a crazy huge Radiohead fan, but man that song has something to it that I haven’t heard anywhere else. It’s like its so overly cheerful in a way that it’s really disturbing. I can’t put it into words right.
So what you're saying is that it's a Radiohead song
Shine On You Crazy Diamond is by far the simplest riff on this list but every damn time I hear it I get goosebumps. What an emotionally powerful song.
I’m not much of a Pink Floyd fan - most of my musical taste is 80s new waves and 2010s indy - but this is absolutely true
It feels oddly energetic
simpler than black sabbath??
I want you (she’s so heavy) is underrated and I’m glad you added it
Underrated 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@azevbn326 yeah it’s my favorite and doesn’t always get the credit it deserves
@@maxieboy1232 Are you drunk ?
@@azevbn326 wym???
@@maxieboy1232 The Beatles have sold 2 billion albums and you say they have an underrated song? Maybe I Want You isn't their most famous song, but it's far from underrated. She is much better known than most of the greatest hits of other bands.
While "Paranoid Android" is a great pick from Radiohead, for me "Street Spirit" takes the cake in terms of dark vibes.
Kid A has some pretty dark ones. But I guess Creep is the most darkest, IMO.
Surely!!! "Street Spirit" is their finest example of what a melancholic riff is.
@@grungekid1539 Kid A...I know what you're talking about - Kid A, Opmistic, In Limbo, Morning Bell...
2 + 2 = 5 is ominous as hell
I think in limbo is the darkest Radiohead riff
"Double Dare" by Bauhaus, "Siamese Twins" and "One Hundred Years" by The Cure, and "New Dawn Fades" by Joy Division are all pretty dark riffs imo
Facts the cure definitely has some of the darkest riffs
yes Siamese twins is my favourite cure song its so sad
you literally listed all of my favorite songs
do you know any other songs just like them
That Doors song is so goddamn beautifully dark
It's even hard to call it 'song'! It's a musical drama w/a couple of different acts. And it's monumental in its dark beautty.
thats the undarkest song on the whole god damn list. and whats so beautiful about it it sucks balls doors fans should get over themselves doors most overrated band in existence.
@@tahamohammedi5898 no
@@tahamohammedi5898 good effort
but yeah a bleak 10 min psychedelic song about death and existential angst isn't dark
That song has no meaning like Kurt’s lyrics
You and I have very different definitions of "Dark"
@Rowan Melton I expected The End by The Doors on here and it definitely fits. It's a really dark song
@Rowan Melton Black Sabbath shouldn’t be on the list? Thats pretty much as dark a riff as they come, it literally uses “The Devils Tritone” don’t see any issue with it being here it was actually one of the only ones I agreed with to be honest.
@Rowan Melton I agree. Also the darkest music is pretty much all underground, these are way too popular riffs and songs for me to be dark and to relate to in dark or depressing moments
wouldn’t exactly call them light riffs, though
@Rowan Melton I think the end by the doors is very dark and I do think it belongs here. The riff is dark and so is the overall tone of the song and lyrics.
I'd swap out Black Hole Sun for 4th of July myself
Or Head Down
4th of july would make the connection too heavy to play this video
Nice...idk what it is about that song, but it’s just Killer to my ears. I was the 16yr old kid in an S-10 Blazer with an ultra Rad stereo system of Max-amplified Highs, Mids & Subs in the ‘90s that blasted that record on CD...4th of July sounded amazing then & always Will to me. there’s a very low bass frequency in the beginning of it that rattled coins enough to flip them over in the ashtray. the groove delivered by the drums coming in is unforgettable, the guitar tracks are heavy, but go sonic & Cornell’s Vocal Performance is the Greatest, as always. Goddamn, I Miss Him & the Music He Didn’t Get to Give Us. Thanks for Reminding Me to Jam 4th of July on My Commute!
Nah
Applebite
I knew The Cure would be here. The Forest is one of the darkest songs I've ever heard and I'm into black metal.
Idiot sun by leviathan
Lmao no you aren't into bm if that's the darkest riff you've heard
Lmao no you aren't into bm if that's the darkest riff you've heard
@@kaustubhthakur5793 the darkest i know is idiot sun by leviathan
@@kaustubhthakur5793 *cough gatekeeper cough*
So, 70's and 90's were the times with more darkest riffs.
Listen cry of fear ost riff and you will see that you're wrong
And also the genre dsbm ( dépressif black métal) Will show u that its in the 2000-2015 years that much more dark riffs exists
nah just better music
Two best erasers of rock music. 80s had a few big albums but not as many
Dude, the metal scene from the 80s is laughing at you
I’m so happy that this guy fit in “I want you she’s so heavy”. Has always been one of my favorite Beatles songs.
Amen!
I want yuuuuuuu
I want you so bad...
I read somewhere that that particular song would be the beginning of heavy metal doom
@@sergio4679 It's just doom metal, dude. But yeah, you're right!
I think frogs is mind blowing
How can something so simple sound so unique and dark, I love it so much
The whole album is amazing, my favorite one by AiC
The end, what a song, and what a riff
Alice in Chains has the darkest riffs ever
Pleb
Dirt as an album always leaves me suicidal
Two words. Sludge Factory
Have you ever listened doom metal?
AiC and dark riffs omg 😂😂😂
@@dobocsillag7007 yeah I have. But it's two different genres, and comparing the two just doesn't work. Even still, you can't listen to something like Frogs and tell me it isn't a dark riff
Liked straight away for day of the Lords
Thank you.
Underrated track indeed.
Not counting with the metal stereotypes, that's probably the darkest soundscape I know of - not the riff alone or the lyrics, but all its sound as a whole. It sometimes still amazes me how deep into the dark it goes, almost like the first few time I have heard it 20 years ago. I even have a dark playlist and made sure that was the starting track.
Exactly, me too, 5 seconds in
@@pedroedsos the whole unknown pleasures album is like that, the space left between each song adds an eery ambience to it aswell, and the cover seems like such a perfect representation of the music inside
It's gotta be said im still in awe at the tones you get out of that SG
Alice In Chains- frogs is definitely the darkest and my favorite on this list. It’s just so chaotic and beautiful at the same time.
The Beatles always surprise me.
sounds like Tiamat
Listen to Eddie Hazel’s version of that song. Holy fuck it’s a trip
The song “I Want You” is more what I’d call “very heavy” instead of dark, at least by 60s standards. Not that it’s not heavy now. 😀
@@gregmercil3968 the Beatles 60s dark rock is so underrated. That song is up there with the doors and rolling stones if you ask me!
@@Pinktree513 'Because' is another great example. Such a terrifying but yet beautiful song
4th of July (Soundgarden) is the darkest riff ever write
That's right, it's superdark, anyway it's very hard to pick a song from the whole Soundgarden catalogue when it comes to darkness. If I had to, I would probably go for either Gun or I Awake from 'Louder Than Love'.
mailman
Definitely super dark but I think AIC has some darker stuff and music in general. AIC are the masters of dark depressing eerie rock/metal music
Came here to say this song also.4th of July darkest riff ever
@@edybuoso113 nothing to say is also dark as dark gets
Couldn't have been complete without Alice in Chains, one of the best bands of all time.
Kashmir’s riff is absolutely haunting and so powerful, that’s exactly how Jimmy Page and Robert Plant described the song
"Dirt", "Love, Hate, Love", "Sickman", "Angry Chair"... like someone else said in the comments, this could be a Jerry Cantrell only video
Indeed but give Layne Staley credit where credit is due, Angry Chair was written by him, not Jerry.
@@myr27 jerry wrote the music. layne might’ve written the lyrics but jerry wrote the music
@@evanenitnelav Layne also wrote the riffs for Angry Chair, it's one of the few songs where he has a writing credit for something other than lyrics. He also wrote a pretty big chunk of the band's lyrics during the 90's. He was more than a singer and occasional writer.
@@evanenitnelav There are only 3 songs in the AIC catalog for which Layne wrote the music and one of them is Angry Chair (the other two are Hate to Feel on Dirt and Head Creeps on the self-titled album). That is why he played the guitar when performing Angry Chair and Hate to Feel live.
@@myr27 The more you know. Thank you!
"Darkest" seems to refer to psychologically disturbing riffs not necessarily heaviest, considering there was no distortion. Interesting list, nice to see some classics in there.
I hate distortion, a song can seem eerie and dark even without distortion, if not more, distortion seems extra
@@bigmax5780 so you'd be 100% fine if almost all rock disappeared
@@Happylink75 no, most rock doesn't have distortion lmao
@@bigmax5780 lol basically all rock has some distortion, don’t be silly
@@bigmax5780 try and look up iconic rock/metal riffs without distortion. sounds ridiculous
The stooges one is so simple but so freaking effective
Many cool dark riffs on here. Venus in Furs is probably my favourite. It's hypnotic. Also, I never expected my beloved Beatles on this list.
Dazed and confused is another great one
Yeah
One of the Yardbird's little known gems.
@@lameduck3630 yeah but I was more talking about zeppelins which is a much heavier interpretation
God yes. That and “When The Levee Breaks”.
And No Quarter
I appreciate you cutting I Want You (She's So Heavy) exactly where it cuts on the album.
I Wanna Be Your Dog and The End; both menacing from opposite ends of the scale. Both riffs absolutely nailed.
Keep up the great work, Bloxsy. Dynamite account, this👌🏼
Shine on you crazy diamond always hits me so hard, after that intro solo and then those notes slowly echoing through just floors me
Joy division have a lot dark lyric and riffs
And if you consider the way the band ended, with a suicide, it just makes them even darker
Anything from the Crow soundtrack
I clicked on this video and was like, "The End" better be on this list. Such a depressing song but yet strangely therapeutic.
The My Chemical Romance one?
@@majormusic2098 No, The Doors😁 that entire song is the definition of dark, musically and lyrically.
@@KobradiaSpringfield I thought you meant the Beatles 😂
@@peterthirdandthebridges Yoooooo, that's a good tune as well!! I forgot about that song.
@@peterthirdandthebridges yeah.
New Dawn Fades by Joy Division was the darkest guitar I had ever heard, a year later and Im just now picking up guitar and hoping to be able to play it soon
I like how he didn't spend more time talking about em than he did playing em like most videos do. Thanks. And a very good list too.
>”the darkest riffs”
>paint it black
literally
Frogs is such an underrated song. I'm glad you included it
Yes!!
I was literally thinking of it when I saw the title “darkest riffs”
Agreed.
one of my favorite AIC songs
I was just waiting for AiC the whole time
I’m so glad to see Frogs on here, the tone sounds great on it, too.
This is the greatest video ever made. You hit on every song and genre I was hoping for.
Fun fact: “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was originally called “In A Garden of Eden” but when they recorded it, the singer was so drunk it sounded like he said “In a Gadda da vida” so the band just called it that. Funny story
Quick edit: Check out God Am by Alice In Chains, one of the most freakiest songs ever made. “World dies I still pay taxes” Godam that line makes my hairs stand up.
I see you like ghostemane
@@tommasoluchetti8796 used to listen to him a while ago, not anymore, but he has come a long way since 2015, I respect him, good hardcore ep too.
Indeed 😉
It's 'In THE Garden of Eden,' I believe. Just being precise.
@@kilgoretrout5895 Yup your right!
yet another banger of a video! I always forget how good paranoid android is!
Thank you!
You really captured the tones of each song, too. Nicely done.
I'm happy to see some joy division in your channel
I think “a hundred years” should be on here instead of a forest if we’re talking cure
Fuck yes!!!
the entire pornography album
"Siamese Twins" riff is also pretty dark
Nice porcupine pfp
I can see riffs from Slint's Spiderland in this list.
That is a beautiful SG you've got there!
Great choices for this category !
Washer by Slint would fit nicely in this category
Very good to see The Doors here. It blows my mind how overlooked they are
Agreed. I would’ve added “not to touch the earth” on here.
@@ravila704 oh fuck yea brother, one of my favorites by them
@@ravila704 Great suggestion. Fucking top shelf song of theirs
Me: There´s no way the beatles have a dark song
The beatles: SHE'S SO HEAVY! HEAVYYY! HEAVYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
"Run for Your Life," "Norwegian Wood," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"... They have a number of dark tunes.
I knew that song only in the form of the Coroner version, sure was surprised to find out it’s a Beatles cover !
Im only sleeping, happiness is a warm gun, Im so tired, Blue Jay Way... greatest songs
Maxwell silver hammer: bang bang
Authentic as hell, nice selection of guitars too, I have a few quality ones too for the first time ever, I am enjoying the tonal possibilities!
I would have went with the electric riff from “Hey You” for Pink Floyd. I think that’s as dark and heavy as Floyd ever got. Great list!
My thoughts exactly
Feel The Pain by The Damned, a song that paved the way to dark when British punk was at its early stages.
Completely agree. bro!
Yes! that lick is definitely List-Worthy. btw, if you play geetar, try de-tuning the D, G & B strings down a little, maybe an 8th of a step...just enough to make a D-Chord sound Crappy. I was amazed...a Cool Older Kid told me the trick/secret in the ‘90s & he was a drummer.
So glad to see that Beatles riff on the list. Epic. And who woulda thought they'd be on here?
Thank you for including Day of The Lords!
Dude you’re awesome literally every song you chose was perfect and a favorite song of mine like goddamn
he has a direct line to my Musical Soul as well.
The entirety of songs for the deaf by QOTSA is just dark and almost evil sounding riffs
Underrated band. Only got into them because of Grohl at first but I liked it more the more I listened
Absolutely love your channel. No skipping through half an hour of some guy talking before you get to it. Straight in with bollocks.
I loved this video. It has so many of my favorites
List of dark riffs without Bauhaus? I'm disappointed.
pretty underrated band imo!
i was waiting on some bauhaus
🖨️
Yeah there were a ton of other darker sounding riffs that I could think of but I feel like this video was more focused on popular riffs haha.
Daniel Ash developed his own style of playing. Phenomenal band!
You have A Forest by The Cure in there - that song is so strange and moody; one if my favs. You have impeccable taste in music!
Dark riffs are all I love.
Thanks for your great job dude. 💪🏻🎸
Thanks man!
You have a great taste of music dude keep them coming 👍
Jerry Cantrell could have owned the top 5 spots
By himself😁
I literally thought this exact thought to myself.. Angry Chair, Sickman, Love Hate Love, Sludge Factory, Dirt, so many man
@Blue Heeler agreed iommi wrote some great dark riffs,
But to say not even in the same league, is a bit of a stretch
Agree to disagree
Cheers!
@Blue Heeler he’s definitely in the same league lol, he and Alice are known for making dark music, they’ve got music that is darker than anything sabbath did. Both bands kick ass but AIC and a lot of cantrells riffs are the definition of dark
1. Died
2. Sludge Factory
3. Head Creeps
4. Frogs
5. Get Born Again
@@dualtahunter4043 get list no doubt, I’d def put get born again above head creeps, frogs would probably be #1 for me. Jerry’s Incredible album degradation trip is dark as fuck too with some dark ass riffs. Jerry is a fuckin genius of makin dark music and writing incredible riffs. Degradation is an absolute must listen for anyone who hasn’t heard it
Alice In Chains - Love, hate, Love intro riff... Many nice "dark" riff.
Love hate love def some dark shit, Cantrell is the king of writing dark depressing eerie riffs
Tones are spot on, congrats buddy
Not even thinking of engaging in that "there are darker riffs than these" discussion. Sure, there are many dark riffs and songs out there and here are ten cool examples of them. And you play them great, that's for sure. Besides, any playlist containing Soundgarden, AIC, Nirvana, Joy Division, the Cure and Radiohead is instantly catching my attention ❤ Thank you!
the first song is amazing, good video bro ¡
I knew Black Sabbath would be #1 and I was gonna be pissed if it wasn’t. Haha
How do u always seem to get the tones to almost completely match up perfectly, that’s what’s most insane about yr videos
Rooster. I got chills the first time I played it. It's so simple, both the chords and the riff.
Amazing! I'd only change polly for heart shaped box, but it's personal hahaha cheers from brazil
A história de Polly é bem mais obscura do que Heart Shaped Box... Me dá nojo e arrepios.
@@yurigarcia4062sim! Sem duvidas, mas no quesito sonoridade do Riff, eu acho o riff de heart shaped box mais obscuro
@@viniciusn9893 é, não é a toa que a corda mi é desafinada para baixo... Mas se for pensar assim, eu preferiria colocar Paper Cuts, o riff é um dos mais obscuros do Nirvana.
I think the riff from nirvana paper cuts could have made it. And big long now. And aero zeppelin.
Polly is the darkest song, but something in the way has the darkest riff
Freezing Moon by Mayhem
Them Bones by Alice In Chains
Nice compilation
You got to have some darkness in your heart and soul !!!! Thank you soooooo much for the video!!!!
“The Aeroplane Flies High” - Smashing Pumpkins
absolutely
glad to saw soundgarden and alice in chains made the top ten
Thanks for this video
This is definitely gonna be one of those videos I come back to watch around Halloween
Scream of the butterfly- acid bath
Nicely curated collection, Day of the Lords was covered by one of my faves Neurosis, which fits nicely in the obscure. I think Bowie’s Blackstar would bump off some of the picks easily. How about BH’s Bela Lugosi’s Dead? Cheers
Cracken selection of tunes on offer here , all good especially A Forest , I thought sounded great in isolation.👍👍👍🍺🎸🎸
Great playlist idea
I LOVE The End! Francis Ford Coppola seen the true value and potential in it when he put it in Apocalypse Now. It matches so well with that movie.
That clean intro from Floods by Pantera is also pretty dark
Amazing choices! Black hole sun and One are the darkests songs I know, A forest, I want you (she's so heavy), Shine on you crazy Diamond, frogs are killer too!
I think it's awesome that you found a way to get so many views with easy to play songs. Good for you man.
I don't think people generally listen to music based on how difficult the guitars are, same applies to TH-cam videos. I make videos of bands I like and in the hope I can connect with other people who like the same kind of music as me.
This is a good list, but I'll repeat what someone said below: I think we may be confusing 'dark' with 'heavy'. And I'm not sure that dirge/sludge/death/black metal applies. A handful of layered and heavily processed power chords are not a 'riff' - ref Nomine Satanas by Bathory mentioned below. It's a great tune, but it doesn't really have a riff. Here are a few of my candidates. YMMV.
John Cale - Gun (LP: Fear)
Iggy Pop - Sister Midnight (LP: The Idiot)
Iggy and the Stooges - I Need Somebody (LP: Raw Power)
Soundgarden - Fell on Black Days (LP: Superunknown)
Velvet Underground - Sister Ray (LP: White Light/White Heat)
Yeah, I'd say that Blackbriar are the most thematically dark band I've heard, but not the heaviest. Definitely two distinctions, there.
i wouldn't necessarily say Fell On Black Days is particularly dark
@@cct4388 it sounds kinda happy especially the intro
@@Happylink75 yeah exactly
Eighties by Killing Joke should have been on there
You mean the song Nirvana “covered”? A fine riff, but I’d vote for “Requiem” from their 1st album.
Eighties by Killing Joke is a rip-off of Life Goes On by The Damned - just sayin...
@@Joeskint i mean i know, but how do you name a guitar riff, i just said the one i thought would be better for this listm
Very wholesome riffs you have here
Great list
Burn The Rain by Kurt Cobain is the most depressing sounding riff in the world. Like none of the ones in this vid touch that shit!
The end is pretty dark I totally agree with that one
Great playing
I loved the way you played the Black Hole Sun riff.