Why a blog on lifting riffs?

I decided to start this blog because stealing riffs is something everyone does, intentionally or not. Some people are hush-hush about it, as if it means you're a bad person or something, while others have no problem giving credit to where they jacked a riff from.

A number of years ago, John Lockjaw (Pitboss 2000/One Life Crew/PC Deathsquad) gave me one of the greatest pieces of advice I ever received about songwriting. While I never really struggled with song-writing, early on, it wasn't really my strong suit. But after I met JLJ all that changed when he gave me this bit of sage-like wisdom; "You can bust your ass trying to write a new riff, and at the end it's just going to sound like whatever you were listening at the time. Just take the riff from the sound you're going for. No one will notice"

He was right. He and I would write songs on AIM like this. Just like "Ok, take the intro from this song, tack on this verse. then play the mosh part from this song." It seemed too easy at first. I couldn't believe no one would know, but we never got called out. Every song I've written since has at least one riff of someone else's in it. And whether it's intentional or not, every song you wrote (or heard) has a bit of someone else's riff in it. There's nothing new under the sun.

This blog will focus mainly on songs where the writer openly admits that they stole the riff (or at least where the riff is so obvious it needed pointing out). There's nothing malicious about this blog. I'm not calling anyone out or insulting them. This is more-or-less a demonstration on how to steal a riff right, and maybe to open your eyes to some other/older music you may not have heard (at least in it's original non-stolen form).

I hope you enjoy this, and if you have any suggestions on songs and riffs that should be included, feel free to pass them along. And if anyone wants to turn themselves in, I can post it and you can remain anonymous.

on to the riffage!