User Reviews

Perhaps the heart, soul and definitely the muscle of Rock, the guitar riff is the quintessence of the art form. With just one or a few simple chords careers are launched, legends are made and lives changed. The BBC's "The Joy of the Guitar Riff" is a well conceived celebration and tribute to the glorious sound in all its raw, powerful and LOUD glory. Kicking off with Rock's big bang during the 1950s with the seminal influences of Chuck Berry and Link Wray the doc goes on to chronicle the sound's various changes through the decades with the advent of distortion during the 1960s, the experimentation that went on in that decade and the '70s, the guitar heroics of the '80s, the back to basics banger of the '90s and its survival into the millennium. The legends of the power chord are featured and interviewed with Tony Iommi, Dave Davies, Brian May, Wayne Kramer, Kevin Shields, Butch Vig, Nile Rodgers, Joan Jett and others relating the impact of the music to them with footage and some great music as soundtrack. The flaws are the limited time of the flick, this should have been spread to two parts to give the vast and great subject its full due and as such riffmasters like Metallica aren't featured. It's also odd to have a female narrator in a film as phallic and as testosterone representing as the guitar. "You Really Got Me", "Communication Breakdown", "Black Sabbath", "Smoke on the Water", "Good Times", "Back in Black", "Smells Like Teen Spirit"; these are the songs that defined a generation and it's that one powerful chord that fuelled it all. Three chords and the truth!