4 Great Album-Opening Rock Songs From the 1990s That Boast Iconic Guitar Riffs

A great rock song doesn’t need to have an iconic guitar riff. Everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty to Oasis and Wilco has strummed through simple chord progressions on many timeless hits. (Though you can find great riffs in each of their catalogs, too.) But this list highlights great album-opening rock songs from the 1990s that also include iconic guitar riffs.

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“Airbag” by Radiohead from ‘OK Computer’ (1997)

I still remember the first time I heard OK Computer. Pressing play on the CD, Jonny Greenwood’s low, distorted guitar gets propelled by Philip Selway’s even more distorted drum groove. Radiohead’s brand of alternative rock from The Bends sounded familiar, but something about the filtered noises and alien echoes signaled this was a very different kind of rock album. It’s the closest thing I can imagine to having heard The Beatles’ Revolver when it first came out.

“Cherub Rock” by The Smashing Pumpkins from ‘Siamese Dream’ (1993)

There was no shortage of great album-opening guitar riffs in the 1990s. Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” gets a lot of attention for the way it transformed culture. But “Cherub Rock” arrived with a similar announcement. Kurt Cobain may have opened the grunge floodgates with his Pixies’ ode. But Billy Corgan’s wall of guitars was a statement: We are here to stay. Most alt-rockers hid their ambition. Not Corgan, which kind of makes him even more punk rock.

“Enter Sandman” by Metallica from ‘Metallica’ (1991)

If grunge and alternative rock were dominating culture in the 90s, no one told Metallica. “Enter Sandman” became something like the 90s “Smoke On The Water” or “Back In Black”. Opening a rock album with a long intro is the way to go if you are James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett and can follow one indelible progression with something even more enduring. The music video became a fixture on MTV, and Metallica’s dark lullaby remains one of the most recognizable riffs in history.  

“Stop” by Jane’s Addiction from ‘Ritual De Lo Habitual’ (1990)

Jane’s Addiction wouldn’t survive the rock revolution it helped stir. But on the band’s second album, Ritual De Lo Habitual, Dave Navarro starts things with a riff fusing heavy metal, funk, and classic rock into a hazy hullabaloo. Somehow, Navarro’s traditional influences blended well with Perry Farrell’s Siouxsie Sioux-meets-beach hippy vibe. Navarro’s playing grounded Jane’s Addiction in something familiar. But Farrell and the rest of the band replanted his shredder roots in the art rock underground.

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