Epic Riff

"If you drop a guitar down a flight of stairs, it'll play 'Gloria' on its way to the bottom."

- Dave Barry

An Epic Riff is that piece of instrumental flair that lays the foundation of an entire song, and is immediately recognizable from a small fragment, even by people who don't generally follow the type of music it is from (even if they can't identify which song it's from). For example, even people who are not fans of rock will probably recognize "In A Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly (even if they think it's by Black Sabbath). They may not know the name of the band; they may not even know the name of the song; but they'll say "Oh, yeah, it's that song!" when they hear it, and they'll be thinking of the right song.

To provide an example: a person once posted a request for help on a blog. The gist of the post was "I can't figure out what song this is. The tape label says it's called "Portrait of a Gentle Young Girl". Help?" 5 people identified it, "it" being two chords on a steel guitar, as the beginning of the opening riff of Bob Dylan's Lay, Lady, Lay—from an audio clip that was literally less than 2-seconds long. That's an Epic Riff.

See Fanfare for the orchestral equivalent.

Please note that because any song could be this for someone.

Not to be confused with the main Mad Scientist character of Sluggy Freelance on a really good day.

This list of examples was rescued from the Wayback Machine and dates from September 2011. We here at All The Tropes are sure there have been more Epic Riffs since then -- please feel free to let us know about them.

Wherever possible, please try to include YouTube links (using the Share At Specific Time option) when you add an example to the list below, so we know exactly what you think is awesome.

Guitar/Bass

 * Oasis' "Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Supersonic", "Acquiesce", "Lyla", "The Importance of Being Idle", "Fade Away"
 * Everyone alive in the 70s knows the bass riff from Sugarloaf's "Green-Eyed Lady".
 * The Killers' "Mr. Brightside". The moment the first few notes are heard at any party, suddenly even the indie kids leap to their feet to dance. Also helped by the fact that everybody knows the words.
 * Any AC/DC song. "Highway to Hell", "Back in Black", and "Thunderstruck" just for starters.
 * The Allman Brothers Band "Whipping Post" and its cover of "Statesboro Blues".
 * The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" on bass.
 * I think it's a distorted bass in The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage".
 * The bass in Ben E. King's "Stand By Me".
 * The bassline in Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer".
 * Bryan Adams "Summer of '69".
 * Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" and its cover by The Who.
 * Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication", "Scar Tissue", "By The Way", "Under the Bridge", "Can't Stop", etc... A lot of their songs (if not all) establish a riff first, which helps.
 * Those are just the singles. Anyone who's heard their other songs will instantly recognize the riffs from "Venice Queen", "Get on Top", or "Animal Bar".
 * Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places". The first four notes strummed on the guitar are instantly recognizable.
 * Bob Dylan's "Lay, Lady, Lay".
 * "The Times They Are A-Changin'".
 * "All Along The Watchtower"
 * "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
 * Fratellis' "Flathead".
 * Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning".
 * Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".
 * Rick James' "Super Freak".
 * The Romantics' "Talking in Your Sleep".
 * Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream".
 * The opening riff to Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida" is practically a Standard Snippet.
 * Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", the bane of guitar store employees, is 'also practically a Standard Snippet.
 * Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing", "Sultans of Swing" and "Romeo and Juliet".
 * Also "Lady Writer".
 * Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog".
 * Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Welcome to the Jungle".
 * "Paradise City" has several.
 * Foghat's "Slow Ride"
 * "I... AM... IIIIIIIIIIIIIIRON MAAAAAAAAAAAAN..."
 * It should be noted that this being sung to the tune of the Epic Riff is a case of Beam Me Up, Scotty. It's said during the intro before the riff actually comes in.
 * Judas Priest's "Breakin' the Law", "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", "The Ripper", "Victim of Changes", "Dissident Aggressor"
 * The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun".
 * Although on bass, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place".
 * The Kinks' "You Really Got Me"., or the Van Halen cover if you like.
 * Can't help but think "All Day and All of the Night" was quite memorable.
 * As is "Lola".
 * Def Leppard's "Rock of Ages", "Photograph", "Bringin' on the Heartbreak", "Pour Some Sugar on Me", and "Foolin'".
 * The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Brown Sugar", and "Start Me Up".
 * "Paint It Black", "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", "Gimme Shelter"...
 * Keith Richards came up with the riff for "Satisfaction" while he was sleeping. He got up, recorded it and immediately went back to sleep. Richards said the recording was "...two minutes of 'Satisfaction' and 40 minutes of me snoring"
 * The opening piano notes of My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade".
 * Nirvana:
 * "Smells Like Teen Spirit", based on based on the chorus riff from "More Than A Feeling" by Boston (listed below)
 * The verse riff in "All Apologies", and
 * A memorable bass riff in "Come As You Are". The guitar riff from "Come As You Are" is based on "Eighties" by Killing Joke, which was itself stolen and slightly altered from "Life Goes On" by The Damned.
 * And to a lesser extent, "Heart-Shaped Box" chorus.
 * X Japan's songs "Standing Sex" (live version only, it's cut out of the studio version), "Kurenai", and "Art of Life".
 * Blue Öyster Cult's "Godzilla", "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", and "Burnin' for you".
 * Living Colour's "Cult of Personality".
 * The bass line for "Which Way to America?"
 * Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train".
 * The Byrds' cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "I'll Fell a Whole Lot Better".
 * The Darkness's "I Believe in a Thing Called Love".
 * And "Bark at the Moon".
 * Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode".
 * ZZTop "La Grange" and "Sharp Dressed Man".
 * The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie". Compare it to "More Than a Feeling" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit", among FollowTheLeader many others.
 * The Beatles, "Day Tripper", "I Feel Fine", "Come Together" (bass)
 * Also "Ticket To Ride", "Paperback Writer", "Get Back" and "A Hard Day's Night", which ends with an Epic Riff and begins with an Epic Chord.
 * Or how about "Twist And Shout"?
 * Aerosmith
 * "Walk this Way"
 * "Dream On"
 * "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)"
 * "Sweet Emotion".
 * Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama", "Free Bird"
 * George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone".
 * Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" and "Hoochie Coochie Man"
 * Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man".
 * Survivor's "The Eye of the Tiger".
 * Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" and "We Are The Road Crew"
 * Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" and "Stir It Up", most memorable bass riffs in reggae. "No Woman No Cry" is also high on the recognizability list.
 * Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", "Whole Lotta Love", "Immigrant Song", "Rock and Roll", "Black Dog"
 * And "Dazed and Confused", wherein Jimmy Page plays a guitar with a violin bow.
 * Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love".
 * And "Crossroads".
 * And "White Room"
 * The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go", and "White Riot".
 * There's also the opening bass riff of "London Calling", possibly the best bass riff of all time.
 * Ramones' "Bliztkrieg Bop".
 * Steppenwolf:
 * "Born To Be Wild".
 * "Magic Carpet Ride"
 * Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here".
 * Pink Floyd had lots of bass riffs - "Money", "Another Brick in the Wall", "Comfortably Numb"... (the bassist being a Control Freak probably helped)
 * Green Day's "Longview" (bass), "Basket Case", "Welcome to Paradise", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "American Idiot", and "When I Come Around".
 * Play Darkthrone's "Trasilvanian Hunger" to any fan of black metal, and the will instantly recognize it.
 * Jimi Hendrix, "Purple Haze", " also "Foxy Lady", "Fire", and "Hey Joe".
 * Don't forget "Voodoo Child"!
 * Or his cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower".
 * Free, "All Right Now".
 * Pennywise, "Bro Hymn" (or "That 'wooah woah oh ohhhh' song").
 * The Stooges, "I Wanna Be Your Dog".
 * Really anything by the Stooges, especially "TV Eye", (also Careful with That Axe) "1970", "Raw Power", "Shake Appeal", or "No Fun".
 * KoRn's "Here To Stay", "Right Now", "Somebody Someone", "Evolution" and "Falling Away From Me".
 * "Freak on a Leash", "Hold on", "Thoughtless"....
 * The Who, "Substitute", "Can't Explain" and "My Generation".
 * Don't forget "Pinball Wizard".
 * Thanks to CSI, "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Reily", and "Who Are You" are instantly recognizable by many people who have never heard anything else by The Who.
 * CSWh? House used "Baba O'Riley" in a way deserving of its epicness.
 * The Cult, "She Sells Sanctuary".
 * Kyuss, "Demon Cleaner", "Whitewater" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop".
 * Michael Jackson, "Beat It" and (with Slash) "Black or White".
 * For bass, "Smooth Criminal", "Billie Jean" and "Bad".
 * INXS, "Need You Tonight".
 * Queens of the Stone Age, "3's and 7's", "No One Knows", and "Go With the Flow".
 * The Pixies' "Debaser".
 * Also "Letter To Memphis", "Where Is My Mind" (although that's more of epic lead), "Velouria", really most Pixies songs. The Breeders' "Cannonball" has epic bass.
 * Rage Against the Machine, "Bulls On Parade" and "Killing in the Name".
 * And "Testify".
 * And "Bombtrack"
 * And "Bullet In The Head"
 * Slipknot, "Psychosocial" (bass)
 * A better example would be "Duality".
 * Alice in Chains, "Man in the Box" and "Would?" (bass)
 * Pretty much every song on Black Gives Way to Blue qualifies. None more so than "Check My Brain", however.
 * "Angry Chair". Bass. 'Nuff said.
 * Twisted Sister - "We're Not Going to Take it" and "I Wanna Rock".
 * The James Bond theme, Monty Norman/John Barry. Vic Flick performed the guitar riff.
 * "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie has one of the most recognizable bass lines in rock.
 * For younger listeners, Vanilla Ice used it in "Ice Ice Baby".
 * Queen also has the bass line for "Another One Bites the Dust".
 * For guitar, "Tie Your Mother Down".
 * Heart, "Barracuda".
 * The Doobie Brothers, "Long Train Runnin'", "China Grove"
 * Chic, "Good Times".
 * Chicago, "25 or 6 to 4"
 * Although, this is sort of the Pachelbel's Canon of bass riffs. You would be forgiven for identifying Led Zeppelin's "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" or The Beatles's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", among others.
 * The Smiths, "How Soon Is Now?"
 * Metallica, "Enter Sandman", "Seek and Destroy" and "Master of Puppets"
 * "Creeping Death".
 * "All Nightmare Long", "Battery", "Damage Inc"
 * "Ride The Lightning"
 * The sitar-like "Wherever I May Roam".
 * "Blackened", "The Shortest Straw", "Whiplash", "One", "The Thing That Should Not Be", "...And Justice For All".
 * "The Day that Never Comes" and "The Judas Kiss".
 * Megadeth, "Dread and the Fugitive Mind", "Hanger 18", "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", "Symphony of Destruction", "Angry Again", "Peace Sells", "Back in the Day", "The Mechanix" which was modified by Metallica into "The Four Horsemen".
 * System Of A Down, "Aerials", "Toxicity",
 * Boston, "More Than A Feeling"
 * Talking Heads, "Psycho Killer" with Tina Weymouth's bass. The bass-less The White Stripes copied it with a low-tuned guitar for "The Hardest Button to Button".
 * The Strokes, "Reptilia" and "Last Nite"
 * Violent Femmes, "Blister In The Sun"
 * Silverchair, "Israel's Son" and "Anthem for the Year 2000".
 * Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music".
 * Muse's "Knights Of Cydonia" and "Plug In Baby"
 * Don't forget "Hysteria", which has an epic bass riff.
 * "The Groove", "The Small Print", "Supermassive Black Hole", "Invincible", "Glorious", "Dark Shines", "Showbiz" (when the distortion and wah kicks in), "Bliss"'s bass riff, "Cave", etc., etc. Muse is a plentiful source of this trope.
 * "My Sharona" by The Knack.
 * Coldplay's "In My Place" and "Life in Technicolor". (As the Piano/Keyboards section below shows, their piano riffs too.)
 * "California Uber Alles" by Dead Kennedys.
 * "Anarchy in the UK" by The Sex Pistols, also "Pretty Vacant" to punk fans.
 * The Eagles' "Hotel California" and "Life in the Fast Lane".
 * Pantera's "Walk", which is probably one of the simplest yet most recognized metal riffs.
 * Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". Everyone should recognize that opening bass line by now.
 * Or from Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life", which has nearly the same intro.
 * Bruce Springsteen: "Born to Run"
 * And "Born in the USA".
 * Stevie Wonder or Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Higher Ground".
 * On the subject of Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Around the World" and "Can't Stop".
 * IF it's RHCP, it's gotta be "Under the Bridge".
 * Derek and the Dominos: "Layla".
 * Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane" and "No One Like You"
 * David Bowie, "Rebel Rebel" and "Ziggy Stardust"?
 * Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People".
 * U2: "Pride", "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (the drum intro also counts in Drums below).
 * "Edge Power", aka The Edge's signature guitar style, in every U2 song pretty much takes the cake. Some excellent examples are the background chords of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and the outro of "With or Without You".
 * The Hives, "Main Offender" and "Hate To Say I Told You So".
 * Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll" and "Bad Reputation".
 * Blondie's "One Way or Another".
 * Slayer - "Raining Blood".
 * Iron Maiden - "Hallowed Be Thy Name", "Aces High", "Number of the Beast", "The Trooper", "The Wicker Man", "Running Free" (bass), "Run to the Hills"
 * Lenny Kravitz - "Are You Gonna Go My Way"
 * "American Woman" (both the Guess Who original and the Lenny Kravitz cover)
 * Pearl Jam - "Even Flow"
 * And "Jeremy".
 * MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" (although it's just a sample from Rick James' "Superfreak").
 * Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son", "Susie Q" and "Green River".
 * What about "Bad Moon Rising", "Ramble Tamble" or "Who'll Stop the Rain"?
 * The Hollies - "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress"
 * Jethro Tull - "Aqualung" (In fact, most people only know the opening guitar riff.)
 * And "Locomotive Breath"
 * The opening chords of "Thick as a Brick" are by far the most recognizable in the entire song/album.
 * Rush - "Limelight", "Spirit of Radio", "Working Man" and others.
 * The intro riffs to "Tom Sawyer" and "Red Barchetta" are probably the most recognizable of all their songs; with "Temple of Syrinx" right up near the top.
 * The Troggs - "Wild Thing"
 * Motley Crue - "Shout at the Devil", "Kickstart My Heart", "Wild Side"
 * Focus - "Hocus Pocus" (can be identified simply by calling it "the classic rock song with the yodeling")
 * Also, "Sylvia/Hocus Pocus" from The Old Grey Whistle Test.
 * Plain White Ts, "Hey There Delilah".
 * Overkill - "Time to Kill"
 * Dio - "Holy Diver", "Stand Up and Shout", "The Last in Line", "Egypt (The Chains are On), "Wild One", and many others.
 * Tool - "Lateralus"
 * "Schism" is far more recognizable.
 * Add "Parabola" to that list.
 * The drums on "Ticks & Leeches" probably also bear mentioning.
 * The opening bass riff from "Sober" is probably the single piece of music most people would instantly recognize from them.
 * Bachman-Turner Overdrive - "Not Fragile", "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", "Takin' Care of Business"
 * Commodores: "Brick House" (bass and trumpet).
 * Radiohead's "The National Anthem" (bass), the intro for "Just", and the more famous "Creep".
 * Fans of old-school Doom Metal will instantly recognize the first few opening notes of Pagan Altar's "Cry of the Banshee" and Witchfinder General's, er, "Witchfinder General".
 * Kansas: "Carry on Wayward Son", though you can argue that since the song begins only with the chorus, the vocals make their own Epic Riff...
 * Their ballad "Dust In The Wind" has a very famous acoustic guitar riff throughout the whole song, utilizing two guitars, one having E9 tuning to create the effect of a 12-string guitar. This (or at least its effects) was later used in Jordan Knight's "Close My Eyes".
 * Running Wild - "Under Jolly Roger"
 * Venom - "Welcome to Hell", similiar riff is also used in Accept's "Flash Rockin' Man" and Grave Digger's "Heavy Metal Breakdown"
 * Nightwish - "Ghost Love Score" (You may know it as "Epic Maneuver").
 * The Police were experts in creating memorable riffs. Most anybody can recognize "Roxanne", "Message in a Bottle" and "Every Breath You Take".
 * The White Stripes - "Seven Nation Army", "Icky Thump", "The Hardest Button to Button".
 * Arguably, "Blue Orchid"
 * "Seven Nation Army" is arguably one of the other banes of guitar store employees.
 * The opening to Steely Dan's "Reelin' In The Years"? "Hey Nineteen"'s opening is pretty recognizable, too.
 * There's also "Do It Again", "Bodhisattva", "Peg", and "Jack of Speed".
 * Them: "Gloria".
 * Saxon - "Wheels of Steel". If you haven't heard it before, EarWorm it's going to stick with you.
 * Blur's "Song 2".
 * "Beetlebum" as well.
 * Golden Earring has two well-known Epic Riffs in their two biggest hits: "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone".
 * Bush's "Machinehead".
 * Switchfoot has a couple; "Meant to Live" is probably the most well known, although the bass riff at the start of "This is Your Life" is also quite distinctive.
 * The bass riff from the Peter Gunn theme. Many will recognize it from the classic arcade game Spy Hunter.
 * The bass riff from the theme to the TV show Barney Miller.
 * DragonForce - "Through The Fire And Flames"
 * And "Fury of the Storm"
 * Rammstein - "Du Hast", "Feuer Frei!"
 * Thin Lizzy have several, "The Boys are Back in Town" and "Whiskey in the Jar" are probably the most famous.
 * "Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo" by Rick Derringer.
 * The Standells' "Dirty Water". Especially if you're a Red Sox fan.
 * "43% Burnt" by The Dillinger Escape Plan.
 * "Jerry Was A Racecar Driver" by Primus has an epic bass riff. Most people would know it from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games.
 * "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp.
 * Roy Orbison: "Oh, Pretty Woman". Though the drums tend to be much more prominent.
 * Big Country: "In A Big Country" has its Epic Riff right after the chorus and during the outro.
 * Richard Marx: "Now and Forever" and his "Can't Help Falling In Love" cover have acoustic guitar riffs. "Right Here Waiting" on the other hand has piano.
 * New Order: "Regret".
 * Horslips: "Dearg Doom". Considered the most epic riff ever by at least one person.
 * Disturbed with "The Night" ("Dun-na-na NA NA, Dun-na-na NA NA na na NA!") and possibly "Stupify" for the sitar-like bridge.
 * Beck's "Loser" has a very recognizable slide guitar opening.
 * Most of Van Halen's hits prior to the "Van Hagar" era. Prominent examples include "Unchained", "You Really Got Me", "Panama", "Runnin' With the Devil" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love".
 * Avenged Sevenfold's "Bat Country" and "Afterlife".
 * Caesars' "Jerk it Out".
 * Aya Hirano's "God Knows.." from Haruhi Suzumiya. Sure, it's Japanese, but damn near everyone knows the song from the first riff -- it's that epic.
 * Soundgarden: "Spoonman" (guitar and bass), "Pretty Noose", "Jesus Christ Pose", "Hands All Over".
 * Horde's "Invert The Inverted Cross". Unblack metal. Hear that riff once and you will know it forever.
 * Bad Brains: The main riff from "Re-Ignition".
 * Sonic Youth's "Teen Age Riot" and "Kool Thing". Arguably "Silver Rocket" as well.
 * The beginning of The Chills' "Pink Frost", which actually goes through two riffs before settling into the one that continues through the song.
 * "Just Got Lucky" by Dokken.
 * The iconic intro of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus".
 * Tom Waits. The one chime at the beginning of "Goin' Out West".
 * The Smashing Pumpkins: "Today" and "Zero".
 * Foo Fighters: "Everlong"
 * Joe Bonamassa's "The Ballad of John Henry". In concert, he likes to joke about how a journalist friend of his told him it was voted one of the top ten riffs of the decade by some magazine... only to later discover that it was #10.
 * "Metal Health (Bang your Head)" by Quiet Riot.
 * Periphery's "Icarus Lives" is possibly the single most easily recognizable djent riff ever written.
 * "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot.
 * "Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace.
 * "Dance of the Manatee", "Amarillo Sleeps on my Pillow", "Kyla Cries Cologne" by Fair to Midland. Especially "Dance of the Manatee" with the sliding.
 * "Tank!", the theme from Cowboy Bebop, starts with a frantic brass sting then goes into an instantly recognizable bass line.
 * "Pushing the Sky", also from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, has an epic guitar riff of its own.
 * "Give A Little Bit" by Supertramp has an epic 12-string acoustic guitar riff.
 * Joe Walsh, "Life's Been Good".
 * The bass guitar opening of the studio album version of Fra Lippo Lippi's "Every Time I See You".
 * Yes has "Heart Of The Sunrise". "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is also quite recognizable.
 * For Metalcore fans, there's (possibly?) "Composure" by August Burns Red, though that may be a bit obscure.
 * Kenny Loggins's "Danger Zone", thanks to its use in the original Top Gun movie.

Brass

 * Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" (trumpets).
 * "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem (trumpet). Unfortunately, most English-speaking people will remember this as the opening to The Beatles' "All You Need is Love".
 * The theme to Dragnet.
 * The brass opening of The Bar-Kays' "Soul Finger".
 * The cover version of a-Ha's "Take on Me" by ska band Reel Big Fish has a trumpet-based recreation of the original's synthesizer riff which is just as epic.

Drums/Percussion

 * The Amen Break is one of the single most sampled and recognizable drum riffs ever.
 * Judas Priest: "Painkiller" (drums)
 * Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California". Everyone knows that drum beat.
 * As does Mike and the Mechanics' "Silent Running".
 * Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness" and its drum opening.
 * The Who + drums on "Pinball Wizard" = epic.
 * Rush: "YYZ" (specifically, the tingling chimes at the very beginning)
 * Van Halen:
 * "Hot For Teacher" (drums)
 * The drum intro from "Jamie's Cryin'", too.
 * Rick Astley: "Never Gonna Give You Up"'s synth drums which is all the Internet's fault!
 * Iron Maiden: "Run to the Hills".
 * Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz".
 * The drum intro to "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin -- this drum loop is one of the most sampled breaks in music.
 * The drums from Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight".
 * Industry's "State of the Nation" has a deep orchestral intro with a thundering drum beat, soon followed by the recognizable synth sequences.
 * Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" opens with an iconic and instanly recognizable drum beat.
 * Gary Numan's "Cars".
 * Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Green Onions".
 * ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears".
 * If Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" isn't recognized by the opening drum beat, it will be when the bass kicks in.
 * Queen's "We Will Rock You" (percussion; two stomps and a clap).
 * A Flock of Seagulls' "Photograph of You" has a drum riff which adds a buzzing sound.

Orchestral

 * Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. "Da da da dum! Doesn't that stir anything in you?".
 * Ravel's "Bolero" is built upon a two-measure rhythm and a much longer melody, both of which repeat themselves continually in one massive, ten-to-fifteen minute crescendo.
 * Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" is another whole-song crescendo, with added accelerando, but this one is much shorter at less than three minutes.
 * Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", though nearly everyone (including Elmer Fudd) gets it wrong by leaving out the sixteenth note.

Organ/Synth/Keyboards (Non-piano)

 * The synth vamp from Queen's "The Show Must Go On".
 * Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, an organ piece recognizable from dozens of horror films.
 * Popcultural Osmosis has essentially turned it into The Phantom of the Operas theme song, specifically. The mix of this song heard in Phantom holds a special honor, in that it's one of the few songs (if not the only one) that is recognizable from the first note'.
 * The Spencer Davis Group: "Gimme Some Lovin'" (organ).
 * Procol Harum: "Whiter Shade Of Pale" (organ)
 * The Who: "Won't Get Fooled Again" (organ/synthesizer) and "Baba O'Riley" (synthesizer).
 * Van Halen: "Jump" (synthesizer)
 * Steve Winwood: "While You See a Chance" (organ)
 * Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (synthesizer)
 * Kesha: "We R Who We R" and "Blow" (both synthesizers)
 * Eurythmics: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" (synthesizer bass line).
 * Tori Amos' "Professional Widow" (harpischord).
 * The Beatles occasionally had some organ/piano riffs too. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "A Day In The Life", and "Hey Bulldog" being the most prominent examples. Also, the saxophone solo in "Lady Madonna", even though it was played by jazz musician Ronnie Scott.
 * "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited (electronic keyboard). Only eurodance fans have heard of this song, but everybody has heard this song.
 * Hall & Oates's "You Make My Dreams" has an epic Clavinet riff.
 * Kasabian's "Club Foot" (synth).
 * Many of The Doors' pieces have well known riffs by keyboardist Ray Manzarek: "Light My Fire", "Soul Kitchen", "Riders on the Storm", et cetera in addition to some epic Robby Krieger guitar riffs: "Love Her Madly", "Love Me Two Times", "The End" and so on...
 * Dire Straits has "Walk of Life"'s synth-based riff.
 * "Take on Me" by a-Ha and its synthesizer riff.
 * "Critical Acclaim" by Avenged Sevenfold (organ).
 * Animotion's "Obsession" (synthesizer).
 * Linkin Park's "In The End" (keyboard).
 * Styx, "Mr. Roboto" (vocoder synth: "d&#333;mo arigat&#333; misut&#257; Roboto").
 * Dennis de Young's solo hit "Desert Moon" (also synths).
 * Most of Depeche Mode's hits have synth riffs, but perhaps the most famous of them all is the vibraphone riff of "Everything Counts" (which is also notable for its square-wave synth riffs as well, especially in the extended version).
 * When In Rome: "The Promise" 12" version has a very odd robotic sounding riff in the intro.
 * The synth intro from Dio's "Rainbow in the Dark", one of the most Eighties-sounding things ever.
 * "Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears, which has the iconic and famous three-note keyboard riff at the beginning.
 * New Order's "Perfect Kiss" (synth brass, especially in the Epic Instrumental Closer).
 * Space have "Female Of The Species" (vibraphone / keyboards). There's also 'The Ballad Of Tom Jones' and 'Avenging Angels', both keyboards.
 * Europe's "The Final Countdown" has a synthesizer-based riff.
 * No few of Fra Lippo Lippi's hits are quickly recognized either by synth openings (eg "Light and Shade").

Piano

 * Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is" - or as younger generations might know, 2pac's "Changes".
 * Chicago's "Colour My World".
 * The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)".
 * X Japan's "Silent Jealousy".
 * Billy Joel's "Prelude/Angry Young Man"
 * Warren Zevon: "Werewolves of London".
 * U2: "New Year's Day".
 * Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'".
 * Marc Cohn's "Walking In Memphis".
 * Tori Amos' "Precious Things".
 * "Boston" by Augustana has a memorable piano opening, perhaps easier to remember than the song's lyrics.
 * Coldplay: "Clocks" (piano)
 * Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" has one of the most recognizable piano openings of all time, which makes the beginning of "Smoke On The Water" sound complex.
 * My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade" opening piano riff.
 * "Khe Sanh" by Cold Chisel. The piano opening is so well known in Australia, the very instant it begins, every Aussie within earshot can ID it (and more often than not join in singing).
 * Styx: "Babe" (Rhodes electric piano wth stereo tremolo).
 * Muse have several examples on the piano, most notably "New Born" and "Butterflies and Hurricanes".
 * Supertramp has epic electric piano riffs, all played on a chorused Wurlitzer EP200. Examples include "Dreamer", "Bloody Well Right", "Goodbye Stranger", "The Logical Song", "Lady"...
 * Those hits of Fra Lippo Lippi which don't have an epic synth riff have epic piano openings (eg "Beauty and Madness").

Strings

 * R.E.M., "Losing my Religion" (mandolin).
 * The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" (violin).
 * The Trans-Siberian Orchestra managed to pull one with a violin in "Mozart and Memories" from Night Castle.
 * Coldplay's "Viva La Vida".
 * Matchbox Twenty's "Unwell" (banjo).

Woodwinds/Reeds

 * The saxophone on Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street".
 * Da-dum da-dum, da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-daaaaaaah da-da-duuuuuum.  Again, saxophone.
 * Dead ant! Dead ant! Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant!
 * George Michael's "Careless Whispers" (saxophone). Especially well known now due to the Sexy Sax Man video on Youtube.

Bells and Chimes

 * Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells Part One" is a strong contender; despite the fact that it runs twenty-five minutes, the opening riff -- known best from The Exorcist -- is a near-continual presence throughout.
 * Orbital's "Chime" (Synthesised bell-ish sound).

"Found Sounds"

 * Underworld's sampling on "Cowgirl". "Everything everything everything everything everything..."
 * Depeche Mode's noise riffs (which includes a sound like breaking glass and an explosion) in "People are People".
 * Lou Sern's "Swiss Boy" has sounds from a cuckoo clock (in fact the "tick-tock" continues throughout nearly the whole song) and some yodelling.

Harmonica

 * Billy Joel's "Piano Man".
 * Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road".

Sitar

 * The Rolling Stones's "Paint it, Black".

Vocals

 * Hall & Oates's "Gotta Lotta Nerve (Perfect Perfect)".
 * The first thing most people think of when they think of The Oak Ridge Boys is Richard Sterban's contrabass "giddyup ba oom papa oom papa mow mow" from the chorus of "Elvira".
 * Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" also has a vocal riff, which is inspired by Tarzan's (from the 1966 TV series) signature "Call of the Wild".

Whistling

 * Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks".
 * The Andy Griffith Show's theme song.

Multiple

 * X Japan's "Blue Blood", (drums or piano).
 * The opening piano riff, followed by the opening sax riff of "Take Five" by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. A jazz fan will not only recognize the song, but also be able to tell if it's really Dave Brubeck or a cover from the first 20 seconds.
 * The drums and organ from the first second of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" are more than enough to recognize the song.
 * A Flock of Seagulls: Their fast hits have prominent guitar riffs, notably "Space Age Love Song" and "The More You Live The More You Love", combined with synths ("Space Age Love Song" also adds space/sci-fi sound effects to them).
 * The wah-wah funk guitar and trumpet in the 1983-1986 version of 3-2-1 Contact's theme tune.
 * Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)", with its drum machine/synths.
 * New Order's "Blue Monday" and its bass line. However the kickdrum intro is pretty well known, too.
 * The Main Theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: the flute at the beginning, following the percussion intro.
 * Similar to the Michael Jackson example above, if you don't recognize Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" by the drums, you will when the wah-pedalled clavinet comes in.
 * Def Leppard: "Rock of Ages" (spoken intro and/or drums)
 * Coldplay: "Fix You" (organ and later guitar).
 * Phil Collins: synths and strings of his hit "Groovy Kind of Love".
 * Pretty much all of the music Daisuke Inoue did for the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The opening piano riff of "Soldiers Of Sorrow", or the piano and guitars from "Encounter" are probably the most recognizable. If you've never heard his work before, imagine a Japanese Meat Loaf and you're not too far off.
 * Toto: "Africa". If not for the tribal style of the drums and percussions, the synths that follow.
 * Also "Hold the Line" with that epic piano beginning before the guitar kicks in (the guitar is a pretty epic riff, too, for what it's worth).
 * Spandau Ballet: "True" (synths and guitar).
 * Berlin: "Take My Breath Away" (synth bass (?) and a chorus-like synth).
 * Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (synth-shakuhachi, then horns).
 * "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" by Digable Planets has an epic brass and sax riff.
 * Between Epic Violin Guy and Epic Sax Guy, SunStroke Project's "Run Away" is unmistakable.
 * The Bo Diddley Beat, playable on almost every instrument in existence, is so epic that it has its own page here.