A History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in 100 Riffs

Give the tal­ent­ed Alex Chad­wick 12 min­utes, and he’ll give you A Brief His­to­ry of Rock ‘n’ Roll, with each defin­ing moment rep­re­sent­ed by a famous gui­tar riff. Our jour­ney starts in 1953, with “Mr. Sand­man” by Chet Atkins. Pret­ty soon, and quite seam­less­ly, we get to The Bea­t­les and The Rolling Stones, Hen­drix and Led Zep­pelin, Queen and The Ramones, and even­tu­al­ly some more con­tem­po­rary pair­ings — Green Day and White Stripes. The video is spon­sored by the Chica­go Music Exchange, a store spe­cial­iz­ing in vin­tage gear, like the $32,995 1958 Fend­er Strat played in the clip. A full list of riffs appears below the jump.

Look­ing for free, pro­fes­­sion­al­­ly-read audio books from Audible.com? Here’s a great, no-strings-attached deal. If you start a 30 day free tri­al with Audible.com, you can down­load two free audio books of your choice. Get more details on the offer here.

1 Mr. Sand­man — Chet Atkins
2 Fol­som Prison Blues — John­ny Cash
3 Words of Love — Bud­dy Hol­ly
4 John­ny B Goode — Chuck Berry
5 Rum­ble — Link Wray
6 Sum­mer­time Blues — Eddie Cochran
7 Pipeline — The Chan­tays
8 Miser­lou — Dick Dale
9 Wipe­out — Sur­faris
10 Daytrip­per — The Bea­t­les
11 Can’t Explain — The Who
12 Sat­is­fac­tion — The Rolling Stones
13 Pur­ple Haze — Jimi Hen­drix
14 Black Mag­ic Woman — San­tana
15 Hel­ter Skel­ter — The Bea­t­les
16 Oh Well — Fleet­wood Mac
17 Cross­roads — Cream
18 Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Break­down — Led Zep­pelin
19 Para­noid — Black Sab­bath
20 For­tu­nate Sun — Cree­dence Clear­wa­ter Revival
21 Funk 49 — James Gang
22 Immi­grant Song — Led Zep­pelin
23 Bitch — Rolling Stones
24 Lay­la — Derek and the Domi­nos
25 School’s Out — Alice Coop­er
26 Smoke on the Water — Deep Pur­ple
27 Mon­ey — Pink Floyd
28 Jes­si­ca — All­man Broth­ers
29 La Grange — ZZ Top
30 20th Cen­tu­ry Boy — T. Rex
31 Scar­let Bego­nias — Grate­ful Dead
32 Sweet Home Alaba­ma — Lynyrd Skynyrd
33 Walk This Way — Aero­smith
34 Bohemi­an Rhap­sody — Queen
35 Stran­gle­hold — Ted Nugent
36 Boys Are Back in Town — Thin Lizzy
37 Don’t Fear the Reaper — Blue Oys­ter Cult
38 Car­ry on My Way­ward Son — Kansas
39 Blitzkreig Bop — The Ramones
40 Bar­racu­da — Heart
41 Run­nin’ with the Dev­il — Van Halen
42 Sul­tans of Swing — Dire Straits
43 Mes­sage in a Bot­tle — The Police
44 Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) — Neil Young
45 Back in Black — AC/DC
46 Crazy Train — Ozzy Osbourne
47 Spir­it of Radio — Rush
48 Pride and Joy — Ste­vie Ray Vaugh­an
49 Own­er of a Lone­ly Heart — Yes
50 Holy Div­er — Dio
51 Beat It — Michael Jack­son
52 Hot For Teacher — Van Halen
53 What Dif­fer­ence Does It Make — The Smiths
54 Glo­ry Days — Bruce Spring­steen
55 Mon­ey For Noth­ing — Dire Straits
56 You Give Love a Bad Name — Bon Jovi
57 The One I Love — REM
58 Where the Streets Have No Name — U2
59 Wel­come to the Jun­gle — Guns N’ Ros­es
60 Sweet Child ‘O Mine — Guns N’ Ros­es
61 Girls, Girls, Girls — Mot­ley Crue
62 Cult of Per­son­al­i­ty ‑Liv­ing Colour
63 Kick­start My Heart — Mot­ley Crue
64 Run­ning Down a Dream — Tom Pet­ty
65 Pic­tures of Match­stick Men — Camper Van Beethoven
66 Thun­der­struck — AC/DC
67 Twice as Hard — Black Crowes
68 Cliffs of Dover — Eric John­son
69 Enter Sand­man — Metal­li­ca
70 Man in the Box — Alice in Chains
71 Smells Like Teen Spir­it — Nir­vana
72 Give it Away — Red Hot Chili Pep­pers
73 Even Flow — Pearl Jam
74 Out­shined — Soundgar­den
75 Killing in the Name — Rage Against the Machine
76 Sex Type Thing — Stone Tem­ple Pilots
77 Are You Gonna Go My Way — Lenny Kravitz
78 Wel­come to Par­adise — Green Day
79 Pos­sum King­dom — Toad­ies
80 Say it Ain’t So — Weez­er
81 Zero — Smash­ing Pump­kins
82 Mon­key Wrench — Foo Fight­ers
83 Sex and Can­dy — Mar­cy Play­ground
84 Smooth — San­tana
85 Scar Tis­sue — Red Hot Chili Pep­pers
86 Short Skirt, Long Jack­et — Cake
87 Turn a Square — The Shins
88 Sev­en Nation Army — White Stripes
89 Hys­te­ria — Muse
90 I Believe in a Thing Called Love — The Dark­ness
91 Blood and Thun­der — Mas­ta­don
92 Are You Gonna Be My Girl — Jet
93 Rep­til­ia — The Strokes
94 Take Me Out — Franz Fer­di­nand
95 Float On — Mod­est Mouse
96 Blue Orchid — White Stripes
97 Boule­vard of Bro­ken Dreams — Green Day
98 Steady As She Goes — The Racon­teurs
99 I Got Mine — Black Keys
100 Cru­el — St. Vin­cent