Benny Goodman = Elvis = The Beatles = Led Zepplin = Michael Jackson = Public Enemy = Nirvana = Radiohead = ????.............

woooooooaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh there horsey.. what!?

fans of each of these can adjust these comments because i'm not well versed in all but a few...
Benny Goodman, no idea - no comment
Elvis - more or less a crooner with elements of rock?
Beatles - guitar pop? and occasionally experimental
Led Zep - rock, experimental
Jackson - pop with attitude?
Public Enemey - who?
Nirvana - angsty grunge rock?
Radiohead - rock followed by completely experimental mixing styles and such

i don't want to get into some really really detailed shit here, because i'm not qualified for it... but surely calling those the same is a bit like saying all cars are exactly the same?

especially when you go directly from led zep to michael jackson.... double especially when you name pop and experimental stuff in the same sentence

i think that's mental

now go ahead and say "but they all follow the same chord progression timbre resonance factor!"... fair enough, but again that's like saying "every element in the periodic table is exactly the same because they are all made up of protons, neutrons and electrons" (do not start with me about string theory or quarks plz) - they have to be made up of the same things, just like a c sharp is the same as a b flat because they're both made up of compressions of air, and the only difference is how fast the compression occurs..

now if that's what you're saying - fair enough, you're right, but you need to get out more

otherwise please don't say they sound the same.. i'm not clinging to my generation, saying one is better than the other, more unique than the other... especially because i'm a fan of pink floyd and i'm far out of their generation.. but ....... dayum

This is a great thread. People seem to still be arguing about what are riffs, licks, etc. Maybe some of you play rock guitar, I don't know. But, speaking as a rock guitarist, generally we consider a riff to be a repeating phrase that is played as single notes. Most rock riffs are built on the blue's scale, but they don't have to be. A "lick" is a non-repeated phrase, usually part of a guitar solo. Example, "Man, that was a mean lick you played in the middle of
that solo!"
Song's like "Wild Thing" are just chord progressions, in this case I-IV-V-IV repeated over and over. Rock guitarists don't really consider those riffs, although, if you look it up in a dictionary, a "riff" can be a repeating set of chords too, so, technically, about everybody is right here.
In summary, rock guitarists think of riffs in terms of the following examples;

Led Zeppelin --(definitely one of the lords of riff), "Heartbreaker, Black Dog, The Ocean song, Misty Mountain Hop, Dazed and Confused, etc. etc.
Hendrix-- Manic Depression, The opening of Purple Haze, etc. etc.
Cream-- Sunshine of your love, Crossroads, etc.

Keep 'em coming, it's fun to hear what people like in riffs.
What makes a great riff? It's your interpretation. Either it grabs you, or it doesn't. What amazes me is how many different ways a few notes can be arranged. The more unique, the better as far as I'm concerned.

Despite the repetitive chord progression, clearly, this version is much better than the original.

What doremifa writes above isn't completely correct, but it's basically just Em - D - C - B.

Good chord progression, if a little boring after 3 minutes. You can say what you will about Alanis Morrissette, but she's got a great voice (unlike the original singer).

jlee22, I agree that that's what the guy was trying to show, but I didn't really enjoy it because the songs *aren't* that similiar, due to the fact that they might use the same chords, perhaps even the same chord progression, but they don't break the chords the same way, thus creating novel harmonies with which to work. It felt like the guy was smooshing lyrics into a melody that they didn't quite fit. It also didn't help that he was a bit heavy-handed on the piano.

But maybe I'm just a bitter musician.