Origin story: the first guitar riffs St. Vincent ever learned to play
Most guitar greats have held their status as such for decades now. Names such as Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell have been appearing on lists of the best players for as long as those lists have existed, receiving endless praise for their innovative use of the instrument and influencing so many others in the process. But which contemporary guitarists are set to earn their own place alongside the best of the best?
One name that is already cropping up in conversations surrounding the greatest contemporary guitarists is St. Vincent, also known as Annie Clark. In the image of her glam, guitar-playing predecessor, David Bowie, St. Vincent has become a modern-day art pop icon with personas to spare. She has honed one of the most distinctive styles in recent times, with strong accompanying visuals and concepts, but the magic of her music always stems from her mastery of her instrument.
But every budding guitar great has to start somewhere. Long before Clark forged her own memorable riffs, she spent her childhood trying to learn those penned by others. As she recalled during a conversation with BBC Radio 6, she can’t quite remember which song spawned her first riff, but it was between two: Nirvana’s iconic ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and Jethro Tull’s ‘Aqualung’.
Born in the early 1980s, Clark was the perfect age to be taken in by the grunge stylings of Nirvana, who released their sophomore record, Nevermind, in 1991. Reinventing guitar music for a new audience, the trio created raw but melodic tracks that still stand up three decades later. Their biggest hit from the record was ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, which contains an iconic riff that many budding guitarists set out to learn.
Those iconic gritty opening strums open out into thunderous drums provided by Dave Grohl, a wall of sound only Kurt Cobain’s iconic riff could cut through. It’s one of the most well-loved guitar parts of all time, so it’s no surprise that Clark endeavoured to play it while she was still getting to grips with the instrument.
The other riff Clark suggests could have been the first she learned was from Jethro Tull’s ‘Aqualung’, which predates ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by two decades and her birth by one. Released in 1971, ‘Aqualung’ was the opening, titular track for Jethro Tull’s fourth record, kicking things off with a catchy riff.
Just five lonely twangs open the track, but despite its simplicity, it’s an undeniably catchy and effortlessly cool riff. It’s also perfect for a beginner—as Clark was when she first tackled it. Accessible to an amateur guitarist without compromising on its prog-rocking quality, it makes sense that ‘Aqualung’ may have been the first riff Clark set out to play.
Whether it was ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ or ‘Aqualung’, those early moments set St. Vincent on a path to become one of the greatest guitarists in contemporary music, joining the likes of Cobain. She would go from learning the riffs of her predecessors to creating her own guitar style, which would, in turn, inspire countless others to pick up the instrument. Newcomers to the art rock scene, such as The Last Dinner Party, have been inspired by her guitar-playing style just as she was inspired by Nirvana and Jethro Tull.
