| The Riff | |
| Cover: | Lordi the riff.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Lordi |
| Album: | To Beast or Not to Beast |
| Genre: | Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Length: | 3:47 |
| Label: | Sony Music |
| Producer: | Michael Wagener |
| Prev Title: | This Is Heavy Metal |
| Prev Year: | 2010 |
| Next Title: | Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
"The Riff" is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. It is the first and only single from the album To Beast or Not to Beast, released on 8 February 2013.[1] The band has also made a music video for the song.[2] It's also the first Lordi song that has been released also as an official lyrics video.[1]
Lordi performed "The Riff" in a German television competition Wok WM in 2013.[3] The song is also featured in a Pinball Rocks app game.[4]
The music video of "The Riff" was filmed exclusively in Czech Republic, in a local supermarket Albert. The video was filmed by Martin Muller. A Czech playmate Dominika Jandlova is featured in the video. The music video got censored by the label Sony Music; they didn't let Dominika Jandlova appear naked in the video.[5]
The lyrics speak figuratively about a near-death experience narrated in the first person. The narrator meets and is offered transport by the grim reaper, which he tries to refuse. The grim reaper insists he "take a peek", referencing visions of the afterlife frequently encountered in near-death experiences. The grim reaper plays a song on guitar and asks the narrator for his honest opinion, to which he uncomfortably replies that "the riff is a killer, but the rest is a throw-away". The grim reaper subsequently dies, and the narrator plagiarises his song, signifying resuscitation and drawing inspiration from the experience.[6]