Hooked on music?

Sep 4 04:54 UTC 1997

Here are a series of excerpts from recent articles and web sites,
mostly music reviews and interviews with musicians:

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1.  "I think it can be comparable to a band like Nirvana," says Ian, "in
as much as it can be comparable to a band like The Beatles, in a way that
it's short pop songs with a lot of hooks and a lot of melody, based around
melody and vocals." 

2.  Sometimes I'll sit down with a drum groove and say, "I want to write a
tune that feels like this," and I'll let the groove keep playing until I
come up with a hook of some kind, and then I'll develop that. 

3.  And not only did ABBA have the ability to create intense melodic
hooks, they often packed several of these hooks into one song alone. Any
other respected pop artist would certainly try to spread a sudden burst of
song writing insight over an entire album's length. But ABBA couldn't find
the time to get them all in. An album wasn't really long enough for ABBA!
No, they packed their never-ending stream of hooks anywhere they could: in
every verse, chorus, song, single and album. 

4.  It's remarkable for the colossal number of interlocking melodic hooks
throughout: the title track is the best example, but also see the single
"Alphabet St.," and "Anna Stesia," a mood-altering masterpiece with
dramatic changes in dynamics and an uplifting religious ending. 

5.  The good news is you get another 11 songs on Just Add Ice that are
every bit as good-—fast rockers, slow weepers, hooks, melodies, craft,
heart, soul, the whole nine yards. 

6.  Later in the set comes the very, very fine "Back On Track."  It's a
performance that would have fit just fine on an Eddie Floyd record, with a
killer hook and hot guitar solo." 

7.  Emilio describes the sweetly silly "Doll Like You" as a song for the
grandpaws to sing on the front porch. "I’d Love You To Love Me" is a
hook-heavy valentine; while "She Gives" offers a more mature appreciation
of love, noting the sacrifices a wife makes and the support she provides
to her husband. 

8.  Their songs have good hooks and are lyrically adequate, plus they have
a nice bouncy bass. 

9.  "It's just like a jam. Henry and I will have a hook and we'll just jam
on it," Aguirre says.  "Our lyrics deal with life, and we have one
political song. "We're mostly a ‘good-times band.’" 

10.  Well, call me a sugar addict, but I prefer the one or two songs per
album that have a really good hook like Into the Fire. 

11.  Catchy, melodious hooks and a happy day at the beach are my first two
thoughts when I think of Limblifter's debut, self-titled release. 

12.  The latest release by this wonderful band from New Jersey, USA. We're
Not Getting Through literally explodes with harmonic pop hooks driven by
ringing guitars, ferocious drumming and melodic bass playing. 

13.  Four guys and a girl are in the band. They play a brand of harmony
loaden, hooks filled, Sixties oriented, Britpop style rock music. 

14.  Some of it's terrific: "Tick Tick Bang" has a ton of hooks including
a drum loop from a Jimi Hendrix record, "Joy In Repetition" is a
breathtakingly lovely story song, plus the religious rocker "Elephants &
Flowers" and "Still Would Stand All Time" with a splendid testifying
vocal. 

15.  Floodland has some darn good hooks (song you may have heard: This
Corrosion). 

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Hello?  What are they talking about?  What do they mean by "hook"?

Presumably someone is reading all the above comments and understanding
them.

Could someone give, maybe, five or six very specific examples of "hooks"
from songs I'm familiar witrh?  How do you know where one "hook" ends and
another begins?

I asked this question some while ago and got only ridicule for reply. 
Could we skip that this time, please?  I'll concede in advance that I'm an
idiot and a philistine who doesn't understand the average music review. 

Maybe this should be linked to the music conference.

response 2 of 45:

Sep 4 12:37 UTC 1997

A generation or two ago they used the word "catchy".  That sure
is a catchy tune.  Now it has "hooks".  Think fish.

response 4 of 45:

Sep 4 15:48 UTC 1997

     ((( Summer Agora #114  <---> Music #75 )))

response 6 of 45:

Sep 4 17:02 UTC 1997

Try this, from the Webster web dictionary, entry 8:

Main Entry: 1hook
Pronunciation: 'huk
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hOc; akin to Middle Dutch hoec
fishhook, corner, Lithuanian kenge hook
Date: before 12th century
 :
 :
8 : a device especially in music or writing that catches the attention

response 8 of 45:

Sep 4 19:10 UTC 1997

Re 7.  But given the quotes above, that definition doesn't work at all!

If you want to know what gets stuck in the heads of millions of people,
you'd probably have to ask them.  It probably varies hugely from one
person to another.  Practically every one of those quotes in #0 refer to
specific hooks as if each and every one were an objective, tangible,
verifiable thing like a note or a riff or a time signature.  I have never
read/heard anyone disputing over whether something is a hook or not, or
about how many hooks exist in a given piece of music.

If a "hook" were as deeply subjective as your definition claims, then how
would a reviewer recognize a "hook" in a piece of music he or she is
hearing for the first time?  Or can any reviewer just point to any
sequence of three or more notes, say "hook", and be automatically right
because the definition of "hook" is whatever a reviewer says it is?  I'm
sorry, but that makes it pretty damned meaningless; it's the Alice in
Wonderland "a word means whatever I want it to mean at the time" kind of
nonsense.

All the examples you give in #7 are of specifc lyrics.  I presume you
really mean the *music*, not the lyrics?  The examples in #0 and the
discussion so far strongly suggest that a "hook" is an aspect of the music
or melody, NOT lyrics.  If the songs were re-recorded with completely
different lyrics, or no lyrics, the hook should be exactly the same part
of the music, no? 

Excuse me for being dense, but this question has bothered me a while.

response 10 of 45:

Sep 4 20:25 UTC 1997

Re #8:  My understanding is that a hook is lyrics and melody together.  In
fact, I might go so far as to say that it's a specific singer singing a
specific set of lyrics with a specific melody.  But that's just my 
understanding, I may be wrong.  And yes, it's pretty subjective, since some
phrases stick in some people's heads and not others.  Still, I don't have too
much trouble, listening to a pop song, saying which parts are hooks and which
aren't.  Often hooks sound louder than the rest of the song, to make you
remember them, I think.

response 12 of 45:

Sep 5 00:50 UTC 1997

Perhaps a hook is close in concept to a motif?

response 14 of 45:

Sep 5 07:02 UTC 1997

Before we go on, the music majors need to explain what a 'motif' is.  Having
been one once, and since the concept was covered in the first-year theory I
took, I guess I can do the honor.

A motif is a series of notes that are repeated frequently throughout a
composition.  If I remember right (my textbooks are at my new place at the
college I'll be attending in a few weeks), the series doesn't have to contain
the very same notes-- they may shift by intervals and the pattern remains the
same.  A motif is an instrumental concept-- the closest comparison in lyrics
is a line that repeats itself a number of times.  You may even change a few
words, but if the idea remains the same, the pattern remains as well.
Indeed, music critics and reviewers are amateurs that often know very little
about music besides their dealings with the industry.  It's interesting "hook"
actually has a musical definition in the dictionary.  But the one given, I
thought, was a little lacking.  Sure, it's an attention-getting device, but
what are its parameters?

So far, we have agreed upon the following:
1) Hooks seem to be used very frequently in pop music
2) They have both a lyrical and instrumental component
3) If they are used for attention, simple, easy-to-remember, and sometimes
even trite words are used for the lyrics; the instrumentals will feature
snazzy and ear-catching sounds and riffs.  (whoops-- that's my interpretation.
Sorry.  The consensus was that they were "catchy.")
4) They depend on musical phrasing, and possibly even motifs, which are
commonly referred to as riffs.

I would state for the record that yes, the lyrics and instrumentals go
hand-in-hand for a hook.  Now-- if you want some examples-- try listening to
some synthpop or dance music.  This type of music is so full of sound FX and
common lyrics that perhaps you'll see my take.

response 16 of 45:

Sep 5 16:51 UTC 1997

   hooks don't have to have lyrics to go along with them. the drumbeat
intro of queen's "we are the champions" is a good example of a hook.

response 18 of 45:

Sep 5 22:15 UTC 1997

        It's like trying to tell a stranger about Rock & Roll

        Now, Bethoven's Fifth starts with this great hook, that is 
repeated a number of times in the piece.

response 20 of 45:

Sep 6 01:51 UTC 1997

As a musician and songwriter, I must weigh in on my definition and
understanding of the word "hook." First of all, a hook is not a lyric or sound
effect. The lyrical equivalent of the "hook" is usually a catchy chorus.
Perhaps the best (and earliest?) example of a hook in the Rock n Roll context
is the "Johnny B. Goode" guitar lick Chuck Berry plays. A quick tour through
some records of mine (randomly chosen) revealed the following notes and/or
chords I would refer to as "hooks":
Truth (Jeff Beck): The opening guitar lick in "Ain't Superstitious"
Pretenders (Pretenders first album): The descending chromatic line after each
verse (and after the famous lyric "But not me baby, I'm too precious, Fuck
off!")
Jumpin jack Flash (Rolling Stones): The guitar lick at the beginning of the
song.
Breakdown (Tom Petty): The guitar melody that precedes the verses
Rock n Roll (Mitch Ryder's version of the Lou Reed song): The opening guitar
and bass unison.
Also, after reviewing my records, I would probably modify my "hooks aren't
lyrics" and restate it to say that what makes a catchy chorus is an underlying
melody that "hooks" the listener. In other words, if you find your self
whistling the melody to the chorus, I would probably categorize that melody
as a "hook." Examples would be:
The Passenger (Iggy Pop): The "na na, na na, na-na-na-na" chorus.
Other hooks thatcome to mind:
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple): The first lick many would-be-rockers in the
70s ever learned.
Purple Haze (Hendrix): The guitar lick that follows the phrase ("scuse me
while I kiss the sky")
Tears of a Clown (Smokey Robinson): The instrumental lick at the beginning
Satisfaction (Rolling Stones): The guitar lick at the beginning and after each
chorus is actually quite similar to Keith Richards lick in "Jumpin' Jack
Flash" which goes to show that good hooks can be recycled (witness the
aforementioned Chuck Berry lick. Anyway, I could go on, but I need to log off
soon . . .
. 

response 22 of 45:

Sep 9 07:03 UTC 1997

... adding to the excellent #20 ... hooks are those tiny parts of
songs that encapsulate the entirety of the experience into the part.
so that, as was pointed out in #20, just a few words, or few notes
brings back the entire song in a jumpin' jack flash.
  
john phillip souza took his hooks to the bank!
  
almost all the music that has 'lasted' (and some that died fast) has
a hook in it, of some sort. 
  
remember the tv show, _name that tune_?  although that show used
only the oopening notes, the idea was the same... how tiny of a 
refernce can you use to identify the entire piece?
  
the morse code 'v' comes to mind also (as was mentioned by a differnet
reference, above).
  
"gimme an 'f' ...."  country joe and the fish
  
"you can get anything you want ..."
  
sound effect of a single lens reflex camera taking a picture ....
  
most times though, there is something memorable in, perhaps, the
chorus (repetition) that brings the song into focus fast ..."take this
job and...."
  
even if every other part of the song suckx, the hook (catchy as it is)
makes you remember it.

response 24 of 45:

Sep 10 02:00 UTC 1997

I would suggest that yes, there can be good music without hooks. For instance,
certain "new age" music has very few hooks. An even better example would be
the "minimalists" like Phillip Glass, whose music is often based upon
repetitive themes that, in some cases, is then subtly altered. Also, I would
suggest that Yes and Pink Floyd have plenty of hooks, such as the the guitar
riff and chorus in "Wish you were Here" (Floyd) and many parts in "Long
Distance Runaround" (Yes) where the hooks are often found in the bass lines.