Listening to Beyonce’s Crazy In Love and really enjoying the opening, I thought of all the great hooks in pop music. The two greatests have got to be Chic’s Good Times and The Rolling Stones Satifaction. I think Hooked on a Feeling has got one of the most recognizable ones ever.
So, what hooks grab you? Which are instantly recognizable to you?
I’m not even sure I know a clean definition of “hook” in the sense you’re using it, but if I catch your drift, some that work for me best are:
Billie Jean
Superstition
Money (both Pink Floyd and Barrett Strong)
What’d I Say (Ray Charles)
Long Cool Woman
Walk Don’t Run (Ventures)
If these are way off base, after I get a good “hook” definition, I’ll try again.
Thriller is chock-full of hooks. One that I just finished enjoying was “P.Y.T. (Pretty young Thing)”, especially with its fine use of the Vocoder.
“Cracklin’ Rosie” by Neil Diamond is another good example, as is “Summer Breeze”, especially with the toy piano introduction.
The intro to “My Girl”, by the Temptations. Easily one of the most recognizable intros ever written. Written and played by The Funk Brothers in Motown.
More Than a Feeling
Time Is Tight (Booker T & the MG’s)
Wicked Game
Owner of a Lonely Heart
I don’t want to list a million, so I’ll just say the one that’s stuck in my head right now - Jurassic5’s “Thin Line”. Now, with more Nelly Furtado!
Some people are using the term “hook” to mean a song’s intro. I’d prefer to think of it as a brief burst of “main attraction” music that defines the song, which can come at any point.
Of course, hooks are very commonly employed in the beginning of songs. On the other hand, some songs do it differently. An example would be ELO’s instrumental “Fire on High”, which lulls the listener along for over a minute before whipping out its signature guitar hook. Kansas’s “Carry on Wayward Son” buries it’s guitar hook after an a capella version of the refrain, which leads off the track.
Sweet’s “Love is Like Oxygen” starts off with a mild synthesizer hook, but goes downtown later with its guitar hook.
Other great hooks:
Gotta second Chic’s “Good Times”
the beginning-of-the-bridge hook in Heart’s “Magic Man”
the opening of Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks”
the opening guitar notes of Aldo Nova’s “Fantasy” (after the helicopter sounds)
Ray Parker, Jr.'s guitar intro to “The Other Woman”
the strings which open Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Til You get Enough”
the intro to Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality”
the violin intro to John Mellencamp’s “Check it Out”
The recurring guitar riff of “Paperback Writer” (obligatory Beates reference)
Duane Allman’s opening riff on Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla”
“GODZILLA”- Blue Oyster Cult
“I stole your love”- KISS
“Breakin the law”- JUDAS PRIEST
“ROUNDABOUT”- YES
Walk This Way
Sweet Child O’ Mine
Sweet Emotion (bass intro, bridges, and the guitar under the verses)
Back in Black
Smoke on the Water
Enter Sandman
a1 – Take On Me (techno cover of 1985 hit by A-Ha)
Gina G – Ooh Aah . . . Just a Little Bit
What, no one’s said “Frankenstein” yet? Best hook ever.
I was under the impression that what you’re referring to is usually called the bridge or break, and that hook is just a synonym for chorus.
Going by the latter definition, some of my favorite hooks of recent crop of singles are:
50 cent - Many Men
Pharrell - Frontin’
R.Kelly - Ignition Remix
Clipse - Cot Damn
Outkast - Flip Flop Rock
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jetssssssssssssssss
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (from My G-G-G-Generation)
B-B-B-B-Baby, you just ain’t see n-n-nothin’ yet
A hook is that little thing that makes the song stand out. When you can call the radio station and say “You know, that one with <hook> in it” and they’ll know what you mean, that’s a hook.
Often the hook is at the beginning or in the chorus, but it doesn’t have to be.
The guitar lick in Satisfaction is a hook. Anybody can sing that and it will be instantly recognized. Stevie’s clavinet on Superstition is a GREAT hook. You can burp just the first few notes of that lick and everyone will know what song it is.
The hook can be just a sound or production effect, or a harmony. The bass vocal on Still the One by Orleans is an excellent hook. The vocal intro on The Lion Sleeps Tonight is one of the all-time great hooks, especially the break from falsetto to normal voice “e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-um, um, uh-way.” Fabulous.
I always thought of the hook as the part of the song that you hum. The earworm. The part you remember-- the part that “hooks” you.
I’d say that many hooks are in the intro-- the artists just want to get you from the beginning-- but not all hooks are in the beginning of the song. Like Tommy Tutone’s 867-5309/Jenny. Now that I’ve posted that I bet everyone will be humming eight six seven five three-O niee–ine before they even realize they are doing it.
Would Pennsylvania 6-5000 count then?
Thanks for the defs.
I even have a book How To Write Songs On Guitar that uses the term without a clear definition, leaving one to suspect or infer its meaning.
One that serves as a hook for me is that place in Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You where it ramps up to the “… I love you, baby…” part. What’s the right name for that latter section? Bridge?
I think of the hook as the part of the song that almost gives yuo a spiritual experience and makes you see God. Or gives you an orgasm. You know what I mean, it’s the part of the song that thrills you.
The best example I can think of offhand is Widespread Panic’s Weight of the World, from their first album. It’s during the chorus, when the slide guitar leads into a response from the horn section. I saw WP when the venue hosted a New Orleans festival, and they did WotW with none other than the Dirty Dozen Brass Band doing the horn riff. When I’m king, they will be required to play that hook for me daily.
Funny that you mention hooks, the CD I’m burning right now is really a collection of those. Filter’s chorus in You Walk Away, Phish’s shuckin’ acoustic guitar leading into a big band response in Down With Disease, Old 97’s wailing chorus in Time Bomb, and Tomahawk’s building crescendo in God Hates a Coward. I would include Moe’s Opium in the mix, but those asshat recording engineers had to make it a 19 minute track with 13 minutes of silence. How do they expect us CD rippers to put together killer compilations of stolen music? Didn’t they ever read Abby Hoffman? I didn’t either but you get the idea.
The first one I thought of was Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.
The intro to Mysterious Ways by U2
Okay, I googled for some definitions. According to this guy “the hook is the repeated title section of the song.” It’s the part of the chorus that contains the title of the song. So for example, in Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated”, it was “Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?” For “In da club”, it was “You can find me in the club/ bottle full a’ bub”
Just to name the most inescapable hooks of the last year.
Louie, Louie (The Kingsmen) is nothing but one hook over and over again.