Not just Rock or Pop. Any piece of music you like the “hook” for.
Some of mine:
The William Tell Overture bit used for The Lone Ranger
The basic riff in Pink Floyd’s Money
The riff in the Beatles’ Day Tripper
The intro to the Doors’ Riders on the Storm
There are at least 50 I could name without slowing down.
What makes a hook catchy? The beat? The melody? What?
The piano figure in Dave Brubeck’s Take Five
The riff in the Classic 4’s Spooky which is very close to the one in Stormy
The break in the Four Seasons’ Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You
The intro to Elton’s Bennie and the Jets
The riff in Gregg Allman’s Midnight Rider
The intro to the ABB Whipping Post
The riff in Gino Vannelli’s People Gotta Move
The bass line in *Come As You Are * by Nirvana
The bass line in *Come Down * by Bush
The guitar riff in *Back in Black * by AC/DC
The acoustic guitar intro on *Over the Hills and Far Away * by Led Zeppelin
The guitar riffs in Gasoline and *Show Me How to Live * by Audioslave
It’s short, it’s simple, it’s obvious, and it’s totally perfect; that little chromatic four-note line in Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” (written by Willie Nelson) from the C to the A7:
“Crazy… bah-bah-bah-bahhh… I’m crazy for feelin’ so lonelyyyy…”
Warren Zevon’s riff in Lawyers, Guns and Money Dum, dum dum dum dum dum dum dah, Dum dum dum dum dum…
It goes so well with the lyrics, it’s insistant and almost menacing, it stays with you.
Pacelbel’s Canon - Sweet and layered, yet stately. (though now my wedding music has become a ringtone, rather disconcerting, that, I thought it was so original 24 years ago)
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Dosed the combination of wistful chorus, touching harmonies and Flea’s melodic bass effectively hook the listener in.
Broken Social Scene’s Cause =Time It’s a dreamy meandering song, yet the refrain about “the cause” adds a sort of punctuation that you can’t get out of your head.