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Hook (music)
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A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". This term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, dance, and pop music. In these genres, the hook is often found in, or consists of, the chorus. A hook can, in general, be either melodic or rhythmic, and often incorporates the main motif for a piece of music.
"a musical or lyrical phrase that stands out and is easily remembered"
Definitions of hook typically include some of the following features:
A hook has been defined as a "part of a song, sometimes the title or key lyric line, that keeps recurring.".
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Encyclopedia
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". This term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, dance, and pop music. In these genres, the hook is often found in, or consists of, the chorus. A hook can, in general, be either melodic or rhythmic, and often incorporates the main motif for a piece of music.
Definitions
- "a musical or lyrical phrase that stands out and is easily remembered"
Definitions of hook typically include some of the following features:
- repetition
- attention-grabbing
- memorability
- danceability
- commercial potential
- lyrics
A hook has been defined as a "part of a song, sometimes the title or key lyric line, that keeps recurring.". Alternatively, the term has been defined as "the foundation of commercial songwriting, particularly hit-single writing", which varies in length from the repetition of "one note or a series of notes...[to] a lyric phrase, full lines, or an entire verse. The hook is 'what you're selling'. Though a hook can be something as insubstantial as a 'sound' (such as da doo ron ron), "[i]deally [it] should contain one or more of the following: (a) a driving, danceable rhythm; (b) a melody that stays in people's minds; (c) a lyric that furthers the dramatic action, or defines a person or place."
"The word 'hook' connotes being caught or trapped, as when a fish is hooked,
and also addiction, as when one is hooked on a drug. These connotations, together with the idea of repetition, are captured in the Songwriter's Market definition of hook: 'A memorable "catch" phrase or melody line which is repeated in a song' (Kuroff 1982, p. 397). Bennett (1983) defines a hook as an 'attention grabber' (pp. 30,41). The definition in Shaw (1982) is: 'An appealing musical sequence or phrase, a bit of harmony or sound, or a rhythmic figure that grabs or hooks a listener. . . . [V]irtually no hit record is without a bit of music or words so compelling that it worms its way into one's memory and won't go away.' (p. 177) A radio listener, passing by, so to speak, is caught or trapped by 'a "catch" phrase or melody line' and may become hooked in the addictive sense as a result of the hook's memorability and recurrence."
It is hard to define what features make a hook appealing to listeners. While some melodic hooks include skips of a third or more to make the line more interesting, a hook can be equally catchy by employing rhythmic syncopation or other devices. A hook may also garner attention from listeners from other factors, such as the vocal timbre or instrumentation, as in the case of the Beach Boys' use of an unusual theremin-like instrument in Good Vibrations. Some hooks become popular without using any unusual elements. For example, in the song "Be My Baby", performed by The Ronettes, the hook consists of the words "be my baby" over the conventional I-vi-IV-V chord progression of the chorus .
Popular culture references
The concept of a musical hook is the subject of the 1994 Blues Traveler song "Hook", in which the band ridicules itself for playing a nonsensical song reliant on a catchy hook. Similarly, the KoRn song Y'All Want a Single (and to a greater extent its single) mocks the American record industry's focus on catchy hooks to sell records. The concept of a "hook" it is also the subject of the 2003 hip-hop song "Wat Da Hook Gon Be" by artist Murphy Lee, in which he states in the chorus, "I don't need no fucking hook on this beat," implying that the song's lyrics are catchy enough. In his song "Ice Ice Baby", Vanilla Ice heralds his hook with the line "Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it"
Use in market research
The hooks of songs may be used in market research to assist in gauging the popularity of a song by the recognizability of its hook. Often radio stations conduct "call out" either on the Internet, via telephone, or a music test (either online or in an in-person setting) to conduct surveys. Stations may use the services of a professional "hook service" such as Hooks Unlimited or Autohook (founded in 1983) or prepare the materials themselves. Hooks used are typically seven to ten seconds long.
See also
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