What is a hook?
What is a Hook?
Quite literally, these are the aspects of a song that ‘hook’ themselves in the listeners mind. It’s quite easy to recognise what makes a good hook, but slightly more difficult to define it. Here are some examples:
Musical hooks:
50 Cent; ‘In Da Club’
The very first thing we hear is the instantly recognisable and memorable riff played by the bass instrument and string sound. Also, notice how the rhythm of the riff complements the drum track perfectly: they move together, giving you an instant groove to dance to.
Sugababes: ‘Freak Like Me’
This record is a combination of two songs, “Are Friends Electric” by Gary Numan and “Freak Like Me” by Adina Howard. Notice that the synthesizer line is just as memorable as the song is, possibly more so.’Are Friends Electric?’ was a number one single for Gary Numan in 1979, despite having no chorus and a lyric about Cyborg prostitutes. It was also a combination of two songs just like “Freak Like Me”. The key change that happens twice in the Numan version was originally from an 
entirely separate song (you can here this section at the end of “Freak Like Me”). It goes to show that some of most successful songs happen purely by accident. And that rules are made to be broken etc.
Vocal Hooks
Minnie Ripperton: “Loving You”
This was a massive hit all over the world in 1975, and was produced by Stevie Wonder. Legend has it that Minnie improvised the “la la la” section when she sang the song for the first time, and it has since become the most memorable thing in a song packed full of hooks. Also notice that after a short intro, this song starts with the chorus.
Blur ‘Song 2’
We know this “Woo Hoo!” line is a hook by the fact that most people know this song as the ‘Woo Hoo Song’. Simple, memorable, and a sentiment that works perfectly with the music. A classic use of ‘light and shade’ (see The Energy in a Song)
5 6 7 8s ‘Woo Hoo’
And here’s the actual woo hoo song! Nothing spectacular here but an annoyingly catchy hook, and a place on the soundtrack to Kill Bill.
Lyrical hooks:
Eminem: ‘My Name is’
Simple repetition of the line “My Name is” probably would have been enough to keep this track in our heads, but Eminem throws in many other instantly memorable lines all contributing to the tracks ‘hookiness’. Examples are ‘I don’t know which member of the spice girls I want to impregnate’, ‘God sent me to piss the world off’. Both of these lines are mildly shocking, grabbing our attention and leave a lasting impression on the audience. It also gives us a real sense of the character of Eminem, which distinguishes him as an individual in a world of generic rappers.
Wildchild: ‘Renegade Master’ remix by Fatboy Slim
This one really is down to repetition, but in this style of music the repetition is mandatory. Again, the lyric is simple but instantly memorable:
Back once again for the renegade master
B-Boy damager, power to the people
Back once again for the renegade master
B-Boy damager with the ill behaviour
The fact that the vocal on this song has been very obviously manipulated in samplers and/or computers only adds to its impact, and is part of Norman Cook’s uniquely distinctive style of this time.
A Hooky Conclusion
You can’t over emphasise how important hooks are in a song. No matter what style of music you are writing, even if you are not intending to write overtly commercial music, your songs must include hooks. Everyone wants their songs to be remembered by their audience, right?
The Energy in a Song
But, where should these hooks fit in my song? How many hooks should I use? Can’t I just have one hook and then repeat it over and over, that would surely be memorable, wouldn’t it?
Every song has a sense of a flow of energy in it. Put simply, it is this flow that keeps our interest in the song, which in turn enables us to enjoy it. This energy is simply a metaphor for the flow of interesting things in a song: too fast and you can tire your listener too early, they’ll switch off. Too slow and you’ll bore your listener, they’ll switch off.
Getting this energy thing right takes practice and experience, but here are some hit writing tips to help you along the way:
- Get your hooks in early! You can even afford to start your song with the chorus, maybe an instrumental version of it if you’re feeling shy.
- Don’t be afraid to repeat the good bits in your song. After all, they’re the bits people like. Don’t over do it though, you must have a very good reason to repeat your chorus three times in the middle of your song. There is a kind of optimum number of repetitions of a part you must use in your song: too few choruses and your song will feel incomplete, too many and you will annoy your audience. Trial and error applies here.
- Keep it simple, stupid! Your audience does not care how clever you are, get over it and write something musically concise and clear.
- You can have more than one hook. In fact, the more the better. But don’t get too complicated (see above), and don’t confuse your audience.
- Light and shade. You need contrast in your song so that the loud bits sound loud, the fast bits sound fast and the quiet bits sound quiet. Nirvana made a whole career out of this (they copied it from The Pixies of course, but a good idea is a good idea).
Get help! Often, a songwriter can lose all perspective and objectivity on her song as she has been working on it for hours (or days. More than that, then I my experience its time to stop and move on to something else, like plumbing). Play your song to someone whose opinions you trust, be open to suggestions or just their overall impression. They’ll often say something like “I don’t know anything about song writing”, but you have to reassure them that any constructive comments they have will be well received. After all, most of your audience will know nothing about writing songs either.
