Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Mon, 28 Sep 1992 17:02:47 EDT
From:         Rick <MMLRICK@UBVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Here's another query from Mike Masuda

On Thu, 24 Sep 1992 21:16:07 PDT Mike Masuda said:
>Okay allmusic netters,
>My friend and I have been discussing this for days now and I thought I
>should throw this out to the forum of allmusic:
>What makes some songs memorable, and some forgettable?  Why do some
>songs stick in your head all day?

This question got stuck in my head all weekend, and it maddens me like a
Christopher Cross song. I'm trying to forget it, but not even pounding my
frontal lobe with a croquet mallet can drive it from the forefront of my
thoughts. The only way I can exorcise it is to try to answer the question.

The short version of the question is "What's a hook made of?" Mike, you and
your friend seem to hit just about all the nails on the head. Let me illustrate
your possibilities with some songs out of my past. Disclaimer: these songs are
not my favorite; I don't think the're great or even that good. But they got
hooks, and that's why they made my list (and still stick in my brain whether or
not I want them to).
>
>Could it be:
>   1) melody
        Yes. Ex.: "(My Angel is a) Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band. The
               melody following the chorus (and reprised at the ending)
               just cries out for the listener to sing along with the record.
               It's straightforward and simple; the lyrics are "na na na-na na
               na..." not too hard to learn, and you can sing as if you're a
               taunting child on the playground (i.e.,nyah nyah nyah-nyah nyah)
>   2) lyrical content
         Yes. Ex.: any one of about 50 Bob Dylan songs. Weak on almost every
               other musical aspect, but the lyrics, whether political,
               personal, playful or altogether nonsensical, remain in your
               memory banks for years.
>   3) hype and overplay
         No doubt. The "hook" here is industry-driven. How else to explain
               the durability of dumb songs like "Cracklin' Rosie", "I Am
               I Said", "Longfellow Serenade", "Sweet Caroline" and "Song Sung
               Blue"?
>   4) mood and energy
         Good God, yes. How would "Walking On Sunshine" sound if Katrina and
               the Waves were having a triple-low biorhythm?
>   5) sound texture
         I guess by this you may mean "arrangement and/or production quality."
         (as opposed to 'monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic' that they teach
         you in Music Appreciation 101) If you don't mean that, please explain
         and feel free to thumb your nose at me. Anyway, any of Fleetwood Mac's
         Big Big Hits of the early '70's exemplify this. Everything oh so
         smooth and tasty too, from the background vocals to the guitar side
         comments to each well-placed cymbal splash. Hooksville.
>   6) relevance to listener
         By all means. When the most sophisticated, intellectual and sarcastic
         ALLMUSIC subscriber begins to get misty-eyed and lip-quivering over
         a globule of pinesap like "Mandy", you KNOW it has to do with personal
         reminiscence (usually accompanied with experience of a sexual nature).
>   7) virtuosity
         You bet. An otherwise forgettable song can be permanently imprinted
         in one's memory because of a great instrumental break or solo. Think
         of the jazz-inflected electric piano solo that salvaged the otherwise
         ho-hum "She's Not There" by the Zombies. For me the beginning and
         the end of the song are mere bookends to that solo, which shines
         forth brilliantly.
>   8) novelty
         Unquestionably, although a song with novelty value alone may not
         make it into the Hall of Fame of your musical brain. Novelty's good
         for short-term hooks. Anybody buy Weird Al Yankovic's first album
         recently?
>   9) Satan?
         "I am the god of HELLFIRE! And I bring you... FIRE!"
         Sorry, got carried away singing that one. Well, you-know-who made
         me do it. No not Mick Jagger, but close.

To this I'd add "cool harmonic structure" as in Steely Dan, "particular vocal
quirks" as in David Byrne's songs w/ and w/out Talking Heads, and "any song
with Andy Partridge's stamp on it", but I see that it's time to stop... I'm
about to get the hook myself.

A womp bomba loomba, a bomp bam boom,
Rick
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