Hooks in Popular Music

Description

This volume is the first book-length study of hooks in popular music. Hooks - those memorable musical moments for listeners such as a riff or catchy melodic phrase – are arguably the guiding principle of much modern popular music. The concept of the hook involves aspects of melody, rhythm, harmony, production, lyrical and cultural meaning - and how these interact within a song’s topline and backing track. Hooks are also inherently related to the human capacities for memory and attention, and interact with our previous experiences with music. Understanding hooks in popular music requires a new interdisciplinary approach drawing from popular music studies, pop musicology, and music psychology, and this book draws from each of these disciplines to understand the hooks present in a broad range of popular music styles from the last thirty years. Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures 1 The Intro 1.1 Defining the Hook 1.2 The Hook as Discussed by Music Journalists and Critics 1.3 The Hook as Discussed by Producers and Musicians 1.4 The Hook as Discussed in Songwriting Texts 1.5 The Hook as Discussed by Songwriters 1.6 Hooks and Pop Music 1.7 Conclusions References 2 Can’t Get You Out of My Head: Hooks and Psychology 2.1 Hooks as Implicitly Psychological 2.2 The Psychology of Standing Out 2.3 The Psychology of Memorability 2.4 Hooks in Relation to Earworms 2.5 Attention, Memory, and Emotion in Music 2.6 Conclusions References 3 Thank U, Next: Hooks in Popular Music Studies 3.1 Burns (1987) 3.2 Musicology Wrestles with Pop 3.3 Hooks in Popular Music Studies 3.3.1 Studies About Hooks 3.3.2 Studies that Refer to Hooks 3.3.3 Modern Studies of Hooks 3.4 Conclusion References 4 This Is How We Do It: An Approach to Hooks 4.1 Our Conceptualisation of Hooks 4.2 Our Taxonomy of Hooks 4.2.1 Toplines and Backing Tracks 4.2.2 Hooks in Structure 4.2.3 Compound Hooks: Hook Stacks and Multi-Hooks 4.3 Conclusion References 5 Sing It Back: Melody and Topline Hooks 5.1 Topline Pitch Hooks 5.1.1 Shapes, Steps, Skips, and Leaps 5.1.1.1 Steps and Skips 5.1.1.2 Leaps 5.1.1.3 Ascending and Descending 5.1.2 One-Note Melodies 5.2 Topline Rhythm Hooks 5.2.1 Note Length in Toplines 5.2.2 Phrase Length in Toplines 5.2.3 Syncopation in Toplines 5.2.4 Rhythms That Evoke Prosodic Cues 5.2.5 Rhythms That Evoke Sounds from Everyday Life 5.3 Topline Performance Hooks 5.3.1 Sonic Signatures in Vocalists 5.3.2 Vocalists Using Modulations in Performance 5.3.3 Performance Hooks Based Around Different Singers 5.4 Topline Production Hooks 5.4.1 Signal Processing, Effects and Editing 5.4.1.1 Distortion 5.4.1.2 Auto-Tune and Vocoder 5.4.1.3 Delay 5.4.1.4 EQ and Filters 5.4.1.5 Reverb 5.4.1.6 Dryness 5.4.2 Editing 5.4.2.1 Reversed Audio 5.4.2.2 Panning 5.5 Topline Lyrical Hooks 5.5.1 Alliteration 5.5.2 Rhyme 5.5.3 ‘Nonsense’ Syllables 5.5.4 Stutter 5.5.5 Interesting Phrases, Unexpected Words, and Offensive Language 5.5.6 Intertextuality 5.5.7 Conceptual Lyrical Hooks 5.6 Conclusion References 6 D-D-Don’t Don’t Stop the Beat: Backing Track Hooks 6.1 Backing Track Pitch Hooks 6.1.1 Melodies and Countermelodies 6.1.2 Basslines 6.1.3 Call and Response Hooks 6.1.4 Licks and Solos 6.2 Backing Track Rhythm Hooks 6.2.1 Rhythmic Feels and Grooves 6.2.2 Rhythmic Accents and Variations 6.2.3 Stops and Starts 6.3 Backing Track Harmony Hooks 6.4 Backing Track Instrumentation and Arrangement Hooks 6.4.1 Novel Instrument Sounds 6.4.2 Novel Arrangements 6.5 Backing Track Production Hooks 6.5.1 Delay 6.5.2 EQ and Filters 6.5.3 Filter Sweeps 6.5.4 Pitch-Shifting, Slowing down, and Speeding up 6.5.5 Distortion 6.5.6 Panning 6.5.7 Compression: Side Chaining 6.5.8 Editing 6.6 Conclusion References 7 Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus: Structural Hooks 7.1 Repetition in Pop Music 7.1.1 Repetition Within a Song 7.1.2 Repetition of a Song 7.1.3 Repetition Between Songs 7.2 Verses and Choruses 7.3 Prechoruses, Postchoruses, and Other Elements of Verse-Chorus Form 7.4 Tension and Release 7.5 Novel Elements and Novel Combinations of Elements 7.6 Modulations in Time and Key 7.6.1 Tempo Changes 7.6.2 Time Signature Modulations 7.6.3 Key Signature Modulations 7.7 Conclusion References 8 Parallel or Together?: Compound Hooks 8.1 Hook Stacks 8.2 Multi-Hooks 8.3 Riffs 8.3.1 Feature Riff Hooks 8.3.2 Continuous Riff Hooks 8.4 Samples and Interpolation 8.5 Conclusion References 9 The Outro 9.1 Song Analysis: Hooks in Context 9.1.1 Topline Hooks 9.1.2 Backing Track Hooks 9.1.3 Structural Hooks 9.2 What’s not a Hook? 9.3 The Role of the Study of Hooks in Music Psychology 9.4 The Role of the Study of Hooks in Popular Musicology 9.5 Unresolved Questions and Future Research 9.6 Bonus Track References Discography Index