Hooks

Hooks, the things that make songs “catchy” (and to some extent “accessible”) are the sine qua non of pop music. I’m really interested in precisely studying the characteristics of hooks. One phenomenon I notice now and again with a pop song is that it will have multiple different kinds of hooks. The 1983 song Shy Shy by British synth-popsters Kajagoogoo is a good example. It’s also a good example of some hooks working better musically than others. The hook that sold this song commercially is of course the chorus, which few who were aware of pop music in the 80s could forget, even if they wanted to (which is most of the time; and I apologize for the earworm I’ve given you by even bringing it up). However, I’ve always thought that the intro and verse of this song are much stronger musically with their atmospheric interplay between the bass line and the synth washes and rhythmic guitar work. The vocal part is underlain by a nice chord progression as well. (The resemblance to Duran Duran is no coincidence. The song was produced by Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes. But in actuality, this song was a hit before any of Duran Duran's.) However, as soon as the bridge arrives “Hey girl, move a little closer…” the song loses everything. It sounds like a different song. It’s even worse when it hits the chorus. It’s almost forcably inserted into the song seemingly from another (far inferior) song. There is some rhythmic complexity in the chorus, but with me it has no staying power. I probably liked it the first few times I heard it, but since then I simply yearn for the (all too brief) verse sections of the song. Anyway, without dwelling too much on this particular song or band (a one hit wonder in most analyses, at least on this side of the pond), I just think this is a nice example of simplistic hooks versus actually musically effective (or at least good-sounding) hooks. Your mileage will no doubt vary…