And a hook that sinks deep and sticks around for life. A catchy chorus? Nice enough, but it's the hook that survives. Here are 35 for your brain:
Baba O'Riley
The Who
No chorus necessary -- just the words "teenage wasteland."
Barry Manilow
At the Copa.
Waylon Jennings
Catchy chorus overpowered by Jennings' tear-your-heart lament: "I don't want to get over you."
The Cranberries
Dolores O'Riordan yelps her way into our brains.
Curtis Mayfield
That's what I said.
Nirvana
Sometimes the aural delight is a stretched-out word -- in this case, Kurt Cobain's "memory-ah."
The Ronettes
Whoa-oh-oh-oh.
Weezer
Perfect, wordless singalong hook.
The Vogues
Ditto.
James
Falsetto yelping can be good.
Greg Kihn Band
Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.
Del Shannon
I wa-wa-wa-wa-wonder.
The Fratellis
Boisterous burst of voices making noise.
Beyoncé
She owes it all to the blast of horns first heard in The Chi-Lites' "Are You My Woman?"
Madonna
A material ... a material ... a material ...
Jackson 5
Oh baby, give me one more chance.
A-ha
Slip of a song, but the dude can flit through the octaves.
Angels & Airwaves
I cannot live, I can't breathe, unless you do this with me.
Shawn Mullins
Everything's gonna be all right.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
They don't love you like I love you.
Blink-182
Don't waste your time on me you're already a voice inside my head (or is it yed?).
Blur
Whoo-hoo!
Britney Spears
Oh baby baby.
Buckcherry
I love the cocaine, I love the cocaine.
Chic
Freak out!
Outkast
Shake it like a Polaroid picture.
David Essex
James Dean.
Faith No More
You want it all but you can't have it.
Hanson
The worst song, the best killer hook.
Hole
Someday you will ache like I ache.
Lindsey Buckingham
Buckingham's stretch on the word "road."
Queen
Stomp stomp clap. Everyone's done it.
Rick Springfield
Why can't I find a woman like that?
Weezer
What's with these homies, dissin' my girl?
R. Kelly featuring Cassidy
Checking out six in the morning.
4 comments:
I always like the guitar hook in Candlebox's "Far Behind."
Yay! "Holiday Roooooo-ooooo-0oooooo-ad" sigh. . .
My Fleetwood Mac blog, Heroes Are Hard To Find is conducting a contest in honor of Lindsey Buckingham's new album, Gift Of Screws (09.16.08). I thought it might be of interest to you or your readers!
http://heroesarehardtofind.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-am-lindsey-buckingham-contest.html
The eerie wailing of a lone sax on Bob Seger's "Turn the Page"; or the wrist action of Tommy on "Pinball Wizard" by The Who; "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp (little ditty, 'bout Jack and Diane...who doesn't know THAT song?) or my favorite of all-time, "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly, 17 minutes of heavy metal/psychedelic music with a few lyrics. Amazing stuff.
"You better run, you better take cover!" --Down Under, Men at Work
I hadn't heard the song in 10 years, and had completely forgotten about it until I heard that single line on the radio. Then an entire set of memories came flooding back. This is especially amazing because the memories were from when I was three years old.
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