technically...what is "the hook"?

[frank]

I use this term all the time. I can kind of intuit what it means...but what is it in songwriting?

[dgochenour]

I would say it's the part that gets stuck in someone's head. A lyrical line, a guitar riff, a beat, etc.

[I'm Painting Again]

we are all going to die..a hook is something that initially grabs you, pulls you in like the arms of fate (or a zombie) reaching out of a grave..and occasionally replaces the lost hands of pirates..

[dgochenour]

pirates, yeah, I forgot about the pirates!

[trodden]

The Hook is coming and the Hook is coming and he'll follow you home.

[psychicoctopus]

To me, the hook is a catchy riff or vocal, that leads the verse to the chorus or vice versa. Something that catches you off guard the first time you hear it. It can break the repetitious monotony of the remainder of the song.

I can't claim to write good hooks, though...

[Catoogie]

The part you hum. The part that hooks you in.

[vvv]

It is the part that once it grabs you, won't let you go.

Think, for example, "Oh Black Betty, Bam A Lam..."

[coniferouspine]

The hook is what they give to bad tap-dancing bear standup comics and other performers who don't please the audience

[jc]

"The Hook" is the finger James Jamerson used to play his bass with.

[mjau]

The hook is the part when all the other guys shut up and let Justin Timberlake do his falsetto.

[housepig]

it's the part that you try to sing to the glassy-eyed slacker behind the counter at the record store, in between the phrases "do you have that song that goes like..." and "you know, that one... do you have it?"

[andrew embassy]

it's the part that you try to sing to the glassy-eyed slacker behind the counter at the record store, in between the phrases "do you have that song that goes like..." and "you know, that one... do you have it?"

Best definition yet!

[matttherat]

the first guitar notes on Misty Mountain Hop.

[JGriffin]

the first guitar notes on Misty Mountain Hop.

Exactly. It's the one bit that brings the entire song instantly to mind. If your song ain't got it, your song ain't got it.