Hey Music Lovers: what's the best instrumental hook of all time?

[Bicoastal]

A hook is a repeated musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". his term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, dance, and pop music. A hook can, in general, be either melodic or rhythmic, and often incorporates the main motif for a piece of music.

Famous examples: the first eleven notes of this song; the first nine(?) notes of this song.

So what's the best instrumental hook in pop music? My personal favorite is the opening guitar part in this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8JPIlrDb3c

[MrCoffee]

1. I'm partial to Slash

Sweet Child O' Mine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oobDQ0vdm8M&

[Blue-Jay]

2. AWB - Pick Up The Pieces.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-TSmRvo8QaY

[Hutzpa]

27. OP wanted favorite HOOK not Jazz n/t

[Blue-Jay]

39. That's funk, not jazz, and you don't know what a "hook" is. n/t

[Hutzpa]

46. What a lame argument...... cheeerio

I don't know what a hook is.....hahaha!

but you posted a funk as a hook...dang!!


:hi:

[greenbriar]

35. I LOVE this song

awesome

[MrScorpio]

3. (Falling Like) Dominoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16_RNvYWogs

[KG]

4. maybe not the greatest, but i kinda like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytHMQyJfVfg

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. loving this thread !! Great idea, thanks..

Just what the Dr. ordered for today :thumbsup:

this whole song is an instrumental but, it is a hook...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WU9PBE1HEU

[jobycom]

Sweet Home Alabama, Under Pressure, Smoke on the Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huLklsj_5HI

Under Pressure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-xVb1qsPCw

Smoke on the Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WX_4FNoto4

[JVS]

6. This thread looks like a recipe for earworms

[flvegan]

7. "Crazy Train" personally

First song I learned to play, and Randy Rhoads was a guitar god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF2inhZO2Ys&feature=related

Plus, MrCoffee already picked SCOM.

[skooooo]

43. Crazy Train??? I always thought it was "Gravy Train!"

:rofl:

[Fox Mulder]

8. Right here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq6r2ofy29g

[datasuspect]

9. john lennon

from the track Fame from Young Americans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfeaNKcffMk

[tigereye]

10. Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man has to be up there...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjJaH40rArU

[MonkeyFunk]

11. My personal favorite

is probably the sax at the beginning of Young Americans.

[Cant trust em]

12. any number of riffs whipped up by Mr. Keith Richards.

[NashVegas]

13. Zep - "Good Times Bad Times" Is the First Thing That Comes to Mind

If I thought about it for longer, I may come up with something different.

But with those first two notes, the drums, the notes again, something about that intro just screams, "we are going to have some FUN here."

After thinking about it for two minutes - Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" opening riff comes close.

[Taverner]

14. Europe '72 - The Grateful Dead - China Cat > Rider

During the transition.

It wasn't live unfortunately - they added the part in the studio.

But its a great 'moment'

[Fire Walk With Me]

15. Beethoven's Fifth.

[rucky]

17. I'll have to agree with that one.

or Whole Lotta Love

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. Crap! Hadn't considered Whole Lotta Love.

[originalpckelly]

16. Anything recorded by "The Funk Brothers" for Motown.

:P

Especially anything in the '60s.

[Whisp]

23. yep yep. i posted before i read yours. ;)

[bluesbassman]

19. Apache - The Shadows

A hook that tells a story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqNBImPObP4&feature=related

[Jade Fox]

29. Good choice!! n/t

[Orsino]

20. "Satisfaction"

Perhaps not the greatest song in the world, but those opening notes get ya.

[monmouth]

21. Nessun Dorma has that one "repeat" that just blows my end.

It's that segment with the pause of the singer and then it goes into it. Heart wrenching... Nobody did it like Pavarotti..

[Whisp]

22. My Girl

would really recommend seeing In The Shadow of Motown - about the Funk Bros, the musicians that made a whole ton of stars but were horribly underappreciated and underpaid.

[hellbound-liberal]

24. Some really good ones have already been listed but my first thought was Layla

The part where the piano comes in by itself (I think it's referred to as the piano coda?) is one of the most memorable riffs in popular music to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2sfelvHAlU

[Hutzpa]

25. Bet they can't beat this one

Lonnie Liston was the man for hook

and this is no fluk the man was the

shizznic....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dmX2uhQrZs&feature=related

[masshole]

26. 3 of my favs

The Animals - House of the Rising Son: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBGXwX-TdTY&feature=related

The Ventures - Hawaii 5-O: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA84fLpp0Js

The Damned - Smash it up (parts 1 & 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfF5YN-V-iY&feature=related

[ghostsofgiants]

31. Good call on "Smash It Up."

So good.

[begin_within]

28. I would say "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty

[ghostsofgiants]

30. Not sure about best, but some of my favourites...

Bloc Party - "Hunting For Witches"
Refused - "Refused Are Fuckin' Dead"
Rancid - "Olympia, WA"

[WinkyDink]

32. The Searchers: "When You Walk in the Room".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RGC75RQjec&feature=related

[charlie and algernon]

33. the string part in Bittersweet Symphony

followed closely by the 3 note opening of Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones


Bittersweet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-Po8uJeoUw
Stones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW4DPIBO5OU

[begin_within]

34. I love that one

"Bittersweet Symphony" has to be one of the most stolen pieces of music of all time - I have heard it used so many times as background music, etc.

[NashVegas]

44. Which Is Actually a Stones Riff

An orchestra version of "The Last Time."

[greenbriar]

36. Start me Up...the Rolling Stones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW4DPIBO5OU





I loved it when Arrowhead Stadium used to play this

[UTUSN]

37. The dat-dat-diddy-doo, dat-dat-diddy-doo to New York New York, or

the intro to Ave Maria (SHUBERT)--no, wait, this one ain't a hook is it, since it's background to the whole thing.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

38. Chris Squire's bass ostinato in "Roundabout"

the "yeah, yeah, yeah" in the Beatles' "She Loves You" (not instrumental, but utterly unforgettable in those three part harmonies), the bass riff in Air's "La Femme d'Argent." Pagey's ringing open chords in Zep's "When the Levee Breaks" and the sinuous crunch of dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah dt dah-dah-dah" of "Kashmir." Or Jaco Pastorius' chiming harmonics at the beginning of Weather Report's "Birdland." AAAH!

Dammit, don't get me started! :)

[ok_cpu]

40. Here's a couple of mine:

War "Low Rider"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSsm6mPZA1w

The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j7huh5Egew

James Brown "Ain't It Funky Now"

Steely Dan "Peg"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEhRnBSGPjA

[ForrestGump]

41. Many. The opening of "Jailhouse Rock" and George Harrison's 12-string chord that

kicks off "A Hard Day's Night" (actually, it's a layered affair with instrumental contributions from all four Beatles and George Martin) are two immediately recognizable, iconic pop/rock'n'roll intros.

[jobycom]

42. Does anyone click on

posts that don't tell you what they are about? Seriously, like who has the time to click on a post that says "Here's mine?" Am I the only one who doesn't bother?

I guess that the only responses I could get to this are from people who DO click on such posts... :(

[Amerigo Vespucci]

50. Here's mine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

:evilgrin:

[LibraLiz1973]

45. Right Place, Wrong Time ~ Dr John

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kNK28QZe0hM

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

47. all of these are good, but I want to put a word in

for Norman Greenbaums (sp?) Spirt in the sky

[carlyhippy]

48. Lunatic fringe- Red Rider or My Sharona-the Knack

Carly

[Amerigo Vespucci]

49. Iggy & The Stooges, "Down On The Street"

The reunited Stooges perform "1969" & "Down On The Street" (at the 3:48 mark) in August 2007:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-j39KyobYI

:toast:

[sufrommich]

51. Bob Seger - Back in '72

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvJjbMi-SPU

and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzcF0v1eOE

this also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fX0zx9dF6A

and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCnKASLoA78

oh, and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBaiHtfGc3Q

[Inspired]

52. There's this hook in 'I Need You Tonight' by INXS that I've always liked.

[CreekDog]

53. A favorite of mine is from "One Time One Night In America" by Los Lobos

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qmgfLI1NBe8

and pretty much anything by the Pretenders

Middle of the Road is very cool:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mdd0PJqslfE

and I don't know if it counts, but Stevie Ray Vaughn's playing in "Let's Dance" the song (and the whole album) is incredible and distinctive.

[mokawanis]

54. AC/DC Thunderstruck

Don't care for most of the song but the guitar opening, carried throughout the song, is great

[nomorenomore08]

55. Jesus and Mary Chain - "The Hardest Walk"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rycMnQ16z3E

Not necessarily "best of all time," but a personal favorite. The first few seconds are absolutely transcendent.

[grace0418]

56. THE best is hard to choose. A great one, though, is in How Soon is Now? by the Smiths.

Other would have to be Superstition by Stevie Wonder.