Hooked on a feeling.

Alright then. I do apologize for being so behind the times. I guess I've been busy; god knows what I've been busy with. Anyway, first hook vs. riff, then white album, then maybe I'll tell y'all about my foray into a private poker club last weekend.

The term hook comes from songwriting speak. It is certainly a nebulous term, but in essence it is a memorable part of a song (nearly always repeated) that's intended to 'hook' the listener. The hook is what gets stuck in your head.

A riff is an instrumental sequence, usually of a couple bars long at maximum, though you can certainly string many riffs together--then you're 'riffing'. I don't think a straight sequence of chords can ever be a riff, though more on that later. Whereas a riff is almost always instrumental1, a hook can be instrumental, melodic, or lyrical.

All of the riffs that we brought up last week were also (instrumental) hooks. This makes sense--the riffs we remember best, the ones that are most indelible, that we see as most important to the song, were designed to be remembered. Also, I do think this clears up the 'Smells like Teen Spirit' debate. Nish, your revelation that the opening of the song is certainly a riff, sounds to me like you're really saying that it's certainly a hook. I think we can rule out that opening because it's more of a chord progression than a riff, without overlooking its centrality to the song's catchiness. Those opening chords are indelible, truly a killer hook, but not, to my mind, a riff.

A melodic hook is most often found in the chorus, of course. Hooks should be easy to find, obvious. The melodic hook for 'She Loves You'? The song opens with it. You can't escape it. It sticks in your head. Great hook.

Lyrical hooks are a bit trickier to define. The same rules apply, though. It's a memorable line or two that 'hooks' you into the song by its lyrical content. Hmm...examples. What about "Nicotine, valium, vicodon, marijuana, ecstasy, and alcohol" from Queens of the Stone Age's 'Feel Good Hit of the Summer'? I remember that because the lyrics are 'catchy', not the melody or rhythm.

Many good riffs are also hooks, but not all. One example. During the last minute and a half of 'The End' at, you know, the end of Abbey Road, the 'Love you, love you' bit is the hook. It's repetitive and catchy. But John, Paul, and George's guitars are all in full riffing mode. I'd hesitate to call all guitar solos riffs (or series of riffs), but this one definitely works. The trading off of parts, every two bars, makes this sound less like a unified solo, and more like just a bunch of RIFFS.

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1Two exceptions come to mind. a) In jazz, I'm pretty sure you can talk about a vocal 'riff', but that makes sense, as certain jazz singing attempts to imitate the instruments (i'm thinking of scatting here). b) In it's secondary (for our purposes) meaning, to riff means to make a variation of. So, therefore, you could conceivably say that the lyrics to 'Good Night' riffs on the traditional lullabye. But clearly that's not what we're talking about in this discussion.