Question of the Week : What are your favourite Hooks or Riffs in Pop and Rock Music?

[Soundofus]

Hey, there... It's Friday... Soon a well deserved weekend... So it's time for you to explore your musical knowledges for letting us know what are the memorable hooks or riffs which are pleasing your ears. That's the subject of this new Question Of The Week (QOTW).

First of all, what is a Hook or Riff in a song? A Hook is a 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.

A simple hook can make a song entering the collective memory for several generations or simply creates hysterical crowd's reaction when it's played live.

What are you favourite Hooks or Riffs in Pop, Rock music?

I will start with a few examples of my personal favourites.

The "Woo-Hoo" in Blur's song "Song 2". I have heard it in concert several times and it always makes the crowd becoming crazy.

spotify:track:3NyDGO0NDM7MTAbDFhgOpW:small

The Guitar Riff in the song "Smoke On the Water" by Deep Purple. Generations of wannabee guitarists got their fingers bleeding trying to play it.

spotify:track:5MMnwYs0hIxkENRsbkWJ2G:small 

The Oboe phrase in the sixties' song "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher. Song deeply in the collective memory.

spotify:track:4SGBuq37Ol4HJr7pQqFMKa:small 

Your turn now 😉

And don't hesitate to explain your choice... It's even recommended for the well being of the Community.

[Xenia]

Not sure if it’s Hook or Riff (or neither 🙈) but the theme in The Final Countdown is the first thing that comes to mind. It’s just epic ✨

spotify:track:3MrRksHupTVEQ7YbA0FsZK

[LouisaBenitez]

Juan Daniel's Con Un Pedacito de Tu Corazon is the best I've encountered so far. I'm about to release it in English but it's hard to do it justice.

[Soundofus]

@LouisaBenitez 

Please, could you explain more clearly what Hook or Riff you talk about ? Posting the song you are supposed to mention would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Soundofus]

@Xenia

The Synth phrase in the intro and along the track is clearly a Hook making the song directly recognizable. 😉

[AdamDam]

Great question, @Soundofus!

Here are some of my favorite hooks and riffs in rock music that I thought of today:

spotify:track:6bk7tMiLYwwHbqftop0sWF:small 

• “Sernanders Krog” by the stoner rock band Lowrider features a monolithic guitar riff from 4:10-4:36, at times reminding me of a mountain or a rock formation. This section bridges nicely into another cool guitar riff from earlier in the track, and then the aforementioned riff returns from 5:17 - 5:43, leading perfectly into the scorching guitar solo passages that continue for the remainder of the song.

spotify:track:4tDv0rpQELCNym5RBYRszc:small 

• My favorite part of “Last Gamouzao” by the psychedelic/stoner rock band Monkey3 begins with a repeating series of 3 ascending notes from an electric guitar, which begins to fade into the track at ~3:50, emerging from the embers of the song’s wonderfully loud, earlier passages. As this series of 3 guitar notes repeats, the musicians extrapolate on its melody with increasing volume and intensity, yet without losing the song’s driving sense of rhythm, and ultimately leading into a powerful crescendo in conclusion.

spotify:track:3cJGEErQAPvmDBydEkKKVL:small 

• I’d consider the psychedelic rock band Mote to be quite underrated, since despite having relatively few listeners on Spotify, I think their music sounds amazing; and this instrumental track is one of my favorites of theirs. Hypnotic percussion, droning/buzzing synths, and dreamy guitar textures set the foundations for an echoing, wah-drenched electric guitar hook that appears briefly at 4:29-4:50 and then later returns at times such as at 5:33-6:12, 7:00-7:42, and finally at 13:06-13:45. At each of these recurrences, I think this hook builds quite effectively on the song’s dreamlike atmosphere, while sometimes reminding me of the echoing vocalizations of an animal such as a whale. 

spotify:track:4OsJbH4XpmDFmeLihaJEXJ:small 

• The main riff from “Exoplanet” by the psychedelic/stoner rock band Mother Engine begins the song, and the low distorted guitar chords and single-note melodies in counterpoint that comprise the riff together create an awesome groove. Also, towards the end of the track (at 6:16), there’s another very cool riff that I always seem to look forward to hearing as well, with the guitarist and bassist trading off short melodic phrases before playing together in unison.

spotify:track:5XVUAZAWBWshmjCsNEBqVZ:small 

• My favorite riff from “Peyote Sunrise” by the psychedelic/space/stoner rock band Robot God starts early in the song: first at 1:08-2:15, before later returning at 3:43-4:12. This riff is a slow, languid, and cool lead guitar melody that sometimes brings to mind such soundscapes as an icy expanse or a vast ocean, at the same time that it builds quite nicely on the song’s contemplative mood.

spotify:track:779yzSKfuVgQhwS5Kuj247:small 

• “Dead Roots Stirring” by the psychedelic/stoner/progressive rock band Elder has lots of cool riffs, but I’d say that if I had to pick one to mention, it would be the electric guitar riff that introduces the first verse of the song. After an awesome instrumental intro section, this riff then begins at 3:35. Conjuring a majestic atmosphere that could perhaps be an ideal soundtrack for an epic adventure, the riff later returns at 7:49 to initiate the next verses, which then bridge perfectly into the song’s transcendent concluding section.

spotify:track:4uzLCxXxf8HnSeiFAIzlxN:small 

• The fuzz-laden opening guitar riff to “The Unknown Sings” by the psychedelic/stoner rock band The Egocentrics, amidst whooshing background effects, always brings a wonderful feeling of elevation to me when I listen to it, sometimes ending up stuck in my head. Reminiscent of a spaceship launching into the atmosphere, the riff continues until 1:38, when less-distorted, quieter, and echoing guitar passages create a pleasant feeling of drifting through space; the opening riff later returns at 5:48, concluding the track just as impressively as it began.  

Cheers!

[Joan]

I know I'm late to this, but I love talking about this stuff so I'm gonna comment anyway 😄 Personally, riffs are some of my favourite aspects of metal music, it's the meat and potatoes of the song, the foundation upon which everything is built, the first and main thing I often remember about my favourite tracks.

There's a lot to talk about in these, but I have chosen to focus on one band - German metal titans Accept. They are icons of the genre, Wolf Hoffman is an underraten God of guitar and they have some of the best riffs ever recorded.

Princess of the Dawn is an instant classic an one of my favourites. It's riff is exceptionally simplistic, but it's so punchy and catchy that, despite it being repeated for almost he entire song, you never get bored of it

spotify:track:2CgXyaryyuxl35iMlvanD8 

Balls to the Wall is an evergreen classic too and it's intro riff is just a big ball of testoterone and coolness:

spotify:track:2dbOYFfS7r7NAzquRvji9A 

And their newer tracks keep up this standard too, Bucket Full of Hate has an appropriately bold, meaty, in-your-face riff to suit it's title and content:

spotify:track:2iZFEUPdbi1aNpqdHAjGIy 

On a side note, this track not only has an excellent riff, but it has the best guitar solo ever. 

spotify:track:1HKWc0ZXBjQW5njCqRb92l 

And even now with original singer Udo Dirkschneider focusing exclusively on his solo band, the music he puts out still has that same iconic power and bravado behind it that fans know and love. Udo proves that regardless of who he's in a band with, he will always make some of the best heavy metal songs ever. Here are just some examples:

spotify:track:0XJ91I6smUYRzRCGbU2N4b 

spotify:track:4vIXKtaQc7tqyRmua3v2K7 

spotify:track:2c3KDBL6DYW9wVmojZfQhL 

Cheers and happy headbanging!

[user-removed]

I ask my coworkers this same question! They suck at answering, though. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2EC9IJj7g0mN1Q5VrZkiYY?si=vco7u2MiRBa0z9vIT-tDAg

https://open.spotify.com/track/3awOc7BPZP0H8q2sg9TMYw?si=MWiwCyt0T-mdIEYDsKj-8A

https://open.spotify.com/track/0SMkzFGJOBFDI9KfYD55L0?si=W0YqAF0OTOeHhrKc5cSGwQ

https://open.spotify.com/track/6MOEQCtAWNSCmvg3SFKF5y?si=MqQyuFpJQDaQRkWCQBUSyw