Intro: Have you ever said Yes to a single joy? 6/14/09
Ways of Starting
How Wrong Is Right: The Leading Tone in Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken” (1973) 6/15/09
Wrongfooting: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Woodstock” (1970) 9/5/09
From Chaos to Cosmos (and back): Steppenwolf, “Magic Carpet Ride” (1968) 1/22/10
A Search for Roots: The Rays, “Be Alone Tonight“ (1988) 3/19/10
Homecoming Hooks: The Byrds, “Dolphin’s Smile” (1968) 7/9/10
How He Got Me On His Side: Chris Whitley, “Living With The Law” (1991) 9/24/10
The Greatest Rock Phrasing: Aretha Franklin, “Respect” (1967) 4/15/11
The Avant Hook: The Byrds, “Eight Miles High” (1966) 2/10/12
Opening the Secret Door: The Story, “When Two And Two Are Five” (1993) 3/9/12
Non-Obvious: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, “All Along The Watchtower” (1968) 7/26/13
Temple Dogs of Reverb: Grizzly Bear, “While You Wait For The Others” (2009) 9/6/13
Across the Threshold and Into the Song: It’s a Beautiful Day, “White Bird” (1969) 1/19/20
Ways of Carrying On
Riding Your Life: Rickie Lee Jones, “The Horses” (1989) 7/3/21
Identities
Is Your Baby Going to Be Black or White? Michael Jackson, “Black Or White” (1991) 6/29/09
A Thousand People to Be: Wilson Pickett, “Land Of A Thousand Dances” (1966) 8/29/09
When I’m a Young Dude: Mott the Hoople, “All The Young Dudes” (1972) 12/4/09
Ports of Call: Sonny Landreth, “The U.S.S. Zydeoldsmobile” (2000) 4/30/10
Just Like Me (If I Say So): Paul Simon, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” (1975) 8/20/10
As if Truly Wild: The Wild Tchoupitoulas, “Brother John” (1976) 3/4/11
Barbarians ‘R’ Us: Béla Bartók, “Allegro Barbaro” (1911) and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, “The Barbarian” (1970) 3/25/11
The Greatest Rock Phrasing: Aretha Franklin, “Respect” (1967) 4/15/11
Queer: Queen, “We Are The Champions” (1977) 4/29/11
The Who-It-Is Hook: James Taylor as God in Randy Newman’s Faust (1995) 5/13/11
The Saddest but Greatest Chorus: The Band, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (1969) 5/30/11
The Auteur Hook: The Honeydogs, “Wilson Boulevard” (2000) 1/27/12
Autonymous: Big Star, “O My Soul” (1974) 5/5/12
The Filial Hook: Johnny Rivers, “Memphis” (1964) 9/13/13
And Now, a Hook from Our Sponsor 12/22/14
The Greatest/Worst “I”: John Lennon, “I Found Out” (1970) 1/19/18
Honest: Dire Straits, “Sultans of Swing” (1978) 2/12/18
The “She” Surmise: The Zombies, “She’s Not There” (1964) 8/24/19
Arrangements and Sounds
The Big Bend: Joni Mitchell, “Court And Spark” (1974) 8/8/09
Coming to Get You—The Most Overwhelming Rock Sound: Smashing Pumpkins, “Pissant” (1993) 9/12/09
Squeeze Me, Drag Me: Al Green, “Here I Am (Come And Take Me)” (1973) 10/17/09
What Silence Says: U2, “Seconds” (1983) 12/11/09
Being in the Midst: Sly & the Family Stone, “Stand!” (1969) 1/8/10
The Orchestral: The Who, “Sparks” (1969) 2/5/10
The Trouble with Horns: Steely Dan, “My Old School” (1973) and Ani DiFranco, “Promised Land” (2003) 2/19/10
What’s in a Song? 43 Versions of “Sunshine Of Your Love” 3/26/10
Scraping It Down: Let’s Active, “Talking To Myself” (1986) 4/9/10
The Infinity Hook: Quicksilver Messenger Service, “Who Do You Love?” (1969) 5/14/10
Playing the Band: Jefferson Airplane, “Other Side Of This Life” (1969) 6/4/10
The Death Hook: The Grateful Dead, “Black Peter” (1970) 7/30/10
Harmony as Event: The Beatles, “Hey Jude” (1968) 8/27/10
Are You Coming or Going? Neil Young, “Cinnamon Girl” (1969) 10/8/10
Immortal Clatter: The Young Rascals, “It’s Wonderful” (1967) 11/5/10
Springy: Yes, “I’ve Seen All Good People” (1971) 1/14/11
Singing or Not: X, “Universal Corner” (1981) 1/21/11
For the Best Good Time: Fountains of Wayne, “Denise” (1999) 3/18/11
Kidnapped, or, The Adventure of Displacement: Prince, “When Doves Cry” (1984) 4/1/11
The Greatest Rock Phrasing: Aretha Franklin, “Respect” (1967) 4/15/11
The Sun Came Out: Fugazi, “Floating Boy” (1998) and Laura Nyro, “Mercy On Broadway” (1969) 4/22/11
Sweet Juice: Thomas Dolby, “Leipzig” (1981) 5/4/11
The Landslide Hook: Mahavishnu Orchestra, “Dawn” (1971) 5/20/11
Walking Like a Man: Robert Johnson, “Preaching Blues” (1939) 5/27/11
Locked Up: Martha and the Vandellas, “Heat Wave” (1963) 6/14/11
When the Hook Is Just the Whole Darn Thing: Jackson Browne, “Doctor My Eyes” (1972) 6/24/11
Cool and Cool Again: Robin Holcomb, “Hand Me Down All Stories” (1990) 7/8/11
The Hook No One Expects: Jefferson Airplane, “Last Wall Of The Castle” (1967) 7/15/11
The Drop and The Lift: Mitch Easter, “1 1/2 Way Street” (2007) and Pearl Jam, “Brain Of J” (1998) 11/18/11
The Greatest Bass Note: Nirvana, “Heart Shaped Box” (1993) 12/30/11
The Two Towers: Z Z Top, “La Grange” (1973) 6/1/12
The Hook of Foreign Praise: Alannah Myles, “Black Velvet” (1989) 6/15/12
Recycled Garbage: Spirit, “Fresh Garbage” (1968) and Beck/Orbit/Pink, “Feel Good Time” (2003) 6/22/12
Getting the Clap: Neil Diamond, “Cherry Cherry” (1966) 6/29/12
A Kind of “Hush!”: Spoon, “Everything Hits At Once” (2001) 7/13/12
The Note that Nails: Spoon, “The Book I Write” (2006) 7/20/12
Too Good: Derek and the Dominos, “Bell Bottom Blues” (1970) 9/7/12
It’s All Hooks: Let’s Active, “Won’t Go Wrong” (1986) 9/14/12
Metasinging: Jeff Beck, “Over The Rainbow” (2010) 5/13/13
Orogeny: Split Enz, “History Never Repeats” (1981) 6/14/13
Supernormal Stimulus: The Huge Guitar Tone 6/16/13
That Guy as Those Guys: The La’s, “I Can’t Sleep” (1990) 7/5/13
Speed Tease: Hüsker Dü, “Newest Industry” (1984) 7/18/13
Sax Discipline: Little Willie John, “I’m Shakin'” (1960) 8/16/13
Biting Down: The Allman Brothers, “Statesboro Blues” (1971) 8/23/13
The Hippogriff: Poco, “Hurry Up” etc. (1970) 10/11/13
The Connector Hook 10/25/13
The Leapfrog Hook: Led Zeppelin, “Heartbreaker” live (1972) 2/16/14
Improvised: Jimi Hendrix, “Star Spangled Banner” (1969) and John Bonham, “Moby Dick” (1970) 6/14/14
Improvised, continued: Derek Bailey, “Moment” (2000) 6/27/14
Getting Under My Skin: John Hiatt, “Something Happens” (1982) 6/5/15
Perfect Flailing: Sebadoh, “Hillbilly II” (1996) 6/14/15
Half Steps: Jack Bruce, “The Consul At Sunset” (1971) 6/20/15
Forward Progress: Suddenly, Tammy!, “Hard Lesson” (1995) 7/24/15
The Thought of Wising Up: Aimee Mann, “Wise Up” (1996) 9/10/15
Advanced Riffs: Radiohead 1997-2011 10/6/15
Fluency: Robben Ford, “Talk To Your Daughter” (1988) 1/1/16
Chops (Piano Edition): Billy Joel, “Prelude” (1976) 10/19/16
Too Beautiful: Small Faces, “Itchycoo Park” (1967) 8/31/17
Scary: The Who, “I Can See For Miles” (1967) 9/17/17
Stepping Up: The Association, “Windy” (1967) 10/1/17
Just Stay There: Beck, “Dreams” (2015) 10/27/17
The Phantom of the You: The Young Rascals, “How Can I Be Sure” (1967) 11/3/17
Comfortably Together: Traffic, “Heaven Is In Your Mind” (1967) 12/1/17
The Combination: Baby Animals, “Painless” (1991) 3/2/18
Inventor of Styles: Jorma Kaukonen on Baxter’s (1967) 1/12/19
The Octave that Reaches: Roy Orbison, “Blue Bayou” (1963) 1/26/19
The Forgetting Hook: The American Breed, “Bend Me, Shape Me” (1967) 2/23/19
Infectious: The Isley Brothers, “Twist And Shout” (1962) 3/13/20
Here’s the Deal: Minutemen, “Maybe Partying Will Help” (1984) 10/4/20
The Voice that Pops: On Stevie Wonder 2/16/21
Take Me Over: Dixie Dregs, “Punk Sandwich” (1979) 3/20/21
Wandering: Liz Phair, “Support System” (1994) 8/14/21
Gershwin’s Greatest Hook 2/12/24
Chord Arguments
The Greatest Chord: XTC, “Another Satellite” (1985) 11/20/09
Triumphant Return to Four Chords: Mutemath, “Typical” (2007) [Four Chords I] 11/12/10
Squaring the Circle: Arcade Fire, “The Suburbs” (2010) [Four Chords II] by Matt Smith 11/19/10
D, A, G, E and E, G, D, A: The Creation, “Making Time” (1966) & Brian Jonestown Massacre, “Whatever Hippie Bitch” (2000) [Four Chords III] by Richard Grant 11/26/10
Four Chords Round the Heart of the Matter: Midnight Oil, “Dreamworld” (1987) 3/11/11
The Drop and The Lift: Mitch Easter, “1 1/2 Way Street” (2007) and Pearl Jam, “Brain Of J” (1998) 11/18/11
Chord as (Other) World: Queens of the Stone Age, “Song For The Dead” (2003) 1/13/12
Solace Overload: Living Colour, “Solace Of You” (1990) 4/29/13
Hot Spot of Collaboration: The Doors, “The Crystal Ship” (1967) 5/23/13
Expectant: Stone Temple Pilots, “Sour Girl” (2000) 8/30/13
Too Beautiful: Small Faces, “Itchycoo Park” (1967) 8/31/17
The Main Thing that Happened in Hook History in 1967 12/20/17
The Purple Chords: Marshall Crenshaw, “This Is Easy” (1987) 1/19/19
Passions and Attitudes
Trying: Otis Redding, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (1965) 7/13/09
Is Rock Kidding? The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army” (2003) 8/1/09
Stressed Out: Weezer, “No Other One” (1996) 11/27/09
How God Rocks: Maria Muldaur, “As An Eagle Stirreth In Her Nest” (1976) 12/25/09
Rock Hope: The Long Ryders, “I Had A Dream” (1984) 1/1/10
Imitation of Life or Life Itself? Bad Company, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” (1975) 6/11/10
Teen Pathos: Linda Ronstadt, “Hurt So Bad” (1980) 7/23/10
Gross Me Out/In: The Butthole Surfers, “Lady Sniff” (1984) 10/1/10
The Furious Gentleman: Richard Thompson, “Tear-Stained Letter” (1983) 12/15/10
Non-Mature: Jerry Lee Lewis, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” (1957) 12/31/10
Prince Not Charming: Elvis Costello, “Watching The Detectives” (1977) 2/4/11
Most Potent Blend: Talking Heads, “Creatures Of Love” (1985) 2/11/11
Imagination Is the Boss: The Pretenders, “Brass In Pocket” (1979) 2/25/11
Barbarians ‘R’ Us: Béla Bartók, “Allegro Barbaro” (1911) and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, “The Barbarian” (1970) 3/25/11
Queer: Queen, “We Are The Champions” (1977) 4/29/11
Oozing Restraint: Irma Thomas, “Ruler Of My Heart” (1963) 11/25/11
The Bolt of the Sublime: The Rolling Stones, “Gimme Shelter” (1969) 3/23/12
Shout-Out to the Spouse: The Pretenders, “Thumbelina” (1984) 5/25/12
Getting the Clap: Neil Diamond, “Cherry Cherry” (1966) 6/29/12
The Anger Hook: Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son” (1969) 8/17/12
Lightness: Deerhoof, “Scream Team” (2005) 8/24/12
Fretting the Fire: Ronald Dyson and Walter Harris, “What A Piece Of Work Is Man” (1968) 2/15/13
Biblical: Bruce Springsteen, “Adam Raised A Cain” (1978) 6/23/13
Beats Happiness: The dB’s, “We Were Happy There” (1982) 7/11/13
The Biggest Wish: Three Dog Night, “Shambala” (1973) 9/27/13
Outro #3: Good and Evil in the Garden of Hooks 11/1/13
The Greatest Point: Nilsson, “The Most Beautiful World In The World” (1972) 9/1/15
The Creepiest Love Trope: The Philosopher Kings, “All To Myself” (1994) 11/1/15
Creepy Love #2, “So fine”: Jefferson Airplane, “Watch Her Ride” (1967) 11/15/15
Great Love, “My man”: Laura Nyro, “Tom Cat Goobye” (1969) 12/1/15
Outro #4: On Paying Tribute 1/13/16
The Joy Surprise: The Beatles, “Here Comes The Sun” (1969) 4/1/18
Creepiest Love Tropes #3, “Our love”: The Beach Boys, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (1966) 2/10/19
Candor and the Bridge: Frank Black and the Catholics, “Bullet” (2001) 2/16/19
Outro #6: The Burr 3/9/19
Creepiest Love Tropes #4, “Just the way you are”: Bryan Adams & Tina Turner, “It’s Only Love” (1985) 4/26/19
Around the Mouse: Walt Disney Records, “Mickey and Minnie On A Moonlit Night” (1987) 10/5/19
The Unassumer: Bobby Charles, “Small Town Talk” (1972) 2/2/20
The Appropriation Hook: Paul Simon, “I Know What I Know” (1986) 9/19/20
The What’s-Going-On Hook: Laura Nyro, “Save The Country” (1968) 10/17/20
The Greatest Rock Musical Number: Elvis Presley, “Jailhouse Rock” (1957) 4/17/21
A Platonic Soul: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Our House” (1970) and “Chicago” (1971) 5/1/21
Outro #7: Let There Be Joys 12/25/21
Shouts, Screams, and Words
The Greatest Scream (with words): The Pixies, “Monkey Gone to Heaven” (1989) 8/22/09
The Greatest “Fuck You”: Hole, “I Think That I Would Die” (1993) 7/19/09
Rock Laughs: Dion, “Lovers Who Wander” (1962) 7/25/09
Hook Squared: Them, “Gloria” (1964) x Talking Heads, “Psycho Killer” (1977) 9/19/09
The Best Word: Eva Cassidy, “People Get Ready” (1996) 10/9/09
The Greatest “Yeah, Yeah”: The Clash, “Clash City Rockers” (1978) 10/30/09
Truth as an Allusion: Jefferson Airplane, “White Rabbit” (1967) 11/13/09
Diction Hooks: Guided By Voices, “Pivotal Film” (2001) 1/29/10
The Naked: Björk, “Big Time Sensuality” (1993) 2/26/10
The Simple: The Silos, “Mary’s Getting Married” (1987) 3/5/10
Talking Satellites: Rickie Lee Jones, “Satellite” (1989) 5/7/10
The Simplistic: Joe Jackson, “Wild West” (1986) 5/28/10
The Best Falsetto Word: The New Pornographers, “Crash Years” (2010) 9/3/10
Count Your Blessings: Los Lobos, “Good Morning Aztlán” (2002) 10/15/10
The Greatest “Baby”: Bob Dylan, “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” (1967) and Glee Cast, “River Deep, Mountain High” (2010) 12/24/10
The Magic Word Is “Tragic”: The Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (1981) 1/7/11
What the Cymbal Said: Squeeze, “Tempted” (1981) 6/3/11
The Critic’s Hook: Greil Marcus (1975) on Sly & the Family Stone (1971) 12/9/11
The Greatest Line: Randy Newman, “Sail Away” (1972) 4/6/12
Whoa-Yeah! The JudyBats, “Margot Known As Missy” (1992) 5/18/12
Aposiopetic: The Punch Brothers, “Rye Whiskey” (2010) 7/6/12
Say You Want a Revolution: Living Colour, “Information Overload” (1990) 8/3/12
For Her to Say: Sleater-Kinney, “The Fox” (2005) 8/31/12
The Extra “Uh”: The Byrds, “So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” (1967) 6/5/13
Biblical, Take Two: Bob Dylan, “Highway 61 Revisited” (1965) 6/30/13
Killer Trochees: The Temptations, “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” (1966) 8/9/13
The Boy Hook: The Zombies, “Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914)” (1968) 7/28/14
Classic Unique: Fiona Apple, “Extraordinary Machine” (2005) 9/17/15
Greatest Dylan Hooks 10/13/16
Logical Investigations: Everything Everything, “Fortune 500” (2015) 1/5/19
Jumbled: Amazing Rhythm Aces, “Hit The Nail On The Head” (1975) 2/2/19
Plain: Sloan, “Underwhelmed” (1992) 3/2/19
The Greatest “New Orleans”: The Animals, “House Of The Rising Sun” (1964) 1/5/20
The Contents of Time: Free, “Don’t Say You Love Me” (1970) 8/22/20
Power Notebook: The Honeydogs, “Sour Grapes” (2001) 6/1/21
Times
Odd Meter: Pink Floyd, “Money” (1973) 7/2/09
Killer Tempo: Led Zeppelin, “Since I’ve Been Loving You” (1970) 8/15/09
Killer Tempo Shift: The Beatles, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” (1967) 10/3/09
Killer Changes of Time Signature . . . Led Zeppelin, “Black Dog” (1971) by Andrew Goodwin 10/18/09
Lost Meter: Radiohead, “How To Disappear Completely” (2000) 2/12/10
The Sticky: The Rolling Stones, “Honky Tonk Women” (1969) 3/12/10
Smoking: Cactus, “Parchman Farm” (1970) 4/23/10
The Grand Staircase to the Source of Music and Life: King Crimson, “VROOOM” (1995) 5/21/10
Killer Tempo, Fast (Not Quite Too Too Fast): The Replacements, “Kids Don’t Follow” (1982) 6/18/10
Big Arc in Little Time: The Association, “You May Think” (1966) 8/6/10
Rock Waltz? John Hiatt, “Cry Love” (1995) 8/13/10
The Divine Fermata: Cream, “White Room” (1968) 9/17/10
When It’s Your Turn, Lurch Forward: Chagall Guevara, “Play God” (1991) 1/28/11
As if Truly Wild: The Wild Tchoupitoulas, “Brother John” (1976) 3/4/11
Shifty: Santana, “Black Magic Woman” (1970) 4/8/11
The Study of Funk: Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, “Sometimes I Wonder” (2002) 6/10/11
Oddly Not Odd Meter: Jethro Tull, “A New Day Yesterday” (1969) 2/24/12
Killer Trochees: The Temptations, “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” (1966) 8/9/13
The Justice and Mercy Beat: Michelle Shocked, “Quality Of Mercy” (1996) 9/20/13
Intensity Ruse: Joan Osborne, “Right Hand Man” (1995) 10/18/13
The Ten-Year Hook: The Rolling Stones, “Rocks Off” (1972) 8/19/15
Spanner in the Works: Weaves, “Scream” (2017) 1/2/18
Am I Early? XTC, “Earn Enough For Us” (1986) 3/16/18
In Our Own Good Time: Little Feat, “Rock ‘N’ Roll Doctor” (1974) 4/14/18
Giving Us a Hard Time: Little Feat, “Fat Man In The Bathtub” (1973) 5/6/18
Little Things: Linda Ronstadt, “You’re No Good” (1974) 5/18/18
Command the -And: Alabama Shakes, “Dunes” (2015) 10/19/19
Dogged Tempo: Los Lobos, “Made To Break Your Heart” (2015) 1/26/20
Groove Alchemy: Band of Gypsys, “Power Of Soul” (1970) by Eric Griffin 2/14/20
Charged: The Clash, “Clampdown” (1979) 7/25/20
Ways of Ending
The Happy Last Chance: The Assemblers, “Media Mind” (2002) 7/22/11
Experiments of Ending: Everything But The Girl, “Before Today” (1996) 7/27/12
The Tangent and the Tease: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, “Long Hard Book” (2011) 12/21/19
Other Issues
Stealth Hooks: Prince, “Little Red Corvette” (1982) 9/26/09
Slamming History: Jawbox, “Mirrorful” (1996) 10/23/09
Perfect? A. C. Newman, “Miracle Drug” (2004) 11/7/09
Nifting: Booker T. & the MGs, “Green Onions” (1962) 1/15/10
A Waste of Hooks? or, The Problem of the Negahook: Gnarls Barkley, “Who Cares?” (2006) 4/2/10
Where Solos Take Us, and How: The Zombies, “Time Of The Season” (1968) 4/16/10
The Anthemic: Pearl Jam, “In Hiding” (1998) 7/16/10
Essence of Beat: Steely Dan, “Time Out Of Mind” (1980) 9/10/10
The Hook as the Peak: Fleetwood Mac, “You Make Loving Fun” (1977) 10/29/10
Significant Form Traces Pleasure and Pain: Led Zeppelin, “Whole Lotta Love” (1969) by Andrew Goodwin 12/3/10
The Structural Hook: Pink Floyd, “Comfortably Numb” (1979) 12/10/10
The Max, or, the Milton Babbitt Hook 2/1/11
When a Thing Sings 7/1/11
Outro: Rock Aesthetics, or, What I’ve Learned So Far 8/3/11
The Rock Video Hook: The Rolling Stones, “Love Is Strong,” directed by David Fincher (1994) 12/16/11
Avant-Garde by Accident: Outsider Music by Stanley Elvis MacDonald 2/18/12
Your Cheatin’ Hook: Low, “Missouri” (1999) 6/8/12
The Battle: Joni Mitchell, “Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow” (1975) 8/10/12
Outro #2: On Landscape Metaphors in Music Appreciation 9/21/12
The Mistake: Kenny Loggins, “I’m Alright” (1980) 8/2/13
Outro #5: What Is Tuning In? 6/1/18
Infectious #2: Thunderclap Newman, “Something In The Air” (1969) 8/8/20
The Beatles Beatled: Utopia, “Take It Home” (1980) and The Beatles, “Paperback Writer” (1966) 9/5/20
Categories and Nominations 7/27/09
Hooks 