Hook me baby one more time: the psychology of pop music
All In The Mind
ABC listen
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What's the most catchy song you can think of? Is there a moment that makes you suddenly pay attention, mesmerised by the melody or beat?
You're probably reflecting on a song's hook.
But why do hooks capture our minds and memories?
A music psychologist and musicologist share their thoughts on the power of hooks.
In this episode you'll hear Tim and Jadey cover pop songs which Sana credits at the end of the episode. To see the written credits, head to our website.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | ABC Listen, Podcasts, Radio, News, Music and More. |
| 0:07.3 | There is one song which I remember exactly where I was the very first time I heard it, |
| 0:13.4 | and I remember it stopped me dead in my tracks. |
| 0:17.4 | Let me set the scene. |
| 0:18.9 | I was at a Costco with my dad in the suburbs of Toronto, and just as we entered, the opening notes of the song rang out. |
| 0:26.6 | I froze. I looked in the direction of the boom boxes. This area right at the front of the store where all the CD players and cassette players were displayed. This was 1998, and I made a B-line for that area. |
| 0:40.2 | I wanted to get as close to the sound, as close to the song as possible. It was Baby One More |
| 0:47.1 | Time by Brittany Spears, and I was nine years old. I wish I could play that song for you right now. |
| 0:56.0 | Unfortunately, copyright rules mean I can't, but you know how it goes. |
| 1:01.0 | That is music psychologist Dr. Tim Byron. |
| 1:06.0 | It was like crafted within an inch of its life. And this is Dr. Jady O'Regan, a musicologist. |
| 1:15.5 | And they are obsessed with what makes songs especially good and especially memorable. |
| 1:21.0 | Basically, they're obsessed with hooks. |
| 1:25.2 | I guess the thing about hooks is that if they're not there, you're not going to, nothing's going to stand out. |
| 1:30.7 | Nothing's going to be memorable. |
| 1:32.6 | Yeah, it's like no nutritional value. |
| 1:34.1 | It's just like empty calories or something without the hooks. |
| 1:37.4 | This is All In The Mind. |
| 1:39.4 | I'm Sana Khadar, and today we dig into the psychology of hooks in pop music from Britney Spears to |
| 1:46.3 | Call Me Maybe by Carly Ray Jepson to all of Taylor Swift to who let the dogs out by the |
| 1:52.3 | Baja men is it a hook is it an earworm is it both all that in today's episode |
| 2:01.8 | Oh yeah a little bit more now. Yep, that's great. |
... |
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