The Hook

The term ‘hook’ in popular media means something that pulls people into what they’re reading, watching, or listening to. The term is more specifically used in music; describing a a riff, or a musical phrase that’s used to lure the listener in. It’s something that the listener identifies the song with. While the specifics change once you enter the realm of Movies, Television and Technology, the concept remains the same.

Let’s start with Music. A hook in music is usually a repeated riff or repeated vocals. This is usually what starts the song as something to make the listener interested right away. The hook is then repeated over the course of the song to make the listener feel connected with the song. He’ll also remember the song if there’s an easily identifiable hook.

A very simple example of a hook would be the riff in Blink-182’s “Dammit.” The riff starts the song off, and repeats twice before the drums and bass kick in. After the first verse and the first chorus, the riff repeats. The song also features an example of a vocal hook which is “I guess this is growing up.” The vocal and instrumental hooks are played at the same time, throughout the song. At the end, both hooks are repeated several times to end the song. This accomplishes two things. The listener, before he even knows the words or how the song goes, is easily able to identify the song by it’s opening hook and the vocal hook after the choruses. This is designed to keep the listener interested and for him to keep coming back to listen to the song, as well as to give the song some structure.

While it differs, this can be applied to almost every type of media. Television shows’ hooks are just the interest behind the plot. While they aren’t relied on, they certainly draw in an audience. Take the show “Dexter,” for example. While the show is well written and acted (Well, the first, second and fourth seasons are), the show’s major draw is the premise. The show is basically about a serial killer who takes his urge to kill out on bad people. While this is what draws in an audience, the show doesn’t just rely on the premise to keep the viewers interested. It then uses good writing, plot structure, and interesting characters to keep the show interesting. Almost every popular show does this.

The same could be said for movies, but to a lesser extent. The hook for movies may be the cast, or the director for some people. People will go to see a movie directed by David Fincher just because he directed it. Usually movies that have good directors and casts don’t rely on gimmicks or premises to bring the viewers in, the notoriety of the billing list does that. For example, look at the movie trailer for Inception. You really don’t have much of an idea what’s going on, but it’s directed by Christopher Nolan, and stars Leonardo Decaprio and Ellen Page, so people will see it regardless.

Movies that don’t have a good cast or director, on the other hand, usually rely on special effects and other gimmicks to draw the viewer in. Recent examples of this are The Last Airbender and 2012, both awful movies that didn’t do as bad at the box office than they should’ve. While there is more that draws in an audience, I can cover that in a different post.


In terms of technology, manufacturers will often rely on some sort of gimmick to sell their product. Sometimes this improves functionality (like the slide-out keyboard on the Droid), other times it’s just a gimmick (3D Phones and Televisions).The Motorolla Razr was the thinnest phone on the market at one time. Even though it wasn’t a great device, people bought it because it was slim, and was well known for being so slim. Motorolla Built off of this by releasing the Droid Razr, the slimmest smartphone on the market. It’s hook was the Razr name and the fact that it was so slim.



In the end, each medium uses their own variation of the hook to accomplish two things: build interest and make their products more recognizable. Products with a good hook will do well even if they are bad products. People will easily recognize that product and it’s popularity will rise, selling more.