There's a great 'top 100' guitar hooks series of blog entries out there on either Rolling Stone's website, or similar. I recently went through all of them and while I didn't necessarily agree with the order, I couldn't argue with many of them.

Some are technically savvy, some are just in your face 'Louie Louie' for example.

My faves have changed over the years, and while I'm too young to have appreciated them the first time around; many Beatles and Led Zeppelin guitar hooks are in my book in the category of: "Man, I wish I came up with that first!"

I don't have a favorite but these always bring a smile: "Daytripper", "Kashmir", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Walk This Way", "Little Wing (the entire chord progression is a hook to me)".

Some of these are happy sounding, some are dark. Can you think of a heavier hook than the guitar interplay with the Bonham groove on "Kashmir"? No fist-pumping leather wearing, multiple-piercing band can claim that they invented 'heavy'. Kashmir sets the bar. Then that orchestral descending line just perfectly leads into the buh-duh-dup, buh-duh-dup, buh-duh-dup, dee-de-dee-dee-de-dee-dee-dew hook. It's a masterpiece of heavy; iconic; almost Beethoven-like in it's recognizability.

My teenager is listening to 'metal-core'; incredibly complex and rhythmically intricate 'music', that thinks and labels itself as heavy, but it has absolutely nothing on Kashmir.

Then all of those 'happy' Beatles intro hooks - magical in how they instantly make one's eyebrows go up and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The twang of that intro to "Ticket to Ride", or the mojo in the hook in "Daytripper", or even the harmonica on "Love Me Do" - icons, each and every one of them.

-Scott

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