The Charlatans are a British band who saw their rise to fame with the mid-90’s Britpop era. They made a slew of great singles like “The only one I know”, “Spronston Green”, and “Weirdo”. One single that is often forgotten though is “Me in Time”. This song was originally going to be the sound for an entire album until The Charlatans decided to scrap the recording sessions. Regardless of their scrapping the sessions, they released “Me in Time” as a one off single. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t hear an entire album with the sound of “Me in Time” throughout, because this song embodied pop perfection. Read the rest of this entry »
What makes a pop song? This question has probably been asked a million times and there have probably been a million different answers. There are many things that make a pop song. This entire website is devoted to this question. One aspect strikes me as the most important part of the pop song though, and that is the hook (I will also call this the “catchy part” and the “chorus” throughout). This may seem like a simple answer for all the experienced songwriters out there but may not be as simple once one looks further. First off, what is a hook? A hook is the part of the song that hooks the listener in to wanting to listen to it again and again. The reason then for writing a hook is for wanting you and the listener to hear a part of a song that is irresistible to listen to. The listener may like it so much that they repeat that 15 second part over and over again because it feels so good to listen to. I remember spending my Friday afternoons in college after classes driving around Worcester, MA listening to the last chorus of “Big Sur” by The Thrills over and over again, literarily for an hour. Writing a good hook is an art form and one that many songwriters just don’t grasp. Read the rest of this entry »