Songs where the real hook is in the verse and the chorus is unmemorable by comparison

hmm, first one that comes to mind is "range life" -

I want a range life
If I could settle down
If I could settle down
Then I would settle down

just a real classic verse, and i can barely remember all the choruses which all have different lyrics

lol

The Animals - We Gotta Get Out of This Place
The Who - I Can See For Miles

^ both of these have awesome verses that really build in tension followed by disappointingly weedy choruses

just to further derail the thread, I submit "The Road" by Fastball xp

this is totally Def Leppard's "Animal"

As for BYARM, I like the song but I'm not even sure it has a hook at all.

― Doctor Casino

whoa, I don't agree at all. I think this is a good example of a song being known equally for its verse & chorus hooks. Guess I would err on the chorus just because it's pretty simple & they're shouting the name of the song.

What is the chorus of "Black Dog"? That song has a fairly unconventional structure. Are people thinking of the "Oh yeah/...Whoa baby, darlin' won't you do me now" section?

With "Don't Stop Believin'", the chorus is the "Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard..." bit, right? I don't really find that unmemorable. I think the "on and on and on" refrain is probably the most memorable part of the song.

No way
Don’t Stop Believing is a long build up to one of the most memorable choruses in rock history.

Again, that is the chorus!

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), sábado 7 de octubre de 2017 23:20 (yesterday)

What? No way the chorus goes “So use it and prove it” and so on, no?

With "Don't Stop Believin'", the chorus is the "Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard..." bit, right?

This is an interesting one because that section strikes me more as a pre-chorus that the song has to go through twice before finally getting to the chorus. I just don't know if "Don't stop believin'/Hold on to that feeling/Streetlight people" is actually the chorus or if it's the last verse.

Ok I finally have a good one!

Dido - Thank You

Everyone knows the openig verse due to the Eminem’s Stan. The chorus feels very saccharine and forced.

*the sample in Eminem’s stan.

xxpost:

That's the coda.

Dido is a good one

I was gonna say "Kids in America" but retracted it cos even though I hate that chorus, it's not unmemorable (and I may be in the minority).

That's the coda.

Yeah, a chorus is a repeated section, by definition!

I mean, it's tricky because these terms were used with different meanings in the early 20th century, with blues and Tin Pan Alley forms, but, generally, with verse-chorus forms, I think of the verse as a repeated section where music is repeated with changing text and a chorus as a repeated section where both the music and text are repeated. It can get fuzzy, though.

Dido has been mentioned. What is this world coming to.

I suppose in the case of Don't Stop Believin' we may remember the coda as the chorus because it's serving the function that would normally be reserved for the chorus. The chorus often acts as something like the core or essence of the song, the part which is supposed to reveal the song most directly and which the verse is supposed to lead up to. It's where you usually find the title.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. It doesn't function like a coda usually does.

Oh dammit someone mentioned Dido before me, it’s true. I give up. I suck at this game.

“Plainclothes Man” - Heatmiser

Chainsmokers - "Selfie". Instrumental chorus counts, right? Can't remember the melody at all, except that it sounds like something they made in three minutes so that their song could have a chorus

Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City, if we're saying all that "but at night it's a different world" crap is actually the chorus.

Wow, why hate on that of all things?

Yeah, what Tim said.

The Cars early singles have huge number of hooks per song but think Let's Go and Good Times Roll could fit.

I LOVE THE NIGHT LIFE BABY

Right Said Fred "I'm Too Sexy"

^ Great example

No it isn't!

“Live Forever”

QUESTIONABLE AT BEST

Ok guys I think I finally got one:

Spice Girls - Wannabe

The whole song is catchy but everyone knows the opening verse. Right?

I dare you make a test right now with the person next to you tell them to sing it and they’ll all sing the verse instead of the chorus.

that bit is almost like a secondary chorus though

it's repeated a number of times throughout the song

Goddamit I can’t get a single one

tom tom club - genius of love

not that the chorus is unmemorable as much as the verses rule

I think some of us are coming at the premise of this thread in different ways. Are we talking about subjectively more memorable or what part the song is more well known for in the culture at large? Because there's no way that catwalk shit from "I'm Too Sexy" is more memorable or well known than the verses. Same goes for "Wannabe" - I'd argue both the verses & choruses are equally memorable.

Because there's no way that catwalk shit from "I'm Too Sexy" is more memorable or well known than the verses.

They're equally well known.

im with flappy bird here, most people born since 1990 have probably never even heard the chorus to that song

I’m evidently having trouble with it too... seems like in really popular songs everything is memorable and some of them are actually two chorus with no verses. I think an essier thread for me would be songs where you like the verse but hate the chorus.

Wonderwall for me, but again that opening verse is probably a second chorus as it’s repeated later in the song. I like the verse (chorus2 whatever) but hate the main chorus.

The Beatles (specially McCartney songs) have this effect with me too... i usually love all their verses but they tend to have terrible saccharine main choruses that ruin the song for me (Hey Jude, Let It Be, Across the Universe to name a few... lovely verses (or second choruses if you prefer) but can’t stand the chorus).

Another one where I think the verses are lovely but hate the stupid cheery mood of the chorus:

Paul Simon - 50 ways to leave your lover

Almost every Stone Temple Pilots famous songs do this to me too. Love the verses but feel like skipping the chorus... come to think of it almost every grunge related band has this love verse/hate chorus effect on me. Verses in grunge tend to be very vulnerable and melancholic but they usually go to shit once they get turned into angsty bombastic rage in the chorus.

Some people love it, I usually don’t

childish gambino - redbone

Oh another band where I usually love their verses but jate their main chorus:

The Police

They usually lock in these kickass grooves in the verses but they turn all awkward and pop-driven in the chorus.

See I’m quicker in thinking examples of bands that have choruses I hate with verses I love.

xxxxxpost:

No, they're equally well known. I seem to remember, for one, an episode of Family Guy referencing the chorus as part of the dialogue in one episode - none of the verses.

Like I said previously, I think Scritti's "Absolute" has the least memorable chorus most people will have to go play it and go "Oh, there it is.."

"Friday I'm in Love" - The Cure

lol

The oddest place I can think of for a hook is Cut Some Rug by The Bluetones, where it's the bassline on the bridge, which isn't even that high in the mix.