Au contraire - it happens twice. I almost used this example, but I was afraid of being wrong.

hm. oh well. coulda sworn it was twice.

sure it's not just a lick? heh.

hm. oh well. coulda sworn it was twice.

sure it's not just a lick? heh.

cheap trick has hooks. black sabbath has riffs.

I think if a song is too predictable and if everything is right there at the surface, the song tends to lose its flavor with repeat listens. I think overreliance on the "in your face" hook is lazy, formuliac songwriting.

Licks are little improvisations at the end of phrases, but a player often has their own vocabulary of licks that are idiomatic to the style, genre, or individual player.

well done obner. this was actually incredibly useful.

Yeh, licks are generally associated wth a certain player---e.g. "Man that guy has some great licks."

ever since someone brought this up on another board where i post, i think of tony iommi with riffs and eddie van halen with licks.

This might help:

It doesn’t matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I’ll convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I’ve said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don’t matter who you are
If I’m doing my job then it’s your resolve that breaks

Because the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

There is something amiss
I am being insincere
In fact I don’t mean any of this
Still my confession draws you near
To confuse the issue I refer
To familiar heroes from long ago
No matter how much peter loved her
What made the pan refuse to grow

Was that the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

Suck it in suck it in suck it in
If you’re rin tin tin or anne boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you’ll win
And then begin
To see
What you’re doing to me this mtv is not for free
It’s so pc it’s killing me
So desperately I sing to thee
Of love
Sure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can’t keep these feelings on the shelf
I’ve tried well no in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride until I’ve died
And only then shall I abide this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute ditties
I wanna bust all your balloons
I wanna burn all of your cities
To the ground I’ve found
I will not mess around
Unless I play then hey
I will go on all day hear what I say
I have a prayer to pray
That’s really all this was
And when I’m feeling stuck and need a buck
I don’t rely on luck because...

The hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook...
On that you can rely

Yeh, I vaguely remember saying that. I can't remember which Prewitt album I was referring to though - maybe Third, if that's the right title. What I do remember is being wholly unimpressed with the melodies of his songs, which made me not bother to delve any further.

I've put songs on mixes for friends and had them single out a song and ask "why would ANYONE like this song?" And then I realize that, yeh, maybe not everybody considers that singer's voice cracking at exactly the wrong moment to be a hook.