Clay Anderson Johnson

How much variety is in your listening? My personal experience has been the more the better. My wife and I are both music lovers but have different areas of knowledge regarding genres. I know much more about Blues, Jazz, Country, Gospel, and Classical artists than her. In Rock, R&B, Pop, or Hip Hop she is more familiar with more artists. As a result we have a large and varied musical diet. This is only an opinion, I’m sure you have yours, but I believe too much uniformity in listening leads to too much uniformity in your art. Variety in listening can help you from sounding too derivative. What are your thoughts on this?

For a first song produced in your bedroom I have to admit i am impressed. It is very entertaining and would be great in performance if you are a live act. There are numerous possibilities for use in a live show. The song is unusual but that is not a bad thing. My own work would be described as eclectic and even has been called peculiar by one fellow artist here. @john is right about posting in Showcase as it is a finished work on the market. I look forward to hearing more from you.

Welcome! I am a member of BMI which would be an American equivalent of SACEM and AFM (musicians union). I googled your name and found we have several similar retail outlet listings online. As far as agreements I generally recommend using professionals.

@subomband You are in a discussion forum. Shouldn't you be in Critique or Showcase? If you want a discussion there are hundreds of similar sounding bands. Would you like to discuss comparisons?

Magic is based upon heightening emotions and misdirection of attention. A good magician never reveals the trick.

That is very true. What I wanted was not an opinion on the use of hooks but examples which might be helpful to aspiring artists who are members or visitors of this forum. There is a younger audience which visits here to learn. My intent was to encourage other members of this community to show their knowledge in practical use. In other words by giving instances which are not from well known songs to exhibit their skill, expertise, and reasoning for using the models of their professionalism which they posted.

We have both similarities and differences. I generally write for myself also but use intro hooks. The Baroque organ which is not repeated in Immortal, the cicadas chirping in Jamón Con Patatas Fritas, the thunderclap at the beginning of Primordial are all deliberate attention grabbing intro hooks.

@Popthree @GregB Is avoiding the topic question simply because you have never intentionally written a hook or because the question was too vague? "What are some examples of hooks which you have used in your own work?"

What are hooks and how do you use them? As the name implies a hook is a short segment which captures the audience’s attention. It most often is: An instrumental intro The title repeated as the first line of the verse or chorus A memorable refrain Most, but not all, hit songs will contain at least one hook. Here are two famous examples almost everyone regardless of their age has heard played on the radio. Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones has an instrumental intro hook and the title as the first line of the chorus hook. Jackie Wilson Said by Van Morrison is probably the greatest example of hook writing of all time. It has: A vocal acapela intro hook Title as the first line of the first verse hook Refrain hook “Let it all hang out” Pre-chorus hook “Brang a lang a lang, Brang a lang a lang” Chorus hook “I’m in heaven when you smile” What are some examples of hooks which you have used in your own work?

You should be proud Steve, they sound very professional. It's been years since I was in LA but the only medium size club then was The House Of Blues otherwise only small venues. Make sure they have a knowledge, trustable attorney before they enter into any kind of label offer, especially for a development deal. Record companies in LA and Nashville will eat new acts alive if they get the chance. They can actually end up owing money after production, video, and promotion costs with the company owing the master recordings.

John is right! I copied it into a new HTML document and it still just read as bad code so I didn't read it. In general I've always favored stage clothing.

To head into a related topic you have the ability to do something which I can't. I have never been able to conceptualize my music as a video much less execute it as such. I could very easily take a piece of a film and write a score for it however I cannot go in the opposite direction of taking a piece of music and making it into visual imagery.

I really like Sunset. The video looks very professional. It shows much more structure than Sunrise in seeming more of a realized vision as a unitary whole. Although they are musically similar Sunrise seems more atmospheric whereas Sunset has a definite forward momentum to it. This carries into the video where the Sunrise music seems to play behind the film. In Sunset the film moves to the music. Good job!

I actually don't believe there is anything wrong with unconscious imitation. It would be hard to avoid. Also this is a case where no one here can point to a definite source or even say it isn't completely original. The association is most likely my mistake. You should by all means keep working on it. This is not like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant blatantly stealing from at least three different songs to create How Many More Times (How Many Times, Steal Away, & The Hunter).

Actually it is the chord progression as well as the following melody line. HOWEVER THIS DOESN'T MEAN I'M RIGHT. This could just be my imagination. We have all heard so many thing our minds can unconsciously imitate something OR find associations which are not there. The most jarring part was I immediately associated it with the BBC which is more specific than just a general sounds familiar vibe.

Some songs have the ability to be more than themselves. They transcend their lyrics and form to describe the human condition. Last night I was listening to Glenn Campbell perform Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman which is one such song. It tells of a man working a lonely, dangerous, low paying job because of his love for his wife. It does so in a concise, brief manner using very simple words. It evokes an image much greater than would be expected. You can feel his loneliness and his love as well as his commitment to his work. Lyrically it is an Intro, 2 Verses, then a Chorus which repeats. It is hard to get simpler than that. However its effect is epic. Have you ever written a song you feel transcends itself? If so why?

I listened to this 4 times. I really like it however I can't shake the thought that I have heard it before in a film score, or something so similar to it brings the previous piece to mind. Furthermore the association keeps saying BBC production. I could be completely off base with this but I almost feel I can identify it. It is that close to something I have heard before.

This is a Spanish folk like melody in a pop music arrangement with a nice video component. How this qualifies as Classical eludes me.

This is the type of response I was seeking.

@VoiceEx @Popthree Perhaps the subject not clear. It was not regarding the quality of a video. The question was meant to be "Are videos appropriate in a forum space revolving around the analysis of a song? Or is a strictly audio format more appropriate?"

Say a prayer for the stay at home voter Before his eyes a strange beauty show A parade of gray suited grifters A choice of cancer or polio Salt Of The Earth - Jagger/Richards

This is more to solicit opinions than to make a statement. Please respond to the subject not my personal thoughts on it. There are separate Song and Video Critique sections where obviously both should be reviewed on their individual merits. However there are also songs which are not recorded as audio but in video format in Song Critique postings. I am not speaking of videos of the level which should be in Video Critique. Personally I find this distracting at best and annoying at worst. It breaks my concentration from the song. Watching distracts my attention from listening and also intrudes with the thought of “Why did they believe this was a good idea?” If the performance were of a superstar I might find watching an “intimate performance” from their home intriguing otherwise not so much. Thoughts?

I am a fervent non-partisan. I would never be associated with either political party which only differ in their rhetoric. Both bow to corporate power while espousing defense of the common man. The gullibility virus has dominated the American political landscape much longer than Covid.

I still think everyone on both sides came out ahead because of this little trifle. Media publicity was passed out like candy all around and everyone came up smelling like roses to their perspective audiences. People learned of both musicians and podcasters they might have never heard of before. You might say "Who hasn't heard of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell?" Well a lot of people under the age of 20 probably haven't or were at least unfamiliar with their work which they might check out now. A lot of people who never gave Joe Rogan a listen may now tune in to find out what all the fuss is about. I love Neil Young. I have never heard Joe Rogan and probably never will. Obla dee obla da life goes on.

Today Dave Pomeroy, president of my union local, testifies before Congress. If you are an American please email or call to your congressional representatives to support fair pay in broadcasting. This affects fair pay for all musical artists who have music broadcast in the US. Only North Korea and Iran have a broadcast payment standard as low as the United States Thank you. It’s Groundhog Day and once again National Association of Broadcasters and big corporate broadcasters are arguing that recording artists should not be paid for their work. Let’s finally remove this long shadow and pass the American Fairness Music Act to bring light to the hard work of musicians. The American Fairness Music Act will have a positive financial impact on musicians, but will also make an important statement about the value of our music. Today Local 257 (Nashville, TN) President Dave Pomeroy and others testify in front of Congress to stand up and take action on behalf of music creators across the U.S. The fight for #musicfairness has spanned decades — it’s past time to make fair pay a reality for musicians. Watch live February 2 at 10 a.m. ET or on YouTube. Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from AFM - American Federation of Musicians, please click here.