#ThrowbackThursday: “Hook” by Blues Traveler
“Hook” was the second single released off of the Blues Traveler album Four.by Sean Smith
The popular 1990s jam band Blues Traveler released their twelfth studio album earlier this week. The new project, Blow Up the Moon, is a bit of a departure from what fans are used to hearing from frontman John Popper and company.
The new record is a compilation album of sorts, or at least it listens as such being as how each of the fourteen tracks sees Blues Traveler working with another artist or group. The project as a whole comes across as more of a compilation of John Popper guest features rather than a Blues Traveler effort. In other words, most songs see the band playing to the sound of the guest artists, rather than the album having a consistent Blues Traveler sound throughout with guest artists merely adding to that already dynamic sound. The guest artists featured on Blow Up the Moon come from a variety of genres. The album features pop-folk/country singer Jewel, pop-punk rockers Bowling for Soup, electropop duo 3OH!3, former *NSYNC member JC Chasez, and even the 1990s brother boy band Hanson, amongst others. While Blow Up the Moon is not the typical Blues Traveler offering, it is well worth giving it a listen, even if it is only to hear how John Popper and company blend their sound with that of their variety of guests featured on the album.
Blues Traveler first broke through to the popular music scene in 1994 with the success of their fourth studio album, aptly titled Four. The first single from the album was the successful pop hit “Run-Around”, which achieved mainstream success charting in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself, was also a huge success for the band going 6x platinum in the U.S., selling over six million copies. But this week we take a moment to remember the second single from Blues Traveler’s Four, “Hook”.
Released as a single in August of 1995, “Hook” served as a solid follow up single for Blues Traveler and their breakthrough first single “Run-Around”. Although not as successful on the singles chart, “Hook” did reach as high as the #23 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of “Hook” is somewhat ironic given the lyrical content and message behind the track. The song is steeped in satire about how the lyrics of any pop song are more or less meaningless and that it is the song’s “hook” that brings listeners wanting to listen again and again. The song is also composed in a popular chord structure known as Pachelbel’s Canon. Some popular songs to have successfully used this chord structure are “Basket Case” by Green Day, “Graduation (Friends Forever)” by Vitamin C, “The Show Goes On” by Lupe Fiasco, and of course Blues Traveler with “Hook”.
So in honor of Blues Traveler’s new album Blow Up the Moon, this week we remember their 1995 satirical hit “Hook”. Take a moment and give the song a close listen, I’m sure you will appreciate the biting sarcasm contained within the lyrics as much as I do. Enjoy!
Blues Traveler
“Hook”
From Four
A&M Records
Blues Traveler
“Run Around”
From Four
A&M Records
Blues Traveler Featuring Jewel
“Hearts Are Still Awake”
From Blow Up The Moon
Loud And Proud Records
Blues Traveler Featuring 3OH!3
“Hurricane”
From Blow Up The Moon
Loud And Proud Records
“”Blow Up The Moon”
From Blow Up The Moon
Loud And Proud Records
From Blow Up The Moon
Loud And Proud Records
From Blow Up The Moon
Loud And Proud Records
