The great horn hook

If you're a pop rock artist in the 80's, you need a great horn hook in one of your songs. One cannot always be expected to come up with a catchy melody and lyric for the chorus centrepiece of their chart-toppers. Thankfully, your friendly local session sax player has a nasty coke habit and is there to lend a hand.

First, the undisputed king of all sax-based hooks, the song that first broke the wind instrument stench: Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street.


Billy Joel wasn't going to let that slip by. He had horn-playing buddies of his own.


As for Glenn Frey, he must have owed his sax player a huge favor, 'cause he let him rip in TWO memorable jams.

and


Then there's the Quarterflash conundrum. How do you turn down the idea for a sax hook when it's performed by your sexy-ish lead singer, who's really your best and only chance to achieve any kind of chart success? You can't. You tell her "You go ahead and blow that horn, Rindy."

Yes, her name was actually Rindy.



But Dave Stewart went above and beyond. He basically said "Screw singers, I'll get this chick I'm nailing to take over the whole fucking song. And it'll sell, god dammit."


Minus Gerry Rafferty, their work influenced pretty much no one. I think there is one guy under 30 under the sun who still thinks fondly of the saxophone glory days, and that guy's playing on Destroyer's Kaputt.