Two Forgotten Friday Favorites: Hall and Oates

Friday, September 23, 2011
Photo copyright Billboard.com
I long for the day when the man of my dreams puts his arm around me and says, "Pamela, me without you is like Hall without Oates." I think that would be the ultimate declaration of love, because there weren't many musical acts that I adored more during the 80s than Hall and Oates. I loved them so much I endured my older sisters' teasing me and constant cracks about them being an ambiguously gay duo. I didn't care. I still don't care. I still love these guys and their music. Daryl Hall and John Oates have known each other since high school when they hid out together in an elevator while a fight erupted at their school. Let us give thanks now to whoever started that fight! Thanks to them we may have never have known the songs Private Eyes, Maneater, Kiss On My List, You Make My Dreams Come True, Sara Smile, She's Gone, Out of Touch, One on One, Say It Isn't So, Adult Education, etc.

I could go on and on, but I've always kind of liked the hits found on the album Big Bam Boom, which was their last successful LP before they split for a few years. One of my favorite tracks from it is Possession Obsession, which should have climbed higher on the charts than it did. It was one of the rare hits where Oates was given the spotlight and sang lead and Hall was regulated to background vocals. Beautiful sound and the message is more important than ever today: 




Another forgotten favorite was Method of Modern Love, which I believe Hall cowrote with his long-time girlfriend Sara Allen (the same Sara that Sara Smile was written for...oh, how jealous I was at the time!) Needless to say the music video probably didn't help quell the gay rumors but it was the 80s after all. Happy Friday, everyone!

7 comments:

  1. I remember Hall & Oats were all over the radio during the '80s. Very catchy music, for a good times decade.

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  2. Trying to remember which show they were recently on together, reunited. I loved their music.

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  3. You know I just never got into them, maybe I was too much of a rebellious teenager at the time when they were big...

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  4. Marlene, they appeared together on the TV Land Awards a few months back. Still sound greate.

    Pam, I always have been and always will be a huge Hall & Oates fan. I have a number of their albums on my iPod and enjoy when they come up in the shuffle. Good stuff.

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  5. Hall and Oates. One of the only 80's bands I would still pay to see in concert!! Love those cheesy videos.. no matter how corny they may be!!

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  6. You will probably enjoy Daryl's House website. He has some great guests playing great music.

    http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/welcome.html

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  7. My brother and I are both Hall and Oates fans. I remember getting into them in the early 1980s. I still have my cassettes from back then. We had fun seeing them at the PNC Center in 2005. These 2 songs are great and we also love that album. We were disappointed that they didn't do Out of Touch at the show though. They are going to be in Montclair NJ at the end of the month but we passed on them and chose Duran Duran at MSG instead.

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