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Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Rock ’n Soul, Part 2
00:56:36
The second part of our deep dive on how Hall and Oates took a decade to find their sound, created their own ’80s genre and made their dreams come true.
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- [00:00]
Chris Melanfy
You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One Series. On our last episode we talked about how Darrell hall and John Oates met in the Philly soul scene of the 1960s, then spent the 70s trying to find their sound, veering from folk to R and B to rock to disco with major chart highs and humbling lows. We're now at the start of the 1980s where hall and Oates are finally honing their voice on an album called, appropriately, Voices. Buried Deep on the Voices lp. Kiss On My List was anomalous in several ways. For one thing, it was co written by Daryl hall, not with his companion Sarah Allen, but with her sister Jana Allen, another budding songwriter who was looking to start her own music career. Daryl helped Jana complete the song, but Jana came up with the song's infectious chorus on her own. And about that chorus the word in the title is Kiss On My List, not Lips. Though many listeners mistook it for lips, the song was perceived as purely romantic, whereas Daryl hall claimed it was an anti love song sung by a dude who's sheepish about sharing his feelings. Quote if you insist on knowing my bliss or I only smile when I lie, he finally owns up that a kiss is just one of the things on his list of life's joys. It didn't matter. Kiss On My List was received as a breezy easy pee in to infatuation.
- [02:25]
Daryl Hall
I won't regret what I've done, regret you I couldn't go.
- [02:35]
Chris Melanfy
Hall recorded Kiss On My List as a demo for Janna Allen, expecting that she would re record it, but Tommy Mottola insisted that hall keep the song. Jana was given songwriting credit, of course, and hall and Oates just dubbed backing vocals and extra instruments onto that original Darrell hall demo. It was a gushy, bouncy pop song made with new wave economy. This, it turned out, would be the 80s hall and Oats sound. Released as a single in January of 1981, kiss on my List took a dozen weeks to reach number one, where it stayed for three weeks now three singles deep on the Voices album. Amazingly, hall and Oats had another crisp, all killer, no filler pop song lying in wait for a fourth single.
- [03:50]
Daryl Hall
Might be hard to handle. Like a flame that burns a candle.
- [03:59]
Chris Melanfy
You make my dreams, despite never reaching number one, is one of the most popular songs in the Daryl hall and John Oates catalog. According to MRC Data, in 2021 alone, it was spun on US terrestrial radio stations more than 3,34,000 times and streamed more than 102 million times. It's their biggest Spotify hit ever. But in the summer of 1981, coming off of Kiss on my list, you Make My Dreams could only manage a new number five peak stuck for three weeks behind summer 81 smashes by Rick Springfield, Air Supply, George Harrison and Kim Karnes. I'll let you guess what those hits were. Still, this was the first time Daryl hall and John Oates had strung together two top five hits in a row. Before the summer was over, they had a follow up album already ready to go, packed with more of the new wave leaning Blue Eyed soul co written with Sarah and Jana Allen that had now made them chart regulars. The new LP was called Private Eyes and thanks to the near simultaneous launch of the Music Video Channel MTV, Hall & Oates found themselves even more on trend. Daryl and John didn't much like making music videos, but as far back as the 70s, encouraged by Tommy Mottola, they were making them. These clips were cheap, low concept affairs generally, often shot on videotape on a soundstage. Hall didn't always get the lip syncing right, but starting with Private Eyes, their first hit of the MTV era and the title track of their 19811 LP, hall and Oates used this visual simplicity to their advantage. Quote, hall and Oates may have been the first true MTV stars. Tom Bryan of Stereogum writes in his number One's column, Private Eyes gets its point across in the simplest way imaginable. Hall, Oats and their backing band members all dress up like old timey gumshoes. Hall peers at the camera through a magnifying glass. In a green Hepcat suit, Oats plays the fool, mugging like a human cartoon character. THEY SING THE SONG that's it. It was enough. Unquote. Private Eyes rose to number one in less time than Kiss on My list had. Hall and Oates were now commercially bulletproof. In a rare chart feat, they then almost succeeded themselves at number one. Well, kind of. There was a ten week gap in between the two hits when the Hot 100 was commanded by just one song. The biggest hit of let's Get.
- [07:36]
Daryl Hall
Physical. Physical how? Wanna get physical? Let's get into physical. Let me find and.
- [07:46]
Chris Melanfy
Talk. We've talked about Olivia Newton John's fitness craze Bop Physical. In prior Hit Parade episodes, it ejected hall and Oates, Private eyes at number one in November 1981 and spent a record 10 million weeks on top into early 82. Then Physical was itself ejected from the number one spot by hall and Oates next hit further evidence of their hot streak. But more important even than this Hot 100 rarity was the song itself, their most innovative, most influential, most critically acclaimed single ever. One night in the studio, when most of their band had gone home, Daryl hall was fiddling with a primitive drum machine called the Roland Compu Rhythm. Liking the dry, brittle sound of the beat, hall turned to his keyboard and layered on a cycling bass line, then additional keyboard filigrees. He called John Oates over and had him play a simple skeletal guitar riff. Luckily, they managed to tell the last remaining sound engineer in the studio to hit record. This, by the way, was a good time for pop artists experimenting with primitive drum machines. In 1981 and 82 alone, classic pop tracks would emerge from inquisitive rock stars fumbling around with gizmos by companies like Roland Korg and Lin, artists like Phil Collins, Joe jackson. And, of course, Prince. But Daryl Hall's tinkering with the Roland Compu rhythm produced the biggest hit among these experimental tracks, which one that rivaled even Phil Collins in the Air Tonight for sonic influence. It was the most genre defying track hall and Oates would ever release. I Can't Go for that Parentheses no can do, a title Daryl hall and co writer Sarah Allen came up with was effortlessly funky. Even though hall was singing, the track evoked hip hop at a time when rap was new. Prior to I Can't Go for that, hall and Oates had made Billboard's R B chart a half dozen times, dating back to the days of Sarah Smile. But they'd never cracked the top 20. That's what made it remarkable when, in the billboard issue dated January 30, 1982, Daryl hall and John Oates were on top of Both the Hot 100 and Hot Soul singles with their skeletal, synthesized flash funk bomb. They were the first white act to top the R B chart since the mixed race KC and the Sunshine Band in 1977. And they were the first white act ever to top Both the Hot 100 and R B charts in the same week. In his journal that week, hall wrote, quote, I'm the head soul brother in the U.S. where to now? Unquote, before 1982 was even over. I can't go for that. Most especially, its airtight bass line was inspiring imitators. Primarily this familiar.
- [12:19]
Daryl Hall
Hit, Do you mean I am the.
- [12:32]
Chris Melanfy
1? Years later, at the recording session for We Are the World, Michael Jackson approached Darryl hall during a break in recording and sheepishly told him, I hope you don't mind, but I stole Billie Jean from you. Hall knew what Jackson meant and immediately reassured him, it's all right, man. It's something we all do. To be sure, Billie Jean and I can't go for that are not identical. But as this mashup by DJ Peace Cat illustrates, their bass lines do have a lot in common. Back in 1982, however, hall and Oates were now entering a full on imperial phase where every track was a hit. They pulled a third top 10 from the Private Eyes LP, the new wavy did it in a Minute, co written by Jana Allen, reached number.
- [13:45]
Daryl Hall
Nine.
- [13:55]
Chris Melanfy
And a fourth single, the percolating your imagination cracked the top 40 at number 33. Paul and Oates wouldn't allow their momentum to flag. For the third year in a row, the duo had another another album at the ready, just as the prior one was petering out in a pun on their names, hall and Oates late 1982 album would be called H2O and its first single was built around another irresistible bassline, only this time hall and Oates would be the ones doing the stealing. The good news was they stole from the best. I Need Love love on the Supreme's 1966 number one classic you can't Hurry Love, the signature element is its bassline, played by Motown legend James Jamerson of the Funk Brothers. That bass line has been ripped off a lot, and it was especially popular in 1982. Replicas of the Jamerson bassline appeared in hits by the Jam on their UK one Town Called Malice. And on Phil Collins remake of you Can't Hurry Love, a top 10 US hit on which Collins pumped up.
- [15:46]
Daryl Hall
That famous bass line Honey Love Love, Booty's My.
- [15:52]
Chris Melanfy
Mind. But the highest charting and most successful iteration of the bass line was what hall and Oates did with it on.
- [16:02]
Daryl Hall
Maneater. Nothing is new I've seen it here before Watching a.
- [16:09]
Chris Melanfy
Wedding. If you've passed by a radio anytime in the last few weeks, you've probably heard Maneater. According to MRC data, it's hall and Oates top airplay Track spun over 64,000 times on the radio just last year, nearly double the rate of you Make My Dreams. It seems radio listeners can't get enough of that brain sticky chorus about a wild woman who'll chew you up.
- [16:41]
Daryl Hall
Oh, here she comes Watch out for she'll cheer you up oh, here she comes She's a Man.
- [16:49]
Chris Melanfy
Eater. Though the duo would later claim that the song, co written with Sarah Allen was a metaphor about a rough city and not a gold digging woman, Maneater was widely regarded as, if you will, classic misogyny. It was also Daryl hall and John Oates biggest pop hit, spending a full month on top of the Hot 100 and powering the H2O album to double platinum status. Like its predecessor private eyes, H2O then went on to generate a flotilla of hits, including the number seven pop, number eight R&B ballad one on one, And the crunching synth rocker Family Man, a cover of a minor 1982 hit by British multi instrumentalist Mike Oldfield. The hall and Oates version topped out at number six in the summer of.
- [18:02]
Daryl Hall
83. But he said leave me alone I'm a family man and my bites.
- [18:10]
Chris Melanfy
Speaking of remakes, by the end of 1983, Daryl hall and John Oates were such bankable stars that they even recorded A Christmas Carol. Their remake of Bobby Helms's chestnut Jingle Bell Rock, complete with a kitschy 50s style video, became an immediate MTV staple. And the song still gets spun nearly 25,000 times on US radio each holiday season. Arriving in record stores that same Christmas was the first comprehensive career spanning Daryl hall and John Oates compilation album. The ambitiously titled Rock and Soul Part one. No, four decades later, there never was a Part two. As part of this victory lap, hall and Oates recorded two new hitbound tracks. A biting synth funk number called Adult.
- [19:18]
Daryl Hall
Education. Oh yeah, what we need is Dull.
- [19:26]
Chris Melanfy
Education. And serving as the set's first single, a supple pop and B track called say It Isn't so. When say It Isn't so rose to number two for three weeks over the holiday season of 1983 and 84, Casey Kasem on American Top 40 was compelled to announce a very special chart.
- [20:04]
Casey Kasem
Achievement. Now we're up to the song that recently broke a major chart record, the most successful duo of the rock era. Since the late 1950s, that title had been held by two brothers from Brownie, Kentucky. No duo has ever challenged the Everly Brothers title until now. Since the Beginning of the 80s, two men from Philadelphia have been moving up on that title. And with their current hit, this new twosome surpassed the Everlys. Say It Isn't so. Here are Daryl hall and John Oates, the new top duo of the rock.
- [20:37]
Chris Melanfy
Era. Take that, Rolling Stone magazine. As hall and Oates topped the Everlys, they still hold the title as most hit making duo. By the way, they entered 1984 at a new phase of imperiality, not only as hitmakers for themselves, but as the kind of Midas touch act other artists wanted to work with or glom onto. Darrell hall in particular spread his talents promiscuously throughout the year. He sang backup on hits for Australian band In Excess. And in a rare pop crossover for post punk icon Elvis.
- [21:31]
Daryl Hall
Costello, She's got just a thinking that I carry.
- [21:44]
Chris Melanfy
This torture round no less a pop eminence than Ms. Diana Ross. Asked to work with Daryl hall on her 84 album Swept Away, Darrell and his companion Sarah Allen wrote the album's title track, a number 18 pop number 3 R&B hit for Ross and Hall, co produced the song, sang backup and played guitar. Meanwhile, for hall and Oates themselves, the producer of that INXS track Chic's Nile Rogers offered to remix the duo's second single from Rock and Soul Part 1 to make it more club friendly and on trend for Radio. Rogers clattery remix of Adult Education pushed the song to number eight on the Hot 100. All and Oats had also attracted the attention of an even more bleeding edge to prior producer Arthur Baker, the remixer and cool hunter who had recently overseen one of the seminal tracks in rap history, Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaata and the Soul Sonic Force. While hall and Oates intended to produce their next album album themselves, as they had since the start of the 80s, they brought in Arthur Baker as a so called mix consultant. A co producer in all but name, Baker helped shape the sound of Big Bam Boom, the duo's synth heavy 1984 LP, most especially its lead single, which would prove to be hall and Oates last year number one hit. Out of Touch. Like prior peak, hall and Oats singles was several things at once. Mechanized rock crossed with R and B and club music and a big booming production sound. For the music video, the duo went with Arthur Baker's remix, which was also preferred on many urban radio stations. Baker deconstructed the track and made the beat even louder. By December 84, out of Touch was on top of the Hot 100 and the Big Bamboom album had reached the top five and went platinum out of the box. The LP would spawn three more top 40 hits in 1985, each just a bit smaller than the last. The number five hit Method of Modern Love, The atmospheric Some Things Are Better Left unsaid, a number 18 hit. And a rare single with a John Oates lead vocal possession Obsession, which was also remixed by Arthur Baker and reached number 30. By the time that last single cracked the top 40. Daryl hall and John Oates were taking their final lap as one of America's top pop acts. Say this for them, they made the most of it. As we discussed in our charity Mega Singles episode of hit parade, 1985 was the peak year for Do Gooder All Star songs and hall and Oates were all over them. Not only did they both sing in the chorus of USA for Africa's We Are the World, Daryl got a brief but potent solo vocal. Then later in the year, when little Steven Van Zant amassed an eclectic group of rock, rap, soul, jazz, blues and Latin musicians for his anti apartheid anthem Sun City, hall and Oates were one of the very few We Are the World participants to do that charity mega single too. Oates got a showcase in the video, singing alongside Lou Reed and Ruben Blades. And once again, hall took a brief solo turn on the mic. But the clearest signal that Daryl hall and John Oates were at the absolute peak of their powers came at July 1985's Live Aid concert, the transatlantic Dual City extravaganza organized by England's Bob Geldof for African hunger relief. What, you don't remember the hall and Oates.
- [27:41]
Daryl Hall
Performance? Hall Oats.
- [27:50]
Chris Melanfy
Foreign not claiming that hall and Oates came out of Live Aid as legendary as Queen or U2, their set was not nearly as acclaimed. But if you do a little analysis of the circumstances of their performance, the duo were at the time one of the very biggest acts on on the bill. The two sites where Live Aid happened were Wembley Stadium in London and the former John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. That meant that for hall and Oats, the American edition of Live Aid was essentially a hometown gig. Even though they'd both lived in New York City for years, the Philly crowd received the duo as beloved prodigal sons and they were placed on the bill accordingly, appearing just an hour before the end of the 14 hour marathon. The only acts who played after Holland of the Oates were Mick Jagger with Tina Turner, a triumvirate of Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and Ron Wood, and an all star We Are the World sing along. Arguably, hall and Oates were the last billed performers with current material on the charts. And by the way, when I say that I'm including Mick Jagger, whose 1985 solo debut she's the Boss had by then already flopped. And then there's the matter of what hall and Oates performed. Their set was the most hit packed of anyone's that day. If you you count not only their own number one hits, out of Touch and Maneater. But also the songs included in a medley of Motown classics by the Temptations, performed by the duo with special guests David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks of the.
- [30:18]
Daryl Hall
Temptations. I got a sweeter song that no birds in the tree Everybody can say this one, come.
- [30:27]
Chris Melanfy
On, that's another number one hit. They performed My Girl, the 1965 chart topper by the vocal group A Young Daryl hall idolized. I mean, I've checked. No one else who performed at Live Aid in either London or Philadelphia that day did a set packed with bigger Hot 100 hits than hall and Oates. Not Queen, not Phil Collins, not. Not even Elton John. And speaking of the London Live Aid hall and Oates music was being performed there.
- [31:03]
Daryl Hall
Too. Hey, if we can solve any problem, why do we do so.
- [31:14]
Chris Melanfy
Many? Teach Blue Eyed soul singer Paul Young. You may know him as the first voice on Band Aid's do they Know It's Christmas. He was riding high on the charts with his cover of Darryl Hall's ballad Every Time youe Go Away. Originally from hall and Oates 1980 LP voices. It had never been issued as a single from that hit packed album. But Paul Young turned Every Time you, you Go Away into a smash. On both sides of the Atlantic. Number four in the UK and number one in the US. In fact, the the very day of Live Aid, July 13, 1985, Young's every time youe Go Away was in the Hot 100's top 10 on its way to number one two weeks later, if you consider the Billboard data lag I discussed in a prior hit parade. Technically, Young's cover of hall and Oates was already America's number one song that.
- [32:38]
Daryl Hall
Day. I can't go on singing the same.
- [32:44]
Chris Melanfy
Thing. As profitable, Surely as Paul Young's cover was for Daryl hall, he was a little salty about his song becoming better known by someone else. In May 1985, as Young's version was rising on the charts, Darrell and John performed a very prestigious gig at New York's legendary Apollo Theater. And hall reclaimed his composition while throwing a little.
- [33:13]
Daryl Hall
Shade. We like to do a do.
- [33:16]
Chris Melanfy
A song that was on our Voices album about five years ago and it.
- [33:21]
Daryl Hall
Was recently done by an English artist. English artist. It's called Every Time youe Go.
- [33:27]
Chris Melanfy
Away. This is the.
- [33:28]
Daryl Hall
Original. Baby, we got so many.
- [33:42]
Chris Melanfy
Problems. This Apollo gig, by the way, was where hall and Oates first performed with the Temptations David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks. After reprising that set with them at Live Aid in July, the duo took four full advantage of their clout to issue not only a Daryl hall and John Oates Live at the Apollo lp, but also a single with Ruffin and Kendricks bringing the two temps back to the top 40 for the first time in a decade. A couple of months after Live Aid, the foursomes medley of the Way you Do the Things yous Do and My girl reached number 20, impressive for a live mashup of oldies, it was a fine way for hall and Oates to wrap up their imperial phase and it would be their last hit for about three years. The duo were burned out after their incredible five year run and in interviews Darrell hall spoke about the need to take a break, but he was far from idle during this hiatus from John Oates. In 1990 1986, Darrell hall issued his first solo album since the beleaguered Sacred Songs. It was called Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine and it spawned an immediate top five hit with the ebullient psychedelic rocker Dreamtime, co produced by the Eurythmics Dave.
- [35:38]
Daryl Hall
Stewart. I'm telling.
- [35:43]
Chris Melanfy
You, Hall's solo album was well reviewed and did spawn a couple of hits as well as one of Hall's best ballads, the stately Someone like you. But on the album chart, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine peaked at number 27, lower even than the hall and Oates Live at the Apollo lp and it failed to go gold. As for John Oates, he too scored a top 10 hit during the hiatus, performed not by himself but by an Australian band but Ice House Oats teamed with ice House singer Iva Davies to write Electric Blue, a catchy synth pop track which he admitted could easily have been a Hall and Oats. Instead. Issued as an Ice House Single in in 1987, Electric Blue reached number seven on the Hot 100 by May 1988. By then, Daryl hall and John Oates had reconvened. During their pause, the duo had jumped ship from RCA Records to a top dollar deal with Arista, the label run by famed mogul Clive Davis, then riding high with flagship artist Whitney Houston. Accordingly, the first hall and Oats single on Arista sounded very much like the adult contemporary soft pop that was the label's specialty. Everything your heart desires. The lead single from the Comeback album oh yeah reached number three on the Hot 100, suggesting that hall and Oates were back like they'd never left. But it proved a short lived comeback. Subsequent singles fell short like the number 31 hit downtown. And the oh yeah album peaked at number 24 in the age of George Michael and Bobby Brown, Daryl hall and John O, each of them, now over 40, could no longer assume they were automatic radio fodder. In a bid to stay relevant for their second Arista album, Hall and Oates teamed with rock frontman and garbage merchant Jon Bon Jovi. Co written with Bon Jovi, so Close, the lead single from 1990s change of season album was just that, so close to the top 10, but not quite. It peaked at number 11 in December of that year and the album topped out at number 60, the first hall and Oats studio album to miss the top 40 since 1974. As we say here at Hit Parade, nothing good comes from associating with Jon Bon Jovi. When hall and Oates follow up single Don't Hold Back youk Love also proved a near miss, peaking at a heartbreaking number 41 in.
- [39:44]
Daryl Hall
1991. Just hold on to my hand and face whatever comes don't hold back.
- [39:58]
Chris Melanfy
Your love the duo's days as a top 40 pop act were over. Daryl hall and John Oates would never return to the upper reaches of the Hot 100, and they took a much longer hiatus for most of the 1990s. Maybe with hindsight, the duo should instead have teamed up with Dr. Dre, Prince Paul or the Bomb Squad, because at the very moment they were falling off as pop stars, hall and Oates were emerging as a formative influence in hip hop anyway. Push couldn't shove me to understand a path to a base set Consumer should erased it in a first wave cause second wave form believers and believers will walk to it then even talk to it and say. Say no go. A single from de la Soul's seminal 1989 album album Three Feet High and Rising was built out of samples from hall and oates 1982 chart topper I Can't Go for that. That song proved to be a primary text in rap, also showing up in singles from among many acts, the 2 Live Crew. Have you ever met a girl who dressed real fly and wanted all the things that your money could buy? She wanted and Heavy D. What the deal Boo.
- [41:33]
Questlove
Hill? You talk too much now you're.
- [41:35]
Chris Melanfy
Steady Yapping like you're scared to get touched I can't go for that was easily hall and Oates most sampled recording. But it wasn't the only one on enter the Wu Tang 36 chambers, the 1993 debut by the Wu Tang Clan, the title song by rapper Method man is built on an interpolation of the Method refrain from hall and Oates 1985 hit method of Modern love. And in 1996, Bay Area rapper Be Legit not only built his single Ghetto Smile out of hall and Oates hit Sarah Smile, he got Daryl hall himself to sing on. Daryl hall and John Oates finally broke their 90s hiatus in 1997 to record a new album, Marigold Sky. The album and the expectations for it were much more modest. It was mellow soul pop, and it inaugurated the duo's autumnal phase as adult contemporary.
- [43:03]
Daryl Hall
Hitmakers. To Touch says.
- [43:12]
Chris Melanfy
Everything Promise Ain't Enough from Marigold sky got them back on the radio, where it peaked at a respectable number six on the AC chart in 2002. They did even better with Do It For Love, which topped that.
- [43:33]
Casey Kasem
Char.
- [43:37]
Daryl Hall
I won't do it for pride I won't do it to please somebody else if it don't feel.
- [43:44]
Chris Melanfy
Right. Much more remarkable than hall and Oates easy listening comeback in the new millennium was how they were received and celebrated by a younger generation. Perversely, by not trying to be on trend, hall and Oats became cool again. Just before the holiday season of 2007, pretty much on a whim, Daryl hall started a web series of live, largely acoustic recordings from his home in upstate New York. He called it simply Live From Daryl's House. Though the show was shot with multiple cameras and a tangle of cables and equipment, it maintained a low tech, homespun quality. Hall's first guest in the second webisode was naturally John Oates, But it wasn't long before other younger performers were clamoring to play from Daryl's house. For example, Patrick Stump, lead singer of Fall Out Boy, a fan of hall and Oates, whose potent tenor voice echoed Darrell Hall's, came to the house to do a cover of Fall Out Boy's hit Sugar We're Going down as a duet with hall or the Canadian electro funk duo Chromeo. Their music already echoed hall and Oates, such as their new wavy 2007 track waiting for you. So naturally, Chromeo's Dave 1 Matlovich and P Thug Jamail passed through the house to pay respects to Daryl hall and cover their hall and Ocean homage with him. Around this same time, rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, fronted by Travy McCoy not only played at Darrell's house, they invited hall to guest on a single called Live Forever, Fly With Me, and if you really love me, then.
- [46:38]
Questlove
Here'S your chance to show.
- [46:39]
Daryl Hall
It. I see a window and all I can think about.
- [46:43]
Chris Melanfy
It. Travy McCoy proved his obeisance to the duo by getting tattoos of their faces taken from the COVID of their 1981 album Private Eyes on the tops of his hands. Ouch. Hollywood also started reconnecting with hall and Oates. They showed they had a sense of humor by guesting on a 2006 episode of Will and.
- [47:15]
Questlove
Grace. Excuse me, is this the Adler and Hanson wedding?
- [47:19]
Chris Melanfy
Yes. Are you hauling oats? Actually it's Oates and haul.
- [47:27]
Questlove
Now. Every 25 years we flip. When I agreed to that, I didn't think we'd last this.
- [47:31]
Chris Melanfy
Long. But the most vital reboot of Daryl hall and John Oates music came in an acclaimed movie that debuted at the Sundance film festival in 2009, 500 days of summer, a winsome romantic comedy starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in a fantasy sequence. After Gordon Levitt's character Tom Hansen has consummated his relationship with Deschanel's Summer Finn, he emerges from his apartment building to a joyous full blown choreographed dance number set to hall and oates 1981 hit you make My Dreams. The 500 Days of Summer scene caught a wave of flash mob dance sequences that were blanketing YouTube in the aughts and the film was popular enough to turn you Make My Dreams into Hall and Oates digital era blockbuster again. It's their top Spotify song song and their second biggest radio recurrent after Maneater. All this steadily accruing cool cred brought more young hall and Oates fans out of the woodwork. In 2010, indie pop duo the Bird and the Bee singer Inara George and future Adele collaborator Greg Kirsten released Interpreting the Masters, Volume 1, A Tribute to Daryl hall and John Oates. In late 2009, country singer Jimmy Wayne recorded a cover of Sarah Smile that got Daryl hall and John Oates songwriting credits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. For the first time, Wayne's cover reached number 31 on the country.
- [49:53]
Daryl Hall
Chart. It's you and me forever.
- [50:00]
Chris Melanfy
Sarah Sarah Smile and then there were the bands who paid homage similar simply by emulating the Holland Oats sound. Norwegian pop group Super Family wrote an original song, I Could be a real winner, that sounded like a Would be Private Eyes bonus track. Lead singer Stephen Ray Wilson's voice was a dead ringer for Darrell.
- [50:28]
Daryl Hall
Hal. I think about situations and how the things they used to be when you would never have a.
- [50:46]
Chris Melanfy
Doubt. And in 2016, Jamie Smith, aka Jamie xx, producer and remixer for British indie pop band the xx, transformed hall and Oates. I can't go for that into the single on hold, which topped the UK indie chart and cracked Billboard's rock and alternative chart. As far as back as 1997, Daryl hall and John Oates had been eligible for the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. But they were not so much as nominated until the 2010s. Passionately advocating for their candidacy was roots drummer and soul and hip hop historian Amir Questlove Thompson, who sat on the Rock hall nominating committee and reportedly put forward hall and Oates for the ballot when they were voted in on that very first ballot appearance. Questlove did the honors at the 2014 induction ceremony, and he reminded the crowd how important the duo's music was to the black community in.
- [52:14]
Questlove
Particular. And hall notes stay true. They collaborated with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick in 1985, first at Philly's live Aid, then at the Apollo Theater, sparking a revival and the interest in the Temptations in classic Motown. And because what goes around comes around, their music became prized amongst hip hop artists such as the Wu Tang Clan, J Dilla De La Soul. They cross all the boundaries because that is what great music does. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in being a proud child of Philadelphia. A child of the 70s, a child of the 80s, a child of soul. Join me for one glorious night in making the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, the hall and Oates of Fame. Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present to you Darrell hall and John.
- [53:02]
Chris Melanfy
Oates. Westlove's testimonial was one more reminder that Daryl hall and John Oates music crossed the spectrum and defied category. Even as rock fans and Rolling Stone magazine were ignoring them, fans of soul knew that they were important. In their acceptance speech, John Oates noted that they were lucky to have come from Philadelphia. And Daryl hall took the institution to task. Not for waiting so long to induct them, but for ignoring other than Philly based.
- [53:43]
Questlove
Acts. What happened to the Stylistics and the Del Phonics? Harold Melvin in the Blue Notes, Lenny Barry, Chubby Checker. There better be more Philadelphia artists in this.
- [53:52]
Chris Melanfy
Place. Now, with nothing left to prove, Daryl hall and John Oates enjoy a comfortable afterlife as touring musicians. Their latest tour ranked among the year's top 50 grocers. Even in 2021, a minefield of a year for concerts. And because they know that there are young people in the crowd, they always pull out the number five hit that really should have been one of their half dozen Hot 100 number one hits. Young and old, black and white, fans of rock and soul, and especially the music they call rock and soul. Daryl hall and John Oates have songs for everybody and hits for days. They've got our bodies and they earned our souls. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hip Hop Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfy. That's me. My producer one last Time is Asha Saludja. We wish her well as she leaves Slate for a new opportunity at Pineapple Street Studios. Asha, we'll miss you so much. Asha also produced the latest installment of our monthly Hit Parade the Bridge shows, which are available exclusively exclusively to Slate plus members. In our latest Bridge Episode, critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine joins me as we dig deep into the hit making career and sonic surprises of Daryl hall and John Oates. To sign up for Slate plus and hear that show and all our shows the day they drop, visit slate.com hitparadeplus June Thomas is the Senior Managing Producer Producer of Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. Until then, keep on marching on the one I'm Chris.