Friday, Jan 28, 2022 • 1h, 2min

Rock ’n Soul, Part 2

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

Play Episode

In part two of our deep dive into Daryl Hall & John Oates' genre-defying streak on the pop charts, Chris Molanphy argues they were also more cutting-edge than you may realize, essentially inventing their own form of cross-racial new wave after spending the ’70s trying everything: rock, R&B, folk, funk, even disco. At their Imperial peak in the early ’80s, Hall and Oates commanded the pop, soul and dance charts while still getting played on rock stations. And decades later, when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ignored them, it was Black artists—rappers and soul fans—who pushed them in. Join Chris Molanphy for a dissection of the Philly duo who invented “rock ’n soul” and made their dreams come true. Sign up for Slate Plus now to get episodes in one installment as soon as they're out. You'll also get The Bridge, our trivia show and bonus deep dive. Click here for more info. Podcast production by Asha Saluja. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking about

Speakers

(13)

Chris Molanphy

Hall & Oates

Daryl Hall

Transcript

Verified

Break

Chris Molanphy

00:52

Hey there,

Hit Parade

listeners. Before we get started, we have an important favour to ask you. We've put together a survey so we can learn more about listeners like you and make your favourite podcasts even better. This is your opportunity to tell us who you are and what you're interested in. It should take about 15 minutes at most. Just visit

Slate

. com/listenersurvey to participate. That's

Slate

. com/listenersurvey. We appreciate your feedback.

01:34

Welcome back to

Hit Parade

, a podcast of pop chart history from

Slate Magazine

about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Molanphy; chart analyst, pop critic and writer of

Slate's

’Why Is This Song No. 1? ’ series.

01:49

On our last episode, we talked about how

Daryl 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&B to rock to disco, with major chart highs and humbling lows. We're now at the start of the 1980s where

Hall & Oates

are finally honing their voice on an album called, appropriately, ’Voices’. Very deep on the voices, LP

Kiss On My List

was anomalous in several ways.

02:36

For one thing, it was co-written by

Daryl Hall

, not with his companion,

Sarah Allen

, but with her sister

Janna Allen

; another budding songwriter who was looking to start her own music career.

Daryl

helped

Janna

complete the song, but

Janna

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’.

03:16

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 whose 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 paean to infatuation.

Hall & Oates

03:58

Regret you, I couldn't go on.

Chris Molanphy

03:59

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.

Janna

was given songwriting credit of course, and

Hall & Oates

just dubbed backing vocals and extra instruments onto that original

Daryl Hall

demo. It was a gushy, bouncy pop song made with new-wave economy. This, it turned out, would be the ’80s

Hall & Oates

sound.

04:53

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 & Oates

had another crisp all-killer, no-filler pop song, lying and wait for a fourth single.

05:27

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 thirty four thousand times, and streamed more than one hundred and two million times.

Hall & Oates

05:54

Oh yeah,

You Make My Dreams

come true. (You, you, you,

Ooh Ooh Ooh

, you.)

Chris Molanphy

05:54

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 number five peak, stuck for three weeks behind summer ’81 smashes by

Rick Springfield

Air Supply

George Harrison

and

Kim Carnes

. I'll let you guess what those hits were.

06:28

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

Janna 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.

07:10

Darryl 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-sinking right. But starting with

Private Eyes

. Their first hit of the

MTV

era and the title track of their 1981 LP,

Hall & Oates

used this visual simplicity to their advantage.

07:51

Quote,

Hall & Oates

may have been the first true

MTV

stars, Tom Breihan of

Stereogum

writes in his ’Number Ones’ column,

Private Eyes

gets its point across in the simplest way imaginable.

Hall,

Oates

and their backing band members all dress up like old-timey gumshoes.

Hall

peers at the camera through a magnifying glass in a green Hep Cat suit.

Oates

plays the fool mugging like a human cartoon character. They sing the song. That's it. It was enough, unquote.

08:36

Private Eyes

rose to number one in less time than

Kiss On My List

had.

Hall & 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 that year.

09:04

She we've talked about

Olivia Newton-John's

fitness-craze bop

Physical

in prior

Hit Parade

episodes. It ejected

Hall & Oates'

Private Eyes

at number one in November 1981 and spent a record ten weeks on top into early ’82. Then

Physical

was itself ejected from the number one spot by

Hall & 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.

10:01

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 CompuRhythm

. Liking the dry brittle sound of the beat,

Hall

turned to his keyboard and layered on a cycling baseline, 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.

10:40

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 Linn; artists like

Phil Collins

Joe

Jackson

and of course,

Prince

11:34

But

Daryl Hall's

tinkering with the

Roland CompuRhythm

produced the biggest hit among these experimental tracks, one that rivalled even

Phil Collins'

In The Air Tonight

for sonic influence. It was the most genre-defying track

Hall & Oates

would ever release.

11:55

Can't Go For That

(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

Can't Go For That

Hall & Oates

had made

Billboard's

’R&B’ chart a half dozen times, dating back to the days of

Sara Smile

, but they'd never cracked the ’Top 20’.

12:37

That's what made it remarkable when in the

Billboard

issue, dated January 30th 1982,

Daryl Hall

and

John Oates

were on top of both the

’Hot 100’

and ’Hot Soul Singles’ with their skeletal, synthesized 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 US, where to now, unquote.

13:34

Before 1982 was even over,

Can't Go For That

most especially its airtight baseline was inspiring imitators, primarily this familiar hit. Years later, at the recording session for

We Are The World

Michael Jackson

approached

Daryl 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 alright man. It's something we all do to be sure.

Billie Jean

and

Can't Go For That

are not identical."

14:32

But as this mash-up by DJ Peacecat illustrates, their baselines do have a lot in common. Back in 1982, however,

Hall & Oates

were now entering a full on imperial phase where every track was a hit. They pulled a third top ten from the

Private Eyes'

LP, the new-wavey

Did It In A Minute

, co-written by

Janna Allen,

reached number nine.

15:14

A fourth single, the percolating ’Your Imagination’, cracked the

’Top 40’

at number thirty three.

15:36

Hall & Oates

wouldn't allow their momentum to flag. For the third year in a row, the duo had another album at the ready just as the prior one was petering out. In a pun on their names,

Hall & Oates's

late 1982 album would be called ’H2O’ and its first single was built around another irresistible baseline. Only this time,

Hall & Oates

would be the ones doing the stealing. The good news was they stole from the best.

16:23

The Supremes'

1966 number one classic,

You Can't Hurry Love

, the signature element is its baseline played by

Motown

legend

James Jamerson

The Funk Brothers

. That baseline 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 number 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 that famous baseline.

17:21

But the highest charting and most successful iteration of the baseline was what

Hall & Oates

did with it on

Maneater

17:38

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 & Oates'

top airplay track spun over sixty four thousand 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, quote, chew you up.

Hall & Oates

18:11

(Oh-oh, here she comes). Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up. (Oh-oh, here she comes). She's a

Maneater

Chris Molanphy

18:19

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 ’H20’ album to double platinum status. Like its predecessor,

Private Eyes

, ’H20’ then went on to generate a flotilla of hits, including the number seven, pop number eight R&B ballad, ’One on One’.

19:06

And the crunching synth-rocker

Family Man

, a cover of a minor 1982 hit by British multi-instrumentalist

Mike Oldfield

. The

Hall & Oates

version topped out at number six in the summer of ’83.

19:37

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'

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.

20:10

Arriving in record stores that same Christmas was the first comprehensive career-spanning,

Daryl Hall

and

John Oates

compilation album, the ambitiously titled

Rock'n Soul Part 1.

No, for decades later, there never was a part two. As part of this victory lap,

Hall & Oates

recorded two new hit bound tracks, a biting-synth funk number called

Adult Education

20:57

And serving as the set's first single, a supple Pop&B track called

Say It Isn't So

21:07

When I

Say It Isn't So

rose to number two for three weeks over the holiday season of 1983 and ’84,

Casey Kasem

American Top 40

was compelled to announce a very special chart achievement.

Casey Kasem

21:33

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

Everly's

’Say It Isn't’. So, here are

Daryl Hall

and

John Oates

, the new top duo of the rock era.

Chris Molanphy

22:08

Take that

Rolling Stone

magazine! As

Hall & Oates

topped the

Everly's

, 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 hit makers for themselves, but as the kind of midas touch act, other artists wanted to work with or glom onto.

Daryl Hall

in particular, spread his talents promiscuously throughout the year. He sang back-up on hits for Australian band

INXS

22:55

And in a rare pop crossover for post punk icon

Elvis Costello

23:12

No less a pop eminence than Miss

Diana Ross

asked to work with

Daryl Hall

on her ’84 album ’Swept Away’. Darryl and his companion

Sarah Allen

wrote the album's title track, a number eighteen pop, number three R&B hit for

Ross

and

Hall

co-produced the song sang back-up and played guitar.

23:47

Meanwhile, for

Hall & Oates

themselves, the producer of that

INXS

track,

Chic's

Nile Rodgers

offered to remix the duo's second single from

Rock'n Soul Part 1,

to make it more club-friendly and on-trend for radio.

Roger's

clattering the remix of

Adult Education

pushed the song to number eight on the

’Hot 100’

24:19

Hall & Oates

had also attracted the attention of an even more bleeding-edge producer,

Arthur Baker

the remixer and cool hunter who had recently overseen one of the seminal tracks in rap history,

Planet Rock

Afrika Bambaataa

and the

Soulsonic Force

Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force

24:44

Just get on down and hit me. Bambaataa's gettin' so funky, now, hit me.

Chris Molanphy

24:49

While

Hall & Oates

intended to produce their next album themselves, as they had since the start of the ’80s, they brought in

Arthur Baker

as a so-called mixed consultant, a co-producer in all but name,

Baker

helped shape the sound of

Big Bam Boom

25:11

The duo's synth-heavy 1984 LP, most especially its lead single, which would prove to be

Hall & Oates'

last number one hit.

25:29

Out Of Touch,

like prior peak

Hall & Oates’

singles, was several things at once; mechanized rock crossed with R&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.

26:06

By December ’84,

Out Of Touch

was on top of the

Hot 100

and the

Big Bam Boom

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

—

26:47

A number eighteen hit —

26:50

And a rare single with a

John Oates

lead vocal ’Possession Obsession’, which was also remixed by

Arthur Baker

and reached number thirty.

27:07

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.

Break

Chris Molanphy

30:22

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 & 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.

30:51

Then later in the year when

Little Steven Van Zandt

amassed an eclectic group of rock rap, soul, jazz, blues and latin musicians for his anti-apartheid anthem,

Sun City

Hall & Oates

were one of the very few.

We Are The World

participants to do that charity mega-single too.

Oates

got to showcase in the video singing alongside

Lou Reed

and

Rubén Blades

31:23

And once again,

Hall

took a brief solo turn on the mic.

31:30

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 duel-city extravaganza organized by England's

Bob Geldof

for African

Hunger Relief

. What you don't remember, the

Hall & Oates

performance —

32:07

I'm not claiming that

Hall & Oates

came out of

Live Aid

as legendary as

Queen

; 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 the bill.

32:41

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 & Oates

, the American edition of

Live Aid

was essentially a hometown gig, even though they 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 fourteen-hour marathon.

33:18

The only acts who played after

Hall & 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 & Oates

were the last build 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 & Oates

performed.

34:09

Their set was the most hit-packed of anyone's that day. If 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

The Temptations

34:32

I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees.

Chris Molanphy

34:40

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 & Oates

. Not

Queen

, not

Phil Collins

, not even

Elton

John

. And speaking of the London

Live Aid,

Hall & Oates'

music was being performed there too.

35:28

British 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

Daryl Hall's

ballad.

35:46

Every Time You Go Away

, originally from

Hall & Oates'

1980 LP Voices, it had never been issued as a single from that hit-packed album, but

Paul Young

turned

Every Time You Go Away

into a smash.

36:07

On both sides of the Atlantic, number four in the UK and number one in the US. In fact, the very day of

Live Aid

, July 13 1985,

Young's

Every Time You Go Away

was in the

Hot 100's

top ten, 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 & Oates

was already America's number one song that day.

Paul Young

36:54

I can't go on saying the same thing.

Chris Molanphy

36:59

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,

Daryl

and

John

performed a very prestigious gig at New York's legendary

Apollo Theater

and

Hall

reclaimed his composition while throwing a little shade.

Daryl Hall

37:29

Do a song that was on our Voices album about five years ago. And it's was recently done by an English artist; English artist. It's called

Every Time You Go Away

. This is the original.

Chris Molanphy

37:50

This

Apollo

gig, by the way, was where

Hall & 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 full advantage of their clout to issue, not only a

Daryl Hall & 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.

38:31

A couple of months after

Live Aid

, the foursome's medley of

The Way You Do The Things You Do

and

My Girl

reached number twenty, impressive for a live mashup of oldies. It was a fine way for

Hall & 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,

Daryl Hall

spoke about the need to take a break, but he was far from idle during this hiatus from

John Oates

39:25

In 1986,

Daryl 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 Stewart

39:53

Hall's

solo album was well-reviewed and did spawn a couple of hits as well as one of

Hall's

best ballots the stately, Someone Like You.

40:21

But on the album chart,

Three Hearts In The Happy Ending Machine

peaked at number twenty seven, lower even than the

Daryl Hall & John Oates - Live At The Apollo

LP and it failed to go gold.

40:37

As for

John Oates

, he too scored a ’Top 10’ hit during the hiatus, performed not by himself, but by an Australian band,

Icehouse

Oates

teamed with

Icehouse

singer

Iva Davies

to write

Electric Blue

, a catchy synth-pop track, which he admitted could easily have been a

Hall & Oates.

41:08

Instead, issued as an

Icehouse

single 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 paws, 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

41:41

Accordingly, the first

Hall & Oates

single on

Arista

sounded very much like the adult contemporary soft-pop that was the label's specialty.

42:01

Everything Your Heart Desires

, the lead single from the comeback album

Ooh Yeah!,

reached number three on the

Hot 100

suggesting that

Hall & Oates

were back, like they never left. But, it proved a short-lived comeback. Subsequent singles fell short, like the number thirty one hit Downtown Life.

42:30

And the

Ooh Yeah!

album peaked at number twenty four, in the age of

George Michael

and

Bobby Brown

Daryl Hall

and

John Oates

, each of them now over forty, could no longer assume they were automatic radio-fodder. In a bid to stay relevant for their second

Arista

album,

Hall & Oates

teamed with rock frontman and garbage-merchant,

Jon Bon Jovi.

43:14

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 eleven in December of that year and the album topped out at number sixty. The first

Hall & Oates

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 & Oates

follow-up single, Don't Hold Back Your Love, also proved a near miss, peaking at a heartbreaking number forty one in 1991.

Hall & Oates

44:01

Just hold onto my hand and face whatever comes. Don't hold back your love.

Chris Molanphy

44:13

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

The Bomb Squad,

because at the very moment, they were falling off as pop stars,

Hall & Oates

were emerging as a formative influence in hip-hop.

45:07

A single from

De La Soul's

seminal 1989 album,

3 Feet High And Rising

, was built out of samples from

Hall & Oates'

1982 chart topper,

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

—

45:42

Heavy D

—

45:46

I Can't Go For That

was easily

Hall & 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 M-E-T-H-O-D refrain from

Hall & Oates'

1985 hit

Method Of Modern Love

46:27

And in 1996, Bay Area rapper

B-Legit,

not only built his single Ghetto Smile, out of

Hall & Oates'

hit

Sara Smile

, he got

Daryl Hall

himself to sing out.

B-Legit & Daryl Hall

46:42

[B-Legit] All friends, I knew about it as a child. I stood proud, have you ever seen a ghetto smile? [Daryl Hall] In the ghetto there's a smile roamin' through the streets.

Chris Molanphy

46:52

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 hit-makers.

47:30

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 chart.

47:57

Much more remarkable than

Hall & 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 & Oates

became cool again.

48:20

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, home-spun quality.

Hall's

first guest in the second

webisode

was naturally

John Oates

49:09

But it wasn't long before other younger performers were clamoring to play from

Daryl's

house.

49:26

For example,

Patrick Stump

, lead singer of

Fall Out Boy

, a fan of

Hall & Oates

whose potent tenor voice echoed

Daryl Hall's,

came to the house to do a cover of

Fall Out Boy's

hit

Sugar, We're Goin' Down

, as a duet with

Hall.

Or, the Canadian electro-funk duo

Chromeo

. Their music already echoed

Hall & Oates

such as their new-wavy 2007 track, Waiting 4 U.

50:12

So naturally,

Chromeo's

’Dave 1’ Macklovitch and ’P-Thugg’ Gemayel, passed through the house to pay respects to

Daryl Hall

and cover their

Hall & Oates

homage with him.

50:34

Around this same time, rap-rock band

Gym Class Heroes

, fronted by

Travie McCoy

, not only played at

Daryl's

house, they invited

Hall

to guest on a single called Live Forever (Fly with Me).

50:55

Travie McCoy

proved his obeisance to the duo by getting tattoos of their faces taken from the cover of their 1981 album,

Private Eyes,

on the tops of his hands; ouch! Hollywood also started re-connecting with

Hall & Oates

. They showed they had a sense of humour by guesting on a 2006 episode of

Will & Grace

Daryl Hall