Hall & Oates
5
Before I say anything else... we live in the post-Warhol era, in which the icon itself has primacy. Hall & Oates are iconic. [Note: Not for nothin', but John Oates edged out Freddie Mercury for the "best bushy rock mustache of all time award"! Lest we forget.] Their faces are instantly recognizable.
Another reviewer said: "They produced some fine durable hits but never really stretched any boundries."
I disagree with almost that entire statement. First off, their hits really AREN'T that durable. They're so dated that they're almost never covered. [Example: Can you imagine doing "Kiss On My List" in 2009? You could do it, but it would have to be MASSIVELY reworked.] They're sampled... but VERY rarely covered. They never wrote a song like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," if you get my point.
But one time... they were VERY notably covered. Paul Young had a #1 hit in 1985 with "Every Time You Go Away"... released by H&O back in 1980 (on the "Voices" album, on which it never even got a single!) Recently covered by Clay Aiken, as well. [Not that that's necessarily a good thing, in my book, but he's a legitimate "major recording artist."]
When they ARE covered, though, the results are often stunning. Check dis out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZkdJuQAZwM&feat ure=fvw
Or dis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjb0eIBHVaM&feat ure=related
They ALWAYS stretched the boundaries. First off... where are you going to find a major pop star vocalist these days who runs off and collaborates with Robert Fripp?!? Hall not only did this in his 1980 solo album, "Sacred Songs," but he also appeared on Fripp's solo album, "Exposure" (indeed, a tasty little piece of experimentalism.) But now I'm just talking about Hall solo.
In the context of H&O... well... I can't remember who it was, but one of the famous black producers (someone like Quincy Jones, though I don't think it was him) said something like, "I was shocked the first time I saw Daryl Hall's face. When I heard Hall & Oates, I was sure that he was black. He was the first white boy who could sing that way." I'll have to agree with that. Name me a white boy before Hall who sang with all those little flourishes and nuances of black stage performance (i.e., Night At The Apollo" style singing.) Now everyone does that shit. That soul phrasing. In other words, the white guys that sang "black" before him listened to a lot of blues. Hall was singing SOUL. Like Marvin Gaye. Lots of sick falsetto. That was something new for rock... let alone pop!
Here's an odd example of how they were ahead of their time: In 1973, they released "She's Gone." It hit a dismal #60 on the Billboard Hot 100. With the same production/mixing, they rereleased it in 1976. It hit #7 and became an H&O classic. I'm not joking when I say "ahead of their time." Three years is a huge difference in the pop world. The song didn't "hit" in 1973 because it was more like a 1976 kinda song. Think about that for a moment, what I'm getting at. To clarify: Try sitting down now and writing a song that captures the zeitgeist of 2012!
The only thing that I agree with that the other reviewer said was that they had some "fine" hits. They're talented songwriters and they had an incredible supporting cast! G.E. Smith, Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, etc. They were as great live as they were in the studio because they surrounded themselves with the most talented people and were absolute perfectionists. Jerry Marotta even played drums for them for a while (on "Voices" and "Private Eyes")! [This is the guy who currently plays drums with Tony Levin's project.]
Hall & Oates accomplishments:
--Three top five albums. Five gold, four platinum and two multi-platinum.
--Six #1 hits on Billboard Hot 100. 16 top ten hits.
--From 1976-1988, 32 of their 36 singles hit the Billboard Top 100.
--"I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" not only hit #1 on the Billboard Top 100... IT HIT #1 ON THE HOT BLACK SINGLES chart! That was a briefly-used, silly name for the R&B chart. Pop stars didn't have black hits at that time. [Think about that groove for a second, and you'll get why it hit on both charts.]
--Together for 40 years. Very few marriages last that long... let alone musical collaborations! (Try playing 40 shows with the same people and see how excited you are after that.) Apparently, their secret is that they like and respect each other. Pretty unusual.
--Wrote their own music, with some occasional collaboration (often with Hall's g/f.) How many pop artists write their own music these days?
Do they deserve to be in the Rock HOF? You bet your ass they do!
Here's a famous duo that's in the Hall of Fame: Simon and Garfunkel. Three #1 hits; nine top 10 hits; a bunch more top 20.
OK... so is popularity a fair measure of artistic merit?
Of course it is! Why would you even ask such a ridiculous question?!? We ain't exactly listenin' to Shostakovich or Ornette Coleman here. This is ROCK. If you want to listen to more complex/heady rock, you throw on some Zappa, or XTC, Steely Dan, or King Crimson... something of that nature. When it comes to the artistic merit of pop... of POPULAR music... let it be the people who decide.
The only legit arguments that people might have to keep them out of the HoF are:
1. Dated. (True.)
2. Didn't write enduring classics. (True.)
3. Didn't leave good "documents" behind. (Oh, true dat! Have you ever seen their videos?!?)
But here's the thing, yo. EVERYONE knows them. Even little punk ass bitches who weren't even born at that time know songs like "Maneater" and "Sara Smile." They're a part of rock history. And if you lived in the period from 1980-1984... whether you loved or hated them... you knew their music and can still recognize it today.
So, there's no doubt that they should be in the Rock Hall of Fame. "Open the door and let 'em in." [I think another Rock HoFer once wrote that lyric.]
And I am not Daryl Hall's mom, either. Nor do I have any affiliation with them. Just thought I should be clear about that.
I did, however, live through the 80s and am still recovering.