HALL & OATES LAUGH All THE WAY TO THE SYNTH BANK
Five years have passed, and Hall & Oates have scored more gold and platinum hits in 1981 than any other duo/group.
"...Now no one will be able to accuse us of being fags that sing like the Spinners.” —Daryl Hall, to Jaan Uhelszki, Auqust 1977.
Five years have passed, and Hall & Oates have scored more gold and platinum hits in 1981 than any other duo/group. Their first self-produced albums, Voices and Private Eyes, are shaping up to be their most successful, a personal vindication for the decade-old pairing. After years of jumping from one musical pond to another, they seemed finally to have settled down into their own groove, having discovered the happy truth that the records they liked to make were also those that sold the most. Perfect, right?
Nah...not quite. Despite a fairly distinctive, airy sound on the last two albums, I’ve encountered people identifying everything from Paul Davis to a currently charting black artist as “Hall & Oates, isn’t it?” More than one person greeted the news that 1 was writing this story with: “Well, they’re gay, right? They live in New York, and they’re gay.” New York may have changed since I was there a few months ago, but I think there still are some heteros hanging around. I even know a few.