| "People still
think that," says Hall, repeating his standard rebuttal. "The idea of sex with a
man doesn't turn me off, but I don't express it. I satisfied my curiosity about that years
ago. I had lots of sex between the ages of three or four and the time I was fourteen or
fifteen. Strange experiences with older boys. But men don't particularly turn me on. And,
no, John and I have never been lovers. He's not my type. Too short and dark." The next album, Bigger Than Both of Us, topped the charts with its
single, "Rich Girl." (The song was written, incidentally, about a man, one of
Sara Allen's ex - boyfriends, whose father owned a fast-food chain. "But you can't
write, You're a rich boy,' in a song:" Hall has said, "so I changed it to a
girl.") Then Hall and Oates went into a decline. Neither Beauty on a Back Street
(John Oates has said that it's their only album he truly hates) nor Along the Red Ledge
(their foray into all-out rock & roll) generated a hit single.
DARYL HALL SAYS HE'S THE BEST
SINGER AROUND. HE ALSO SAYS HE AND OATES ARE THE BEATLES OF THIS DECADE. |
Then came Voices.
And "Kiss on My List." And "You Make My Dreams." And Private Eyes. And
"I Can't Go for That." And H20. And hit after hit after hit. "It was
great:" Hall says. "We were vindicated. We were accepted on our own terms. To
all those people who said, Those guys are on their way out,' we said, 'You guys is
wrong.'" The difference, according to Hall and
Oates, was that radio had opened up and that Hall and Oates had begun producing
themselves. The band had always been terrific live - much better than on record - and they
were now able to capture some of that quality on their albums. Plus the fact that Hall and
Oates were willing to push their records like mad didn't hurt. They did videos before
anyone did videos. They toured for nearly yearlong stretches. And their tours were
sponsored by big-name corporations before sponsorship was common. They even did a tour for
Care-Free sugar-less gum in 1978. The high schools across America that sent in the most
gum wrappers got Hall and Oates performing live in their auditoriums. "It was
great," says Oates. "We got off at three o clock every day." |
Daryl Hall and John Oates
German Website
