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Hall & Oates: Genius Black Music?

hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
edited July 2010 in Strut Central
Weigh in on this important topic, Soul Strut.

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  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    well they were heavily influenced by and a key part of philly soul scene (they sang back up for the stylistics and others).i welcome the recent non-ironic critical reappraisal of their work.

  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    Have always liked them and have some great hits. She's Gone, Do What You Want, I Can't Go For That, etc.
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    motown67 said:

    THIS IS THIS SHIT. I love this.
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,899 Posts
    bassie said:
    motown67 said:

    THIS IS THIS SHIT. I love this.


    Yeah, this is always been a great video. Where's Aser to post up his top 5 H&O tracks?

    I even like their shit with 90's type mastermix joints

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Good Music hells yes

    Genius Black Music...........White Folks please to STOP.
  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    Wack

    Never understood the love
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Faux, if your avatar was on a punching bag, it'd be a best seller.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Teena Marie > Hall & Oates
  • erewhonerewhon 1,123 Posts
    I love/like a lot of their work, but damn, I can't help but roll my eyes at this youngish cult of Hall and Oates fans that has emerged in the past decade. It's these kids who are sooooo into telling you how into Hall and Oates they are and how it's totally not ironic. To the point where it actually smacks of something akin to irony.
  • AKallDayAKallDay 830 Posts
    i love hall and oates tremendously and you can't be born and raised in philly and be any other way. i still have a tour t shirt from the 'private eyes' tour when my parents took us to see them at the philadelphia spectrum when i was really little, so fucking top that you arrivistes. just kidding.
    but seriously i also feel a bit weird about the wording of this thread title and i am content to love them and consider them the princes of blue eyed soul regardless of who disses them and i think it's partially a philly pride thing too but i kind of agree with

    batmon said:
    Good Music hells yes

    Genius Black Music...........White Folks please to STOP.
  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    AKallDay said:
    but seriously i also feel a bit weird about the wording of this thread title

    You should feel less serious about the whole thing.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    George Michael vs Boy George.
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    batmon said:
    George Michael vs Boy George.

    are we including wham in this, or just solo joints?
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    and yeah, 'genius black music' for hall and oates is kinda :off_the_wall:

    i'll ride for genius blue-eyed soul.
  • phongonephongone 1,652 Posts
    batmon said:
    George Michael vs Boy George.

    I was listening to Culture Club's "Time (Clock of the Heart)" the other day and it blew my mind.



    Randomly came across this weird George Michael vs. Boy George mash-up.

  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    i remember being a little kid and thinking boy george was a REALLY ugly woman.
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    phongone said:
    batmon said:
    George Michael vs Boy George.

    I was listening to Culture Club's "Time (Clock of the Heart)" the other day and it blew my colon.



  • karlophonekarlophone 1,697 Posts
    in my experience their records are the "white records" most found in any otherwise "black" record collection that i go thru. And rightfully so!
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
    Corny as it is, the term "blue-eyed soul" does a good enough job of describing Hall & Oates' sound.

    I ride, and have done so since the days of Abandoned Luncheonette. Some of Daryl Hall's solo stuff is worth checking, especially Sacred Songs. I haven't noticed any ironic reappraisal of H&O myself, so perhaps it's a Meriman thing.
  • waxjunkywaxjunky 1,850 Posts
    phongone said:
    batmon said:
    George Michael vs Boy George.

    I was listening to Culture Club's "Time (Clock of the Heart)" the other day and it blew my mind.



    "Time" by Culture Club, and "Time after Time" by Cyndi Lauper are two 80s tracks that hold up incredibly well.
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    karlophone said:
    in my experience their records are the "white records" most found in any otherwise "black" record collection that i go thru.

    Michael Franks is another one.

    About ten years ago I was talking with a customer who was a session/touring musician and asked him how it was going.

    'Good', he said 'I just got off of a long tour'

    'Who were you out with?'

    'Michael Franks'

    'So... who goes to see Michael Franks in the year 2000?'

    (Laughs) 'Dude, it's like 90% black women, and the other 10% are their boyfriends they dragged along.'

    Not the answer I expected, but it makes sense. I guess.
  • phatmoneysackphatmoneysack Melbourne 1,124 Posts
    i love hall and oates tremendously and you can't be born and raised in philly and be any other way. i still have a tour t shirt from the 'private eyes' tour when my parents took us to see them at the philadelphia spectrum when i was really little, so fucking top that you arrivistes. just kidding.]

    I gave my girl that T-Shirt for her birthday.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    9 year old me: Did he just sing "you're a bitch, girl"?
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Real Question...

    Are Hall & Oates really Blue-Eyed SOUL or are they POP artists that can do/dabble in Blue Eyed SOUL?

    All those Big 80's joints DONT sound like Teena Marie to me.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    batmon said:
    Real Question...

    Are Hall & Oates really Blue-Eyed SOUL or are they POP artists that can do/dabble in Blue Eyed SOUL?

    All those Big 80's joints DONT sound like Teena Marie to me.

    Fair comparison. I'd say they were pop artists that dabbled in soul. "Kiss On My List" is, admittedly, kinda vanilla. And weren't those early Atlantic LP's leaning more towards rock anyway?

    To be honest, it is rare that I've seen white soul artists that stuck with that genre all the way through. I'd say the Rascals and Teena Marie are two of the FEW who didn't turn to rock or country. (Well, the Rascals did have their rock & roll side, but it always came back to R&B at the end of the day.)
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
    batmon said:
    Real Question...

    Are Hall & Oates really Blue-Eyed SOUL or are they POP artists that can do/dabble in Blue Eyed SOUL?

    All those Big 80's joints DONT sound like Teena Marie to me.

    Well, Tavares covered She's Gone, and Sara Smile had mad r&b covers, so how different that is from, say, the Isleys covering James Taylor or the Doobie Brothers is up for debate, I guess. The first two or three albums have more of a rock flavour, but there's definitely a strong Philly/Motown influence on all of their albums up until about 1977, especially the silver album and Bigger Than Both Of Us. They fell off for a few years after that, which coincided (more or less) with the Doobies putting Michael McDonald out front and taking a lot of Hall & Oates' ground. When they came back out at the start ofthe 80s, the pop aspect was definitely the more prominent element, but their r&b roots were still showing.

    Teena Marie was always flat-out an r&b singer for me. I never had a sense of her having a foot in two camps, or making milquetoast r&b with the express intention of crossing over to a white audience. Hall & Oates are (or were) closer to what I like to call "cosmic r&b" - idiomatically r&b/soul-based, but with elements of prog-rock, psych, folk/hippy shit, Euro electronics, etc. Things like The Undisputed Truth, Bowie's Young Americans and Station To Station albums, that last Stairsteps album on George Harrison's label, the various stages of Rare Earth, and so on.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    "Cosmic Rhythm & Blues" = :oh_snap:

    "idiomatically r&b/soul-based, but with elements of prog-rock, psych, folk/hippy shit, Euro electronics, etc."

    Psychedelic Soul vs. Cosmic R&B.

    Go..
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
    Undisputed Truth - Ungena Za Ulimwengu/Friendship Train = psychedelic soul
    Undisputed Truth - Space Machine = cosmic r&b
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