Origin Story

This is a tale of how Daryl Hall and John Oates came to play such an integral role in life as we know it. By "we" I mean me and by "integral" I mean every moment of every day. No, in all seriousness, by "we" I mean the ever expanding cult of observant folks who recognize the awesomeness that Hall and Oates permeates in the fields of music and both intentional and unintentional comedy.

My friends and I like to credit ourselves with the H&O resurgence that has taken place over the last few years, and yes, there's been a resurgence. Maybe there are cliques like us all over the world who happened to stumble upon this beautiful thing at the same point and time. But maybe, my friends and I started a Gladwellian tipping point that has spilled over to the mainstream. It's complicated. On one hand Hall and Oates are the pop music giants who proved to be one of the most lucrative and exposed recording artists of the early 19080's. I can remember cruising around in my brothers Toyota Celica during this time period and providing background vocals as my brother sang lead to "Kiss on My List". They were as mainstream as it gets. On the other hand, when my friends and I would bring up H&O in the year 2005 to a group of our peers in a social setting......nothing but blank stares. We might has well have been talking up Richard Harris or Engelbert Humperdink.

So how did the love affair start? In 2004 I was working at an Enterprise Rent-a-car as a recent college grad with no career ambitions, (that's what student teaching will do for you). Anyway, As you might imagine, people leave a lot of crazy crap in rental cars all of which finds it's way into our lost in found. I would make a point to peruse the L&F drawer at least once a week to check for useful things. I can remember scoring a Heart CD and a dynamite bouncy ball in the past. On this day I opened the drawer and found "Rock and Soul Part I", the greatest hits of Daryl Hall and John Oates. I don't remember being euphoric about this find but I immediately snatched the CD and took it out to my car.

Over time the music seeped into our heads as I played it on a continuous loop in my Saturn's CD player. I can specifically remember John, Scotty, and I riding along one hungover Saturday morning on the way to retrieve their abandon downtown cars. John sat in the backseat as "She's Gone" played on the speakers. "This is incredible, who is this?" he wondered aloud. A monster was born that day as Hall and Oates MC'd countless drunken dance parties over the next few years. We soon found out that H&O really was the gift that keeps on giving. 40 years of wonderful songs, corny videos, hairstyles, and ensembles. Then the kicker, "What!! They're still touring?!" The rest is history we hope to recapture in this web log, everyone seems to have a H&O story. Trust me, they never disappoint.