One on One (in court): Oates claims Hall's kiss is no longer on his list

Rich Girl
Sara Smile
She’s Gone
Private Eyes
Maneater

Those are my “switch the station” songs because I hear them all the time. Worthy songs but I’ve heard them too many times.

All the rest. Love them. Live them. Know them.

 

It's a fine line between Switch The Station and Never Miss. To be Switch The Station, it has to be at least a baseline decent song.

Switch The Station
Maneater - have to be in the right mood for it
Out Of Touch - not a bad song, but never liked it as much as others
Rich Girl - don't always switch it, but depends on mood, what I've heard before, etc.
Kiss On My List - Very strange line of demarcation. The "Voices" songs are sorta before my own time, but "Private Eyes" comes in right at the start of it. Therefore, I never had that "first love, first heard on the radio" kind of vibe with "Kiss On My List". To my 11-year-old ears, it felt like it ripped off the later songs, not the other way around. It does get over-played too.

Never Miss
She's Gone - fucking brilliant
Sara Smile - OK, I probably switch once in a while, but only if I'm in the mood for a faster song. Great song, though.
Private Eyes - Never tire of it (Larry King says hello from the great beyond!)
I Can't Go For That - see Private Eyes
Did It In A Minute - Used to not like it for some reason, but I think I slept on the production for a long time. Great song, great lyrics.
One On One - so cool
Say It Isn't So - maybe the perfect combination of their 70s soul style and 80s synth production

 

Maybe this dispute between the two dates back to the “Out of Touch” video, when Oates got trapped in that bass drum. A Spinal Tap type of moment!

Also, props to whoever came up with this line from that song: “Smoking guns, hot to the touch, would cool down if we didn’t use them so much.” Heh heh … junior high me realizing that lyric wasn’t about actual firearms.

 

Another reason to be bummed about their breakup: That song had an absolutely perfect lyric--"We like to be the strangers at the party, two rebels in a shell"--that seemed to summarize THEM. Just two uncool dudes making great music that none of the cool kids liked in real time. Of course, a lot can change in 40 years. Still a bummer though.

 

Saw a piece online where JO wants to cash out on the rights and DH doesn't.

Where do Sara and her sister stand on cashing out, they were writing partners.

 

Her sister died in the 1990s.

One on One is my favorite hit of theirs.

 

In 1985, an MTV contest has them racing to reach Oklahoma City to see who got there first.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1985/02/07/oates-wins-jet-race-to-city/62774934007/

For years, I wondered who won. Thank you, internet.

 

I somehow have no recollection of this. Thank you, Internet message board person!

 

Goddamn that's such a perfect song...and it's like two entirely different songs. Starts off with that great guitar riff and is a terrific euphoric rocker in which everything just fits so well before it fades out with some strings.

But down the YouTube rabbit hole, I found this acoustic version from the first episode of Live At Daryl's House. It's even better w/o the '80s synths (which, to be clear, I loved) and makes the song a little more melancholy. The stripped down edition is also a reminder of just how fucking good Hall's voice is.

Best of all: I'm pretty sure mutually raving over "Dreamtime" is how I "met" @Huggy here. If it wasn't, it's the song we talk about the most!

 

Ah, apologies, I knew that, but a hazy shade of IPA is on my mind there's a patch of snow on the ground.

 

This just popped into my head after watching "Dreamtime" yet again...Hall wasn't the only one to thrive outside the band in the '80s. Name the excellent top 10 hit co-written by Oates.

 

It was! One of the great lost classics of the 80s!