Michael McDonald was one white guy trying to sound black. Imagine two white guys trying to sound black. Although, on their first album, Whole Oats (ha ha, get it?), Hall & Oates sounded surprisingly Loggins & Messina-esque:It wasn't until their second album, Abandoned Luncheonette, and its hit single "She's Gone," that the boys really showed the world what they were made of:
After an awkward pairing with producer and fellow Philly legend Todd Rundgren on War Babies (featuring such memorable song titles as "Beanie G. and the Rose Tattoo," War Baby Son of Zorro," and "Screaming Through December"), Hall & Oates hit their late '70s stride. Many of their biggest '80s hits, including "You Make My Dreams," "Private Eyes," "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)," and "Maneater," would eventually be co-written by Hall's longtime girlfriend Sara Allen, the subject of the beguiling "Sara Smile":
Then there came the day when they realized they could rhyme "rich" with "bitch." The dollar signs began flashing right in front of their eyes:
But as the '70s wound down, our ambiguously gay duo hit a rough patch. No, not until the calendar flipped over into that magical decade of synthesizers and hairspray would the pair become an unstoppable force the likes of which pop music had rarely seen.
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