Taking Sides: Hall and Oates vs Wham! (ho ho ho.....)

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Was just listening to the radio, and the crackfiends who run the radio station just played "Missed Opportunities" and "Careless Whisper" back to back.
And I'm like, hey, y'know what...in this context, "Missed Opportunities" suddenly doesn't suck as bad as I remember. It's still nearly Lovecraftian is its horridness, but its not as bad as I remember. And then, just as Yorgos Kyriatou Panayioutou warned me that guilty feet have no rhythmn...I realized...Hall and Oates might be the 70's equivalent of Wham!
So what I'm asking is this: Could John Oates kick Andrew Ridgeley's pasty ass? Okay, what if he had a stepladder?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 21:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh please, H&O could litearlly bury Wham (not George Michael solo, mind you, but Wham!) in their superior material.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 21:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember one good Wham song, but I can't remember it's name. Hall & Oates are better, and actually have done several good songs.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 26 March 2003 21:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Choose Wham! Hall and Oates took themselves and their blue-eyed soul way too seriously. Darryl Hall looks terrible doing that New Wave Sway, whereas George and Andrew do not. Oates took too long to shave off his moustache and then he looked awful when he did. I like "She's Gone" and "Maneater", though. But I expected more from a couple of guys who came from the same scene as Gamble & Huff. Their records never seemed all that vibrant to me, very workmanlike. Unlike Wham!

Good Wham songs: "I'm Your Man", "Wham Rap", "Careless Whisper", "Bad Boys", "Freedom", "Young Guns (Go for It)", "Everything She Wants", "Club Tropicana", "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go". You know, all of them.

― Arthur (Arthur), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 22:28 (twenty-three years ago)

John Oates looks like Gary "Bababooey" Dell'Abate from the Howard Stern show. so H&O would get the nod for that alone, but of course their music buries Wham!'s

(though Wham! gets some credit for not doing a toe-curlingly bad cover of "you've lost that lovin' feeling")

― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 27 March 2003 01:59 (twenty-three years ago)

i can't go for that. no can do.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 27 March 2003 02:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Maybe if this were Hall and Oates vs. Tears for Fears, there'd be some semblance of a contest, but as it is, H&O have this big bang boom in the bag.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 27 March 2003 02:08 (twenty-three years ago)

This may be the most difficult Taking Sides ever to appear on ILM.

"Sara Smile" v. "Careless Whisper"
"Rich Girl" v. "Everything She Wants"
"Kiss On My List" v. "Freedom"
"I Can't Go For That" v. "Club Tropicana"
"Private Eyes" v. "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"

I can't do it.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 27 March 2003 02:12 (twenty-three years ago)

H&O's Abandoned Luncheonette is one of those records I'm hardly prepared to defend in print but sound terrific while they're playing.

Wham! reminds me of organzing a game of limbo as a camp counselor, because the Ridge Park District rec room had three tapes: Wham's Make It Big, Madonna's You Can Dance, and the Top Gun soundtrack.

Verdict: H&O by default.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 27 March 2003 02:28 (twenty-three years ago)

the "ho ho ho" in this thread's title reminded me that both h&o and wham did christmas songs ... and wham!'s xmas song ("last xmas") was way better than h&o's song (though the video w/ john oates in a santa suit and hat was pretty, uh, interesting)

― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 27 March 2003 02:29 (twenty-three years ago)

A fair fight if ever I saw one.

You make-a my dreams come trooooooo, oooh oooh!

You can have my credit card, baybeee...

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 27 March 2003 02:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Wow, I thought someone would be utterly contrarian and declare "Two Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine" to be 1000x better than "Faith" and "Older" put together.
But the main question still remains: Could John Oates give a harsh smackdown to Andrew Ridgeley?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 27 March 2003 04:06 (twenty-three years ago)

If H&O are anywhere near as good as Wham! then I need to hear more H&O pronto!

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 27 March 2003 10:06 (twenty-three years ago)

H&O easily. Daryl Hall gets bonus points for collaborating with Robert Fripp and Todd Rundgren.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 27 March 2003 12:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, they really are apples & oranges, though. Beyond the similarity of both being duos (do Wham! even count as a duo? Did Ridgely write?) Hall & Oates covered a lot more stylistic ground than Wham! ever managed.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 27 March 2003 15:17 (twenty-three years ago)

hall and oates obviously. i especially like "maneater".

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 27 March 2003 15:18 (twenty-three years ago)

and what of the excellent,underappreciated track "adult Education"? whampale in comparison.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 27 March 2003 15:19 (twenty-three years ago)

ARGH.

You cannot make me choose. These two were part and parcel of my first wave of music fandom in the early eighties -- but I loved Hall and Oates for a longer time and they were my second ever concert. In a pinch, them, but by a razor-thin margin.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 March 2003 15:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Couldn't stand Hall and Oates when I was a kid; can't stand 'em now. "Private Eyes" is fun for the clapping part, though.

I'll take Wham. "Everything She Wants" is very very good.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:05 (twenty-three years ago)

John Oates had a curly mullet and a phat stache, by default Hall and Oates wins.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Wham, for having far more sex appeal than Hall and Oates... even if they were a bit fruity.

― Carey (Carey), Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Young Guns! Wham Rap! There can be no doubt, for Wham I am devout.

I love Hall and Oates too but they just can't equal the genius of Wham -- it's not like they ever wrote a brilliant Christmas song. Also, I was very disappointed to find out that Daryl wasn't singing "She can really rip your butt apart" in "Maneater".

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Hall & Oates by a mile - recently picked up their greatest hits and was grinning like a fool thru mostof it

― H (Heruy), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:58 (twenty-three years ago)

Early Philly-soulster Hall and Oates is better than 80s-hit-machine Wham is better than 80s-hit-machine Hall and Oates. George Michael's first solo record under his own name might be better than all of them, but let that be another fite.

New Hall and Oates record is Surprisingly Good. "Intuition" flirts lightly with two-step on its verses and doesn't sound ridiculous... damn if Daryl Hall doesn't sound just about as good as he ever did, which was great.

dave225, who is possessed of great wisdom and learning, has forgotten that Hall also sang with Elvis Costello.

― Neudonym, Thursday, 27 March 2003 20:13 (twenty-three years ago)

"She can really rip your butt apart"

Nicole should write all lyrics for all songs ever.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 March 2003 20:25 (twenty-three years ago)

dave225, who is possessed of great wisdom and learning, has forgotten that Hall also sang with Elvis Costello.

EC played with The News (sans Huey Lewis) and that hardly makes them good.

Nicole should write all lyrics for all songs ever.

yes but only dang could sing them with a straight face

― Dave M. (rotten03), Thursday, 27 March 2003 22:59 (twenty-three years ago)

I read an interview in something like Vanity Fair one hundred years ago that Daryl Hall's grandfather was a warlock- hence he has a pentagram tatoo on his shoulder.

im sorry , but that man is an evil MOR genius. Ive been possessed by the melody to "your kiss is on my list" for about 15 years and counting.

help me...

― linda blair, Friday, 28 March 2003 03:14 (twenty-three years ago)

'Out of touch' was the first single I ever bought.

'Freedom' is the greatest record of all time.

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Friday, 28 March 2003 03:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, Hall and Oates, by a mile. "Private Eyes" and "Out of Touch" are top-notch pop; "Maneater" is postpunk-if-you-blur-your-ears the same way "No Can Do" is microhouse-if-you-blur-your-ears; they have lots of other great songs, too. Also, John Oates wrote "Electric Blue," one of the most moving Top 40 songs of the 80s!

― Clarke B., Friday, 28 March 2003 04:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Which came first: Stevie Wonder's "Part-Time Lover" or Hall & Oates's "Maneater"?

Just wondering.

Oh, and Wham! is the answer, but possibly because I just heard Dan Antopolski murdering "Careless Whisper" in such cold blood that I almost felt sorry for the song last night, and also because my knowledge of H&O is limited to about three songs and a De La Soul sample.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 28 March 2003 05:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I love seeing Alex in NYC defend Hall & Oates if only becuz he's so right! H&O by a mile, although more the Philly soul stuff than the Mtv era, although when "I Can't Go For That" comes in on Gimix it's fucking sublime.

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 28 March 2003 07:56 (twenty-three years ago)

plus that Queens of the Stone Age song totally rips off "You Make My Dreams Come True"

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 28 March 2003 08:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This is surely the biggest Transatlantic divide ever on ILM!

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 28 March 2003 10:23 (twenty-three years ago)

well, john oates clearly whups andrew ridgley's ass because john oates did write some songs. whether oates's songs were any good is immaterial, because he wasn't just a layabout like ridgley.

then again, i do kinda like the idea of a band where one of the members is pretty explicitly useless (as imposed to implicitly useless, a la ringo or pete quaife). depeche mode had that sorta schtick going too (with the one guy whose name escapes me now, who martin gore kept around for no other reason than because he was a childhood friend), yes?

― Tad (llamasfur), Friday, 28 March 2003 10:28 (twenty-three years ago)

plus that Queens of the Stone Age song totally rips off "You Make My Dreams Come True"

AARRGGGHHH!!! Oh my GOD, you're so spot-on! I'll never hear "No One Knows" the same way again!

Just like.....

Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrossion" = The Fixx's "Are We Ourselves?"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 28 March 2003 10:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Ridgely did a bit of the singing I think. Also the whole point of Wham! is that they're boy buddies together - all their early singles are about collective male fun or the peril of having that fun shattered by invading women. After that GM started writing songs about wuv and Ridgely was completely sidelined.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 28 March 2003 10:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Hard to choose. Both are better than rumoured. I think I will choose Hall & Oates for "Maneater", but then again, Wham! were, among other things, responsible for one of the best Christmas songs ever.

If George Michael's solo career counts, then I'd pick Wham! for the great "Older" album though.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 28 March 2003 12:38 (twenty-three years ago)

"Older"s a fucking Sting album

― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 29 March 2003 04:09 (twenty-three years ago)

depeche mode had that sorta schtick going too

Andy Fletcher. He's still in the band -- for many years he was the band manager.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 29 March 2003 04:29 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

Hall & Oates doing Jingle Bell Rock and cavorting like two Hausfraus ... though apparantly my memory was faulty, b/c in the video john oates has neither a santa suit nor a santa hat.

yet more evidence that youtube roXor!

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 7 August 2007 05:20 (eighteen years ago)

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