The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 532

Number 532

Hall & Oates

"Maneater"

(1982)

Genre: Pop Rock

Right, where was i? Oh yes 2 girls 1 cup, no wait! That definitely wasn't it! (For the record that video is truly disgusting). Anyway, back to another eating disorder is Hall & Oates "Maneater" from 1982, it was the duo's biggest hit in their long career beginning in 1967. Back then it was OK for two men to sing in a duo, you hardly have anyone today doing that for the fear of abuse & ridicule, funnily enough at the turn of this century it was OK to have 5 lads in a "boys" band and not much was said. Name just one duo that are around today ..... and no .... Akon & Eminem don't count. Nor Janet & Michael Jackson either smarty pants ..... that's a completely different genre altogether. (In fact, it could be compared to the opening title)

We not benders mate

From their first hit in 1974 through their heyday in the '80s, Daryl Hall and John Oates' smooth, catchy take on Philly soul brought them enormous commercial success -- including six number one singles and six platinum albums -- yet little critical success. Hall & Oates' music was remarkably well-constructed and produced; at their best, their songs were filled with strong hooks and melodies that adhered to soul traditions without being a slave to them by incorporating elements of new wave and hard rock. Daryl Hall began performing professionally while he was a student at Temple University. In 1966, he recorded a single with Kenny Gamble and the Romeos; the group featured Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell, who would all become the architects of Philly soul. During this time, Hall frequently appeared on sessions for Gamble and Huff. In 1967, Hall met John Oates, a fellow Temple University student. Oates was leading his own soul band at the time. The two students realized they had similar tastes and began performing together in an array of R&B and doo wop groups. By 1968, the duo had parted ways, as Oates transferred schools and Hall formed the soft rock band Gulliver; the group released one album on Elektra in the late '60s before disbanding.

W'ere bloody famous now!

Although they had several minor hits between 1977 and 1980, the albums Hall & Oates released at the end of the decade were not as successful as their mid-'70s records. Nevertheless, they were more adventurous, incorporating more rock elements into their blue-eyed soul. The combination would finally pay off in late 1980, when the duo released the self-produced Voices, the album that marked the beginning of Hall & Oates' greatest commercial and artistic success. The first single from Voices, a cover of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," reached number 12, yet it was the second single, "Kiss on My List" that confirmed their commercial potential by becoming the duo's second number one single; its follow-up, "You Make My Dreams" hit number five. They quickly released Private Eyes in the summer of 1981; the record featured two number one hits, "Private Eyes" and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)," as well as the Top Ten hit "Did It in a Minute." "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" also spent a week at the top of the R&B charts -- a rare accomplishment for a White act. H20 followed in 1982 and it proved more successful than their two previous albums, selling over two million copies and launching their biggest hit single, "Maneater," as well as the Top Ten hits "One on One" and "Family Man." The following year, the duo released a greatest-hits compilation, Rock 'N Soul, Pt. 1, that featured two new Top Ten hits -- the number two "Say It Isn't So" and "Adult Education."

art by paulieslim

In April of 1984, the Recording Industry Association of America announced that Hall & Oates had surpassed the Everly Brothers as the most successful duo in rock history, earning a total of 19 gold and platinum awards. Released in October of 1984, Big Bam Boom expanded their number of gold and platinum awards, selling over two million copies and launching four Top 40 singles, including the number one "Out of Touch." Following their contract-fulfilling gold album Live at the Apollo with David Ruffin & Eddie Kendrick, Hall & Oates went on hiatus. After the lukewarm reception for Daryl Hall's 1986 solo album, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, the duo regrouped to release 1988's Ooh Yeah!, their first record for Arista. The first single, "Everything Your Heart Desires," went to number three and helped propel the album to platinum status.
art by baddaruma

However, none of the album's other singles broke the Top 20, indicating that the era of chart dominance had ended. Change of Season, released in 1990, confirmed that fact. Although the record went gold, it only featured one Top 40 hit -- the number 11 single, "So Close." The duo mounted a comeback in 1997 with Marigold Sky, but it was only partially successful; far better was 2003's Do It for Love and the following year soul covers record Our Kind of Soul. ~ [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide]

But? .................. What is Maneater????

art by Odalha

"Maneater" is a single recorded by American duo Hall & Oates from their 1982 album H2O. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 18, 1982. In 2006, the song and its subject matter were adapted and re-interpreted by Nelly Furtado for her song, also called Maneater from her album Loose. The song was sampled once more in 2006 when the Ying Yang Twins (featuring Wyclef and Mr. Collipark) released the song "Dangerous". The Hall & Oates version features a saxophone solo by Charles "Mr. Casual" DeChant.

Vote change ... dont vote old

The Hall & Oates music video opens with a woman walking down a red staircase, and the band playing in a dimly lit studio with shafts of light projecting down on them. This may be an attempt to mimic a bar-dance club setting. The band members step in and out of the light for their lip sync. A young woman in a short party dress is shown in fade-in and fade-out shots, along with a black jaguar, hence the song line "The woman is wild, a she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar", which likely refers to a gold digger who prefers to ride in an up-scale luxury automobile such as a Jaguar. The song refrain is "Whoa, oh here she comes; watch out boy, she'll chew you up; whoa, oh here she comes, she's a maneater". ~ [Source:Wikipedia]

What does Rolling Stone think about Hall & Oates?

It'd be a disservice to the considerable inventiveness and daring of Daryl Hall and John Oates to suggest that after ten years of trying, they'd finally hit on a perfectly tailored pop success formula. Nevertheless, their well-steeped brew of gunshot percussion, hooky daubs of synthesizer and soulful, swooping vocals – which revived their career on Voices and spawned four hit singles from their last LP, Private Eyes–is heavily in evidence on their latest effort, H2O. But with only a few exceptions, the more austere elements of their music are unleavened by wit or generosity of spirit, and the result is a competent but off-putting album whose icy virtuosity makes Kraftwerk sound as down-home as a bluegrass band.

you looking at me??

The LP's first track, "Maneater," sets the tone. A bouncy, hard-edged rhythm line straight from the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" gives the song a promising kickoff. But the hooks never turn up, and the musty misogyny of the lyrics ("She's deadly, man, and she could really rip your world apart") only adds to the tune's aridity. Hall dominates side one, and without John Oates' warm vocal tone and lighter touch, his world view seems cramped. You can't even dance to it. This isn't to say Hall can't be a genuinely moving singer. His gorgeous falsetto in the chorus of "One on One" manages to breathe some life into the song's tired game-of-love metaphor. In "Art of Heartbreak," he gets to blast more straightforwardly over guitar-powered orchestration. But too often, Hall's vocal flourishes don't reverberate with enough emotional force.

Who ate the onion dude?

Fortunately, the heat gets turned up on side two. Mike Old-field's "Family Man" lets Hall and Oates percolate in a romp in the style of "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)," and "Guessing Games," with its stuttering, Casiofueled rhythms and bleeps, incites Hall to some evocative wailing. Most welcome of the lot, though, is Oates' "Italian Girls," a light, poppy lament ("I drink, I drink so much vino rosso, no more amarone") that sounds like Steely Dan having a good time, if such a thing were possible. Both the song and the performance are fun, funky and unoppressive – a particularly significant virtue on this chilly, hemmed-in LP. ~ [Source:RS 383]

Roll Call .......

For Michael Jackson see Number 621 & Number 580

For Eminem see Number 932

For the Supremes see Number 716

For Steely Dan see Number 907

Artist Fact File

Name:Hall & Oates.................Related to³:No-one

Yrs Active:1967 to now............Site:www.hallandoates.com

Best Song¹:I Cant Go For That.....#1fan:www.iwc.pair.com

Best Album²:Private Eyes..........Grammy Awards:0

Albums Sold:60 Million +..........Next best thing:Little River Band

¹Number of downloads WINMX ²Artistdirect choice ³Associated acts or collaborations