Face it: We’d all be better off tossing most 1980s pop-culture artifacts in a nuclear reactor. Mullet haircuts. Acrylic leg warmers. “Flashdance.” Every slick MTV band with cheesy grins and cheesier synths.
But Hall and Oates survived the decade’s wreckage, thanks to fistfuls of sleek hits. Here both men — who launch their Christmas tour Friday at UIC Pavilion — reveal how they crafted their most memorable tune and one of their biggest hits in mere hours.
The making of “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)”
John Oates: It was the end of a recording session and everyone had gone home except for Daryl, myself and the engineer. There was just a keyboard left and a box on top of it — a very primitive Roland drum machine. It had four basic settings: Rock 1, Rock 2, Samba and Bossa Nova. Daryl hit a button, the Rock 1 beat came out and he started playing the keyboard bass line. Then he said, “John, go get your guitar!” It was one of those things where magic just happens. We did [it] in maybe two hours; we didn’t even put a drummer or a bass player on it.
Daryl Hall: I write all the time. I had that chorus a year before, and that was it. … I walked over to my Roland Compurhythm and I pressed “Rock 1.” Then I sat down to a Korg organ and played that bass line. And that was how the song was born. I started playing an FMinor7 chord. And what do I say after that? [Sings:] “I can’t go for that, no how.” I yelled to the engineer, “Turn the tape on! Turn the tape on!” And I sang some gibberish. The next day I brought Charlie DeChant in to do the sax and that was it. The whole thing was spontaneous. In your face.
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Hall and Oates
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Bringing songs of the season and timeless pop hits to town
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave.
Price: $37.50-$75; 312-559-12