Hall & Oates is one of those bands that are consistently underrated, even ridiculed. Jennifer Boeder makes her case for why Hall & Oates deserve their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and our respect.

By the age of 17, Daryl Hall was already singing on Philly street corners with the likes of the Delphonics and the Stylistics. He and Oates ran with Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, and many other top soul singers and producers of the 60s (H&O inducted the Temptations into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1985). People don’t realize that Hall & Oates’s song “She’s Gone” made little headway on the charts until the legendary Lou Rawls and Tavares decided to cover it. Consider that, haters: maybe you don’t respect Hall & Oates, but the Temptations and Lou Rawls totally did.

A terrific read.