In the current legal dispute between the musician duo Hall & Oates (“Maneater”), Daryl Hall is making serious allegations against his long-time bandmate John Oates. On Wednesday (December 27), Oates spoke about Hall on David Yontef’s Behind the Velvet Rope podcast.
“I can’t wait to get out of here”
Oates found candid words in the podcast conversation, both about Daryl Hall and their shared musical career. “You can’t ignore the fact that the Hall & Oates catalog of hits and 50-year career will always trump anything Daryl does on his own or I do on my own, which is okay because I’m very proud of that music am,” he said. However, the 75-year-old added that he “doesn’t like living in the past.” He compared his relationship with the duo’s shared works to going to a museum: “When you go to a big museum and you’re really excited about all of them beautiful paintings or the exhibits or whatever, and then toward the end, when your feet start to hurt, you say, ‘You know what? I can’t wait to get out of here.’ That’s how I think about it.”
The “You Make My Dreams” musicians had the peak of their career in the 1980s. “It was very intense, there was no time to think. There were a lot of business requirements, a lot of heavy requirements. Daryl and I were at the top of the pop world. We had one number 1 record after another. We were constantly traveling around the world. Everyone thinks that was probably the highlight of my life, but to be honest it wasn’t my favorite time. I liked the 70s more than the 80s because everything was new.”
About his musical work today, Oates said he is happy to be able to play his new music, which “feels like a breath of fresh air,” at solo concerts. “I have developed further. It’s just about living in my presence.”
Watch John Oates on the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast here:
The legal dispute
According to court documents filed in Nashville court on November 29 and obtained by Rolling Stone, Hall again accuses his bandmate of making a “completely secret and disingenuous move.” Oates is said to have tried to sell a share of her company “Whole Oats Enterprises” to the music publisher Primary Wave without Hall’s consent.
Hall ultimately rejected the sale because he disagreed with Primary Wave’s “business model.” The 77-year-old feared the sale could cause “immeasurable” damage to Whole Oats Enterprises’ brand, personal name, royalties and online world. So he had no intention of entering into a partnership with Primary Wave. He accused Oates and his lawyers of violating the agreement of their partnership with their “sudden approach” by carrying out the transaction “completely behind his back.”
The dispute came to a head on November 17, when it was announced that Hall had filed a restraining order against Oates.
“A mix of business partners and brothers”
Hall & Oates’ long-standing partnership began in 1967 when the two met at the Adelphi Ballroom. The duo is famous for hits like “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do),” “You Make My Dreams” and “Maneater.”
In 1985, journalist Lynn Hirschberg of American ROLLING STONE described the duo’s relationship as “strange” and stated that Hall & Oates “are a mixture of business partners and brothers. Hall doesn’t really seem to like Oates, and Oates seems distant, even aloof, from the entire ‘Hall & Oates organization.’