I Can't Go For That (On 4th & Long)

The combination of watching Penn State defeat Purdue this afternoon and listening to Daryl Hall and John Oates turned out to be an enlightening combination. I've been a fan of both for many years, but it's only today that I realized that Penn State is the football equivalent of Hall and Oates.

Both emerged from Pennsylvania, coming to national prominence in the 70s and achieving their greatest success in the early and mid-80s. Since then, the fortunes of both have ebbed and flowed, neither of them quite able to reclaim their previous heights but still succeeding well enough on their own terms. In the quarter century since their respective peaks, defined by Penn State's last national championship and Hall and Oates' last #1 on the Hot 100, the landscapes in which they play have shifted in ways that ensure that they both represent a type that will never come around again. 

Under the guidance of Joe Paterno, Penn State seems to be just about the last major college football program where the term "student athlete" isn't a joke. Today, college football seems to have enough scandal to fill a tabloid, and the idea of a coach lasting a decade, let alone over four decades, is hard to imagine. For their part, Hall and Oates were the last, perhaps the only, hugely popular act in the post-Motown era to fuse rock and soul styles into a seamless whole. The lack of obvious hang-ups about whether something would be perceived as "white music" or "black music" is reflected in the way their hit I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) went to #1 on the pop, soul and dance charts as well as having been sampled for over a dozen other songs over the past 30 years. 

Even as the Nittany Lions' win today makes them eligible for a post-season bowl game, some think that unsold seats at Beaver Stadium mean that this season will be Paterno's last. Meanwhile, recent live performances show that Hall's voice isn't the same magnificent instrument that helped define the sound of pop music in the 1980s. In no way, though, does that diminish what they achieved during their "glory years" (and since). We've been lucky to have them.    OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: Subsequent events have ensured that this piece, written three weeks before Jerry Sandusky's arrest, would be the last time I could write about Paterno and Penn State football with a pure sense of fun. While I obviously feel for Sandusky's victims (use of the term "alleged" purposely avoided), that feeling is something I hope to never lose entirely.

Hall vs. Oates

On paper, or course, there's no contest. Daryl Hall sang most of the big hits and had better hair. Yet, in contrast to the other halves of such obviously lopsided duos-in-name-only like Wham, John Oates clearly contributed to Hall & Oates' success over the years. Anyone looking for proof that Oates provided some sort of je ne sais quoi to The duo need look no further than Daryl Hall's 1986 solo album Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine.

Despite following a string of top-selling albums and hit singles for the duo, and against a backdrop of many listeners thinking "John who?", Hall's album was a commercial disappointment, with just one major hit in the form of "Dreamtime". Oates did almost as well, producing and co-writing the top 10 single "Electric Blue" for Icehouse around the same time. Clearly, they were better together so it's not surprising that they reconvened in 1987 for the album Ooh Yeah! Though that album was a relative disappointment, the duo has continued to work together for the past 20+ years.

For his part, Oates is a co-writer on several of the duo's biggest hits ranging from "Sara Smile" to "Out of Touch". He also co-wrote and sang my personal favorite Hall & Oates song, 1985's "Possession Obsession". I don't claim it's high art nor did it go high on the charts. Nonetheless, I've always loved its lyrics.

"The compulsion to count the percentage of time spent between two lovers can turn an hour into a crime. All the good times suffer."

I guess I just like to root for the underdog.