Guy bought me a CD last night by a band called The Bird and the Bee. I would describe their sound as minimalist electronica with pretty female vocals. But here's the genius part--this album is called "Interpreting the Masters: A Tribute to Darryl Hall and John Oates" and every single track is a Hall & Oates cover.
As you remember if you were a teenager in the 80s, Hall & Oates were the biggest, most popular band of the decade--but when the decade ended, we instantly became collectively embarrassed by them and tried to pretend that they never happened. We fondly celebrated the quirky outre trendsetters of the 80s like Cyndi Lauper, Prince, and Devo...but Hall & Oates? Waaaay too humiliating. They were like the high school boyfriend that you disavow as soon as you get to college--except in this case, it was two boyfriends, a big doofy blond one and a small swarthy one with a mustache.
But eventually, everything comes full circle. Now enough time has passed that Hall & Oates have actually acquired a certain hipster cachet by virtue of their extreme corniness, not to mention the professional, seamless quality of their songwriting. When forced to listen to their songs, it's sort of hard not to like them--they're so catchy--which goes a long way towards explaining their popularity in the first place.
In conclusion: You can go for that (yes, can do).
I looooooved Hall & Oates and never quite stopped, even though I didn't go shouting it from the rooftops. I still have Rock 'N Soul part 1! Their songs are so catchy, like you said.
ReplyDeleteOh, good for you! That's cute. ;)
ReplyDeleteI heard "Your Kiss (Is On My List" in Bartell yesterday, and I was surprised at how much I was enjoying it. You should DEFINITELY get this album, then. It's an interesting re-interpretation of their music. It's kind of a "chill out" album.