I was in the mood to listen to some of the dozens of GREATEST HITS CDs on my shelves. I picked two of the most successful groups of the 1980s: Hall & Oates and Huey Lewis and The News.
Hall & Oates sold 40 million records during the 1980s. However: “Despite generating what would amount to nearly $100 million across the decade, the duo famously saw much of their wealth disappear during this time due to high-flying lifestyles, lavish spending, and costly management and legal structures.” (Wikipedia)
During the Eighties, Hall & Oates had FIVE Number One hits:
“Rich Girl” (1977) – Their first single to top the chart.
“Kiss on My List” (1981) – A major pop-rock smash from the Voices album.
“Private Eyes” (1981) – The title-track chart-topper from 1981.
“I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” (1982) – A crossover R&B and pop phenomenon.
“Maneater” (1982) – Their longest-running number-one hit, staying at the top for four weeks.
“Out of Touch” (1984) – Their final career chart-topper, released from the album Big Bam Boom.
Huey Lewis and The News were also making money during the Eighties with their touring and album sales. Their number-one singles were:
- “The Power of Love” (1985)
- “Stuck with You” (1986)
- “Jacob’s Ladder” (1987)
Additionally, the band achieved 12 top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1980s and early 90s, with their album Sports (1983) reaching number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Are you a fan of Hall & Oates and/or Huey Lewis and The News? GRADE: B+ (for both)
TRACK LIST:
| Sara Smile | 3:07 | ||
| Rich Girl | 2:24 | ||
| Back Together Again | 3:25 | ||
| Don’t Change (45 Version) | 3:31 | ||
| I Don’t Wanna Lose You (45 Version) | 3:38 | ||
| Kiss On My List (45 Version) | 3:48 | ||
| Private Eyes | 3:36 | ||
| I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) (45 Version) | 3:56 | ||
| Your Imagination (45 Version) | 3:32 | ||
| One On One (45 Version) | 3:55 | ||
| Family Man | 3:26 | ||
| Adult Education (45 Version) | 3:58 | ||
| Out Of Touch (Video Mix) | 4:29 | ||
| Everything Your Heart Desires (45 Version) | 4:21 |
TRACK LIST:
| The Heart Of Rock & Roll | 5:05 | ||
| Heart And Soul | 4:12 | ||
| Doing It All For My Baby | 3:38 | ||
| Do You Believe In Love | 3:29 | ||
| Trouble In Paradise | 4:33 | ||
| The Power Of Love | 3:55 | ||
| If This Is It | 3:53 | ||
| Bad Is Bad | 3:47 | ||
| Workin’ For A Livin’ | 2:40 | ||
| It’s Alright | 3:04 | ||
| Stuck With You | 4:27 | ||
| I Want A New Drug | 4:45 | ||
| 100 Years From Now | 3:47 | ||
| So Little Kindness | 4:15 | ||
| ‘Til The Day After | 3:28 | ||
| When The Time Has Come | 4:27 |
Not a huge fan of Huey Lewis—although I won’t change the station if one of his songs comes on—but I love Hall & Oates. Probably my favorite song here is “Out of Touch”, with “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” a close second, but my favorite H&O song is “Back Together Again” which, unfortunately, did not make the greatest hits cut.
I would strongly recommend listening to Simply Red’s “Sunrise” which neatly blends “I Can’t Go for That” with an original SR song.
Deb, I love Simply Red and “Sunrise”! My favorite Huey Lewis and The News song is “I’m Not In Love Yet (But I’m Working On It) which is a duet with Wynonna Judd.
I was never a huge Huey Lewis fan, though I like some of their songs a lot, but their Greatest Hits package made me appreciate them more. We saw them in concerrt in 2012 with Joe Cocker opening, and then saw them open twice for Jimmy Buffett in 2015, first in August at Jones Beach, and then in a great New Year’s Eve concert at Barclays Center.
Hall & Oates we’ve only seen in concert once, in 2004 at Jones Beach, starring with Michael McDonald second and the Average White Band opening. Jackie has always liked them more than I do. I think it’s not the music as much as Darryl Hall’s unbearable self-love persona.
Jeff, in 2023 Daryl Hall filed a sealed lawsuit against John Oates, later revealed to stem from Oates attempting to sell his share of their joint company, Whole Oats Enterprises, to Primary Wave Music without Hall’s consent. They’ve been feuding ever since.
I like “Rich Girl” and “Kiss On My List” and “You Make My Dreams,”
We like Huey Lewis’s SOULSVILLE album. I like “I Want a New Drug” and “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “If This Is It.”
Jeff, Huey Lewis had a brief role in BACK TO THE FUTURE, too. Huey Lewis has an uncredited cameo role as a high school battle-of-the-bands audition judge. He also contributed “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” to the BACK TO THE FUTURE soundtrack.
And, of course, like Linda Ronstadt, he can no longer sing. In his case, Meniere’s Disease caused his deafness. He had a cochlear implant and can hear speech, but not sing. We’ve seen him act in a couple of movies.
Jeff, that’s a devastating condition for a singer…
I like both, but don’t remember all the songs mentioned, at least by title. I seem to give some songs different titles.
I’m in awe of all the concerts Jeff and Jackie attend
Maggie, me too! I wish I had gone to more concerts when I was younger!
Neither ever made much an impression on me. I didn’t hate them, but nothing I ever heard by either of them made me want to hear more. I might recognize some of these songs if I heard them, but just looking at the lists there’s nothing I can even hum.
Jeff, Hall & Oates songs and Huey Lewis and The News songs were on Heavy Rotation during the 1980s. I heard them every time I drove my car. MTV also played their videos day and night!
I like Huey Lewis and the News and think Hall and Oates are okay! How’s that for a ringing endorsement? I didn’t know about Huey losing his hearing! That’s a shame!
Bob, I agree with you on Huey’s malady. Tragic.
I found both pleasant enough to hear with most if not indeed all the songs I knew to be theirs, but wasn’t ever moved to but not borrow their records.
Todd, I must admit, these songs sounded better in the 1980s…
Was Attempting to type “buy nor borrow.” Our younger cat is “fixed”, but she still goes into heat annually (sometimes they don’t get all of the overies out. and sometimes the pituitary unhelpfully Steps Up, abd she and the semi-broke laptop are Helping, as both are in the chair with me at times…
Such as now. Abd can be read as And.
Ovaries. Goodness.
And elder cat is having digestive issues. It’s a glamorous life, as another ’80s pop song noted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zqtl8azCs8
Todd, my Life isn’t glamorous…but it is happy!
Todd, I live in a pet-free zone because of my allergies.
Sympathies. My mother suffered from some, but we kept cats throughout most of my life with my parents–she didn’t have that one. Our elder cat is my parents’ last cat, formerly.
Todd, allergies suck and that’s why I’m never far from air conditioning.
I have some dust allergies, which is why I should be wearing a PPE mask while changing and scrubbing the litterbox right now, but, really, what fun would digging that out be? Happily, it’s a mild allergy.
This, popping up on the largest Philidedelphia public station at noon, might be for me one of the most miss-able/miserable pledgers in recent memory:
I Want My ’80s Tour Live
WHYY
Add to favorites: [nope]
Description
Rick Springfield, Wang Chung and John Waite perform their biggest hits of the decade, including “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “Everybody Have Fun Tonight,” “Dance Hall Days,” and “Missing You.”
Fiddle-deedee-delphia, clearly, is what I was subconsciously aiming for…
Todd, Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” still get regular airplay on our local Oldies radio station.
No surprise there. Not a favorite of mine, nor anything I recall by any of the acts cited. Lots of ’80s “hitmakers” I’d be happy never to hear again, much like I m hope never to see nor hear Richard Simmons again…
Or, I hope.Though that last is a bit ungracious given his retirement from public life for the last decade of his own. But such an off-putting persona, if not quite as much so as the current US felon In chief.