The gang shootout that sparked the beginning of Hall and Oates: “We heard screams and then gunshots”
While tensions between Daryl Hall and John Oates threaten to overshadow the brilliant artistry that was once Hall and Oates, the magnitude of their accomplishments feels even more profound when considering they only met by chance. However, perhaps “chance” is, in fact, too trivial a word when applied to the way this future collaboration crossed paths. Maybe it’s something closer to serendipity.
Hall and Oates became the mainstay of the 1970s and 1980s music scene by being the pop duo that effortlessly blended genres while delivering catchy, infectious melodies that resonated with an entire generation. Their collaborative symmetry seemed entirely natural, and it appeared as though growing up in Philadelphia meant they were fated to come together.
Although they attended the same university, they initially occupied distinctive spaces: Hall studied music, and Oates majored in journalism. They were also members of two different musical groups: Hall, part of the doo-wop group The Temptones, and Oates, singing in the Masters, whose popularity was on the rise following the release of their single, ‘I Need Your Love’.
In the late 1960s, The Temptones and the Masters were scheduled to perform at a dance event promoted by disc jockey Jerry Bishop at the Adelphi Ballroom in Philadelphia, which seemed like a huge opportunity, considering the fact that Bishop would be able to play the bands’ songs on the radio if he deemed them good enough.
“When Jerry Bishop contacted you, you had to go,” Oates told Pennsylvania Heritage in 2016. Clearly, not attending was certainly not an option if either of them planned on making it in the industry. And so they did—and waited eagerly backstage to be called on to give the performance of a lifetime. At the time, the only thing Oates noticed was the differences in the groups’ attires: The Temptones seemed adorned in better, more respectable suits, while Oates and his fellow musicians felt a little, as he put it, “crappy”.
If it had not been for what happened next, it’s likely that the pair would have continued to go their separate ways. However, suddenly, the sound of gunshots coming from the main stage area caused them to stop in their tracks. According to Hall, a riot broke out between two of the school’s rival fraternities, which looked like “just gangs with Greek letters”. As they looked out from behind the backstage curtain, someone fired a weapon while others were fighting with chains and knives.
“We heard screams and then gunshots,” Oates recalled. “It seemed a full-scale riot had erupted out in the theatre, not a shocker given the times. Like a lot of other cities around the country, Philly was a city where racial tensions had begun to boil over.” In an attempt to leave the premises safely and avoid getting caught up in a race riot, Hall, Oates, and a few others crammed into a nearby elevator.
Suddenly facing one another for the first time, Hall decided to make small talk to alleviate some of the tension. “Oh, well, you didn’t get to go on, either,” he said. “How ya doin’?” However, the harmless exchange wouldn’t be the last time they spoke to one another, as they then ran into one another a few weeks later and did what any normal students would do: joke about their mutual near-death experience.
By this time, the Masters had disbanded, so Oates was invited to join The Temptones as their guitarist. “That was our true birth as a duo,” Oates recalled. Of course, when The Temptones later broke up, their path as a collaborative duo officially began, and Hall and Oates ended up becoming one of the most dynamic and best-selling partnerships in music history.
