So this came across my field of vision this morning and I just cannot keep it to myself. I’m nott going to say much about this except that it’s one of my favorite Hall & Oates songs, and Mr. Oates looks ever bit like a citizen on 16th century England. For the rest of the story, here’s what Ultimate Classic Rock said (that’s where I found this story). Be sure to read the whole story.
The duo had scored a radio hit with “She’s Gone,” the lead single from its sophomore LP, Abandoned Luncheonette. Music videos were rare in the pre-MTV world, but Hall & Oates were invited to perform the song on a “teenage dance show” shot in Atlantic City and aired on Philadelphia television. Only problem, it wouldn’t be a true performance.
“They wanted us to go on and lip-sync,” John Oates recently explained to Yahoo!, adding that the concept of faking their way through the song “didn’t compute.”
Instead, they came up with an alternative idea. “One night, sitting in our apartment that we were sharing in New York City, Daryl and I said, ‘Let’s just do something crazy,’” Oates recalled.
The artists quickly assembled a small team, including their tour manager, Hall’s girlfriend at the time and Oates’ sister, who was a film student at Temple University. They came up with a peculiar video concept, grabbed furniture from their apartment and headed out the door.
“So we brought our little team down to Philadelphia, and we showed up at the local television station,” Oates continued. “And they fully expected us to show up and pretend to sing our song. And we showed up with chairs and props and all this stuff.”
Upon their arrival, Hall & Oates were not well received by the studio staff. “They didn’t know what to make of us, and they thought that we were mocking them,” Oates admitted. “They got really pissed off.”
The amateurish nature of the video seemed to bristle the local TV professionals, who took their jobs very seriously. “Here’s this 20-year-old girl who’s a film student with a script that we had all written together,” Oates recalled of the strange scene. “She walks into the control room, and they’re like, ‘Oh, what is happening here?’ And she starts telling these guys what we’re doing.”
The result was a video that’s equal parts bizarre and hilarious. Hall & Oates remain stone-faced throughout the clip, only occasionally lip-syncing as the song plays. A mysterious woman moves across the screen, followed by the devil. Monopoly money gets strewn about. Hall is draped in a bathrobe. Oates starts the video wearing what appears to be a sleeveless tuxedo, but later slips on penguin flippers to play a guitar solo with flippers.
In hindsight, Oates described the piece as “performance art.” However, the TV crew was not amused.
Read More: Why Hall and Oates’ ‘She’s Gone’ Video Enraged a TV Station | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/hall-and-oates-shes-gone-video/
The fact that the video was never aired by the TV station only goes to show how conservative TV was in the early 70’s. But it’s available now!
Enjoy!
Peace,
B
P.S. My hands feel like I have those flippers or whatever he has on his hands when I’m trying to play a guitar solo!
Random Ramblins' 