Hall & Oates might have had the hottest touch in the ’80s -- we could start naming all their hits and you'll be humming them all day. But there were a lot of other dude duos from that magic decade.
Here are a few other hitmakers. Tell us if you think any of them deserve to trump our beloved soul rockers from Philly. And feel free to add other duos you think we missed:
PET SHOP BOYS (Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe): West End Girls, It’s a Sin, Suburbia. These songs ringing any bells? With a new album out, fresh honors bestowed by the Brit music industry and a hysterial name change request from PETA, the Pet Shop Boys are still red hot.
GO WEST (Peter Cox, Richard Drummie) We Close Our Eyes, The King of Wishful Thinking. It took 'til 1990 before Go West scored a big hit in America, but Pete and Rich have been busy cranking out tunes since 1982.
AIR SUPPLY (Graham Russell, Russell Hitchcock) All Out of Love, The One That You Want. Oh, the love/hate/love relationship we all have with our soft Aussie crooners. Just admit that you made out to their music constantly back in the early '80s. You'll feel better.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (John Flansburgh, John Linnell): Ana Ng, Don't Let's Start. Their biggest hits came with 1990's excellent Flood album, but the two Johns had developed a strong cult following dating back to their Brooklyn days in 1982.
TEARS FOR FEARS (Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith) Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Roland and Curt were once partners with fellow Bath, England, musicians Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher (yes, the Naked Eyes guys) in a band called Neon. Imagine if they'd all stayed together.
WHAM! (George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley) Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Everything She Wants. Okay, so George gets all the ink these days. But don't feel too bad for Andy. He's doing very well as the husband of Keren Woodward from Bananarama.
Relive the music, movies and culture of the greatest decade ever with Times online editor Steve Spears. A teen during the decade, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.
E-mail Steve Spears:
As far as 80's dude duos go, the nod's either got to go to Hall and Oates or Wham!, but let's not forget Barnes and Barnes! Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads....
Posted by: Frank Anderson | April 16, 2009 at 09:59 PM
How about Jake and Elwood Blues? ;P
Posted by: Six | April 16, 2009 at 12:45 PM
How about...
Everything But The Girl (Ben Watt & Tracey Thorn)
The System (Mic Murphy & David Frank)
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper
and my all-time favorite "one-time" duo...
Kenny Loggins & Steve Perry ("Don't Fight It")
Posted by: Jeff in Cuba | April 16, 2009 at 09:41 AM
The outfield has been a duo since the 90s....
Posted by: Crockett | April 16, 2009 at 08:33 AM
I'm pretty sure he said "dude duos", in which case nobody could top Hall & Oates in the '80s. It seemed like every single they put out went to #1.
Posted by: Clark | April 16, 2009 at 06:55 AM
Of course Hall and Oates were educational, especially Adult Education. I like the fact that they felt confident enough as a duo just to use thier names instead of coming up with a name for thier duo. I guess the very best do, like Simon and Garfunkel.
Posted by: DerekT | April 15, 2009 at 11:26 PM
Sorry about that Swordy. Hey, we can have the blog to ourselves as all those on the other side of the world are now safely tucked up in bed....
Posted by: Dave in Sydney | April 15, 2009 at 11:14 PM
Dave in Sydney, I got the dodgy hotdog feeling with your first mention of Kylie and Jason. I didnt get past that.......sickening.
Posted by: Swordy in Australia | April 15, 2009 at 10:43 PM
...and to go on a bit of a tangent, some of the "one off" duos/duets.
Some good some not so good:
Kylie and Jason - I can see the Australians cringing now!
Jagger/Bowie - Dancing in the Streets - watch the boys camp it up!
McCartney/Jackson - don't go there
McCartney/Wonder - ditto
Rogers/Parton - time to stop writing now.... I'm experiencing a feeling in the stomach similar to eating dodgy hotdogs.
Posted by: Dave in Sydney | April 15, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Hall & Oates = Unbeatable, mature, EDUCATIONAL, and totally cool. Surely they are the best. Spearsy, youre list is cool. Big in Oz was Go West and Tears for Fears, and of course we are the owners of Air Supply. Air Supply come close, but not quite. And as I have mentioned to you Spearsy, anyone who doesn't believe Hall & Oates is the best EDUCATIONAL duo in the 80's, they should hand in their membership of the Stuck In the 80's club. They are imposters!!
Posted by: Swordy in Australia | April 15, 2009 at 07:24 PM
Ah, Wang Chung.
*Insert Frasier Crane Quote Here*
Posted by: Ian (in CT) | April 15, 2009 at 03:42 PM
I'm probably wrong about the Divinyls.
Posted by: Bassnote | April 15, 2009 at 03:26 PM
Sparks - Ron & Russell Mael
The Style Council - Paul Weller & Mick Talbot
Wang Chung - Jack Hues & Nick Feldman
Wendy & Lisa
Posted by: Bassnote | April 15, 2009 at 03:24 PM
Bassnote, I thought the Divinyls were a band, not a duo? I could swear that the band had 5 five members, albeit not the same 5 members with Christina and Mark as the core of the band.
Posted by: Ian (in CT) | April 15, 2009 at 03:14 PM
How about a nod for David Byrne and Brian Eno's album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts? yeah it didn't get any radio play or sell a whole heckuva lot, but its influence is still being felt today. In 1981 no one was using samplers and found vocals in mainstream music, much less mixed with electronics, afro-beats, and jangly fuzzed out guitars. Check out America Is Waiting, Help Me Somebody, and The Jezebel Spirit. Great stuff.
Posted by: Douglas Arthur | April 15, 2009 at 02:57 PM
The Buggles - Trevor Horn & Geoff Downes
The Blues Brothers - John Belusi & Dan Akroyd
Bourgeois Tagg - Brent Bourgeois & Larry Tagg
Naked Eyes - Rob Fisher & Pete Byrne
Clime Fisher - Simon Clime & Rob Fisher
Divinyls - Christina Amphlett & Mark McEntee
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
Everything But The Girl - Tracy Thorn & Ben Watt
Vangellis & Jon Anderson
Posted by: Bassnote | April 15, 2009 at 02:46 PM
to answer your question, no one touched the greatness that is hall & oates.
Posted by: CHAD | April 15, 2009 at 02:29 PM
Yes of course the Eurythmics would be one of the best Duos from the 80's. Might be the best Male/Female Duo of all time!!! OK, perhaps Sony and Cher (just kidding)
Posted by: DerekT | April 15, 2009 at 02:21 PM
Oh man! A music duo i just remembered.
Modern Talking! They suck,i believe but when i was a kid i loved one of their songs.I had it on vinyl and was always listening to it. I don´t remember the name of the song.
Posted by: Miguel | April 15, 2009 at 02:21 PM
Does Phil Oakey/Giorgio Moroder count?
Posted by: Miguel | April 15, 2009 at 02:04 PM
Yes! There's a Mrs. Dr. Dim.
Posted by: Dr. Dim | April 15, 2009 at 02:00 PM
i feel better now, but i have to say, those types of bands weren't my cup of tea. wasn't air supply a full band before the lead guys took over?
Posted by: CHAD | April 15, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Mrs. Dr. Dim would like to add...
General Public (Dave Wakeling, Ranking Roger)
Posted by: Dr. Dim | April 15, 2009 at 01:59 PM
sorry i was so harsh, must be in one of those moods. didn't mean to disrespect anyone who likes those duos.
Posted by: CHAD | April 15, 2009 at 01:58 PM
Bassnote, once again beat me to it!
Posted by: Ian (in CT) | April 15, 2009 at 01:47 PM
I hate to go in this direction, but how about Wham?
Better yet:
Roxette
Eurythmics
Erasure
Yazoo
Posted by: Ian (in CT) | April 15, 2009 at 01:45 PM
Excellent, Bassnote! All that came to mind for me were one hit wonders. Of course, Eurythmics. How could I have forgotten them?
More importantly, how the hell could Spears forget them?!
I have another one hit wonder...
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Posted by: Dr. Dim | April 15, 2009 at 01:42 PM
Eurythmics, Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart. A very big duo in the '80s.
Posted by: Bassnote | April 15, 2009 at 01:37 PM
During the 80's I think I enjoyed Air Supply more, but now I would take Hall and Oats. Simon and Garfunkel did have thier giant concert in Central Park during the 80's with Wake Up Little Susie being released as a single so they are an 80's duo in a way. I did not care for Tears for Fears and only 2 songs I liked from Wham.
Posted by: DerekT | April 15, 2009 at 01:34 PM
Oh, Chad. Fear brings hate. Hate brings suffering. Suffering leads to the dark side.
Posted by: Spears | April 15, 2009 at 01:00 PM
ok, the only duo in that list that doesn't s@@k is tears for fears. i'm sorry to be so harsh and sound like sean, but euro trash is named that for a reason.
Posted by: CHAD | April 15, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Here's another one hit wonder...
David & David (David Baerwald, David Ricketts)
Posted by: Dr. Dim | April 15, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Well, two one hit wonder duos come to mind...
Soft Cell (Marc Almond, David Ball)
Timbuk 3 (Pat & Barbara MacDonald)
I'll try to think of more.
Oh! I almost forgot! Milli Vanilli! (Fab Morvan, Rob Pilatus)
Posted by: Dr. Dim | April 15, 2009 at 12:39 PM