When it comes to yacht rock, Daryl Hall can’t go for that. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Matthew Becker

Few acts dominated pop music of the ’70s and ’80s like the pop-rockers Hall & Oates.

The duo scored 29 Top 40 singles, including six No. 1 hits, with songs such as “Rich Girl,” “Kiss on My List,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” and “Man Eater.”

The San Antonio audience is likely to hear at least some of those enduring hits when half of the duo, Daryl Hall, plays Tuesday, March 25, at the Majestic Theatre — which he revealed is his favorite theater in the country. Hall is sharing the stage that evening with another legendary singer-songwriter, Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook.

Ahead of Tuesday’s show, we chatted with Hall and geeked out about music. We also discussed the many illustrious guests the singer has hosted on his popular YouTube series Live From Daryl’s House, where he jams with some of the biggest names in music.

Hall & Oates went through a very public and messy breakup. In a 2023, Hall sued former musical partner John Oates for attempting to sell his share of their joint company, Whole Oates Enterprises. And when it comes to possibilities of reconciliation, not only has that yacht sailed, “it’s at the bottom of the ocean,” according to a recent interview with The Times — one of the few times Hall has deigned to speak on the topic.

While the Current’s interview tiptoed around the elephant in the room, Hall did allude to the challenges of the past few years, which provided lyrical inspiration for his latest album D, a collaboration with Eurythmics frontman Dave Stewart.

But, whatever you do, don’t call it “yacht rock.”

What can people expect from the show at the Majestic Theatre?

I’m doing a version of what I do on Live From Daryl’s House. Glenn does his set with my band, and then I do my set with my band, and then Glenn and I do stuff together with my band. So it’s a real communal kind of situation, and it’s what I’ve been doing lately with other artists, and I love doing it and I really like working Glenn. So, it’s gonna be a good night. And Majestic Theatre is my favorite theater in the United States.

Wow, that’s wonderful to hear. It’s also great to hear that you’re going to recreate what the two of you did for Live From Daryl’s House, because I know that you played “Black Coffee in Bed,” “Pulling Muscles from the Shell” and “Tempted” together on that episode. Who were some of your favorite guests on the show?

Oh, man. I mean, I’ve done 100 shows, so it’s hard for me to even say. I’ve had so many outrageously good experiences on that show. It’s hard for me even to pick favorites. I mean, if I have any. Having said that, if I talk about people that I knew or idolized when I was a kid or something like that, and they were on the show that was sort of special, but sometimes just having a brand new artist that I don’t even know and work with for the first time and interact with that person, it’s just as exciting, really. Every show is exciting, so it’s hard to really pin it all down.

I know you’ve had some people who inspired you, such as Smokey Robinson, on the show, but it’s also really cool to see that lineage continue with artists like Chromeo, who were inspired by you. Is it just one take for each song?
Pretty much. Sometimes we’ll do a second one, but most of the time it’s one take.

How do you decide which songs you’re gonna do?
I ask the artist what they want to do of their own music. And then I tell them to come up with some ideas for my music. That’s basically how it happens.

I know you toured with Elvis Costello last year. What was that like?

Well, Elvis — it was more of a traditional [show]. He did his set with his band. I did my set with my band. But, I mean, I love Elvis. He’s great. He’s a real character, and his band is really great. I got to know them and meet them, and Elvis and I have a lot of mutual friends in England, so he is sort of extended family to me. And it was a great show, a great, great evening with the two of us.

I’m about to get a little controversial. How do you feel about yacht rock, and do you see yourself as outside that genre?
Well, my music is sui generis. I mean, it doesn’t sound like anybody. And I don’t like being labeled with weird made-up things. Like what the fuck is that? Yacht rock? I don’t even know what it is. I don’t even understand it. It doesn’t have anything to do with music. It’s some joke that took. And I think it’s a rather stupid thing if you want the truth, to use the word stupid.

Because I am in San Antonio, I am legally obligated to ask you about Christopher Cross and if you had any interactions with him that you can tell me about.

Well, I sort of knew Christopher. I would bump into him occasionally. He’s a very funny guy. I was with him on an elevator one time — this is years ago — and he says, “Man, you’re lucky. You could be Daryl Hall in Hall & Oates. And all I can be is Christopher Cross.” And another time he just talked about [music] videos. He said, “Man, video just killed me.” You know, it was the whole idea [that] MTV didn’t want to see people who look like [him]. I guess what I’m trying to say is I like Christopher Cross.

You notably played with androgyny a little bit, particularly with your self-titled debut album, the so-called “silver album,” for which you’re wearing blush on the cover. And you later said on VH1’s Behind the Music that you looked like the girl you wanted to go out with. I’m curious how much of that was Pierre La Roche’s Ziggy Stardust influence, who designed the cover. How much of that was your idea and where was that coming from?

Well, you know, it was the time. That was 1973, ’74 and it was very much in style. I just read an article about David Johansen [of the New York Dolls], who unfortunately just died. I was a New Yorker at the time, and so was he. I knew him, and we were playing in the same places and all that. And he described it really well. It was a fashion. It seems very innocent now, but artists were trying to shake up patterns. They were trying to shake up people’s perceptions of everything. And it really didn’t have that much to do with sexuality. It had to do with just sort of messing with your head. And if you look at other artists that were contemporary to me, like Todd Rundgren and various people, we were all doing that kind of stuff. We were in our early 20s, and it was fun to do, and it was making a statement, really.

I also definitely want to ask you about Sacred Songs, your experimental album produced by Robert Fripp of King Crimson. It was deemed not commercial enough by RCA, who sat on it for three years. What did that feel like, being a pop darling who had tons of hits then getting all this artsy, experimental cred and being told you’re not commercial enough?

The record company was against Sacred Songs because it was too much out of their perception of what I was. And you know, that goes back to your earlier question about “yacht buddy rock” and all that. … People try and put artists into little containers because it’s easier to sell people that way. That was their problem. I don’t think anybody said this is a shitty album or anything like that. They said it’s going out of the lane that we could sell to the public, in their opinion. And that’s why they stepped on it. And they were proven wrong, obviously, because now that album is one of the most significant things that I’ve done and that people talk about. And so they couldn’t have been more wrong. And had they been a little more open-minded, it would have been a very different world for both them and me. But that’s just typical, especially in those days. But I don’t think that much has really changed in the world of the record business. Some people are a little more open-minded now than they were back then, but it still exists for the reason I just said, because it’s easier to sell things when you can categorize them and put them in little, you know, little containers.

And how did you meet Fripp?
I met Robert in Canada. I was doing a show in Toronto and he happened to be there and somebody who was a mutual friend brought him backstage, and we just clicked and we became friends right from the beginning. And we decided after the fact, why don’t we try and make some music together and put what you do and what I do together and see what happens. And that’s where Sacred Songs and [Fripp solo album] Exposure came from.

English occultist Aleister Crowley was a big influence on the sacred themes of that album, particularly songs like “Without Tears.” How have his teachings shaped your spirituality or personal philosophy? Do you still feel the way you felt at that time?

That was a long, long time ago. And I was a very different person. I have a spiritual side that encompasses a lot of things. Aleister Crowley was just one of the many little phases I went through. I’m an avid reader, and I got sucked in to that world and went through it, absorbed it, took whatever I took out of it and then moved on. 

I wanted to ask you about your latest album, D, and how you think your sound has changed over the years.
Well, I think the essence of my sound hasn’t changed all that much. I still have the same melodic ideas and chordal ideas and even lyrical ideas, depending on what experience I’m going through. I think that when I work with [former Eurythmics frontman] Dave [Stewart], who is another close, close friend, we do a certain thing together. And that’s what the D album is. It’s Dave Stewart and Daryl Hall getting together and what our combined sensibilities create. And I love this album. I mean, I’m so excited to play it. When I play it, every song that I play on stage — I play about four on this tour. And it’s just fun. The album, to me, is a fun album, even though it’s got some less fun subjects in the lyrics. But I think, musically, it’s a lot of fun.

And what are the less fun subjects, you would say?
Well, going through some of the things that I’ve gone through in the past few years since the last album, I’ve gone through some heavy things and I’ve come out the other side, and I think that lyrically that’s what the album is about.

You’ve been sampled a lot and have been an inspiration for a lot of modern artists. I’m sure you’ve heard the 2 Chainz version of “I Can’t Go for That.” What do you think of these homages to you?

I mean, obviously I like it or I wouldn’t allow it to happen. It’s interesting that people throw these things at me, and they say can I get your approval for this? And I listen to it, and sometimes I say, nope. Sometimes I go, wow, OK, that’s cool. And that’s really the extent of it. Once I finish a song and play it and put it out to the world, I’m open for people to interpret it and do things with it. It’s OK with me as long as you pay me.

I know you like doo-wop and soul bands like The Temptations and The O’Jays. This is a city with a rich soul history, particularly Chicano soul, with acts like Sonny and the Sunliners and the Royal Jesters. Did you ever get into Brown-Eyed Soul?

Would you consider Tavares? That’s brown-eyed soul. They did the original “She’s Gone.” I mean, I wrote it. Me and John wrote it, but they were the first people to have a hit with it. And, so, in that respect, that was a significant beginning to my entering into the world of pop music.

What would you say were your biggest influences when you were first getting started?
You kind of said it. When I was a young teenager, I listened to doo-wop music and street corner music, because the sound of Philadelphia is very influenced by all that. And I was in the early days of the formation of what people considered to be the sound of Philadelphia. I worked with Gamble and Huff and Tommy Bell and all the groups that are known to be ambassadors of that music. Those were my influences. And then as I moved through the world, I picked up other things. I guess I’m a little bit of a sponge.

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This article appears in Mar 5-18, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.