Hall & Oates nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Work Drugs pick their 5 favorite H&O songs

Knowing those smooth-fi musical operators Work Drugs as well as we do, we reached out to them and asked them to pick five of their favorite Hall & Oates songs in honor of Hall & Oates being nominated to be inducted into this year’s Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Below, Tom Crystal and Ben Louisiana of Work Drugs weigh in on the legendary Hall & Oates. Don’t miss the A Work Drugs Christmas Spectacle on Saturday, December 14th at Johnny Brenda’s. Maybe we can convince them to do a cover of Hall & Oates’s cover of “Jingle Bell Rock.”

“Everytime You Go Away” (Live at the Apollo Version) – This song was popularized by Paul Young, but most people probably don’t know that the actual writer of this song was Daryl Hall. During this live performance at the legendary Apollo, you can clearly see who owns this song. It helps to have Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin backing you up too. ~ Ben Louisiana

“Unguarded Minute” – While the Private Eyes album is riddled with so many great singles, this one always stood out for me. Written by both Hall and Oates, you can really see the melding of styles from the back and forth chorus vocals and the angular guitar throughout. Almost 15 years into their career at this point, you can tell their songwriting hadn’t dropped off at all. ~Tom Crystal

“Sara Smile”– Written about Daryl Hall’s girlfriend Sara Allen, this is one of the smoother and sexier singles they put out over their career. A simple, yet timeless love song. I’m a big fan of lyrics that are overtly personal to the writer. While I’m generally not a fan of covers, The Bird and the Bee’s version of this song is just as impressive. ~Tom Crystal

“I’m Just a Kid (Don’t Make Me Feel Like a Man)” – While John Oates generally doesn’t get the same songwriting recognition as Daryl Hall, this is one of the standout Oates tracks from their catalog. It reminds me of summer cruises down the Intercoastal. As the night was winding down this song was always part of the playlist. ~Ben Louisiana

“Wait for Me” – Trying to work it’s way through the disco weeds, the 1979 X-Static album wasn’t know for any singles other than Wait for Me. Regardless of that fact, the album cover always brought me back. Aside from inspiring so many pop song writers, I guess you could say Hall and Oates were also on the forefront of portable electronic protection. ~Tom Crystal