1978 Daryl Hall & John Oates – It’s A Laugh
Daryll Hall and John Oates were roommates in Philadelphia several years before they started producing music together. They released their first album on Atlantic Records in 1970. The single She’s Gone from their second album in 1973 was their only charting single until they moved to RCA Records in 1975.
Sara Smile reached the top ten on the Hot 100 in 1976, and following that with a re-release of She’s Gone gave them a second consecutive top ten hit. That established the pair as a success, and 1977 delivered the chart-topping Rich Girl. The follow-up single (Back Together Again) did not fare nearly as well and Hall & Oates went through some hard times.
Perhaps the duo was having trouble doing well on the charts because they weren’t creating disco records; the late seventies were difficult times for rock and soul performers. Their next two singles barely reached the top eighty and the single after that didn’t even get into the top 100.
Their seventh studio album came out in 1978 and the lead single from the album was It’s A Laugh.
Live versions of the song often ended with more intricate guitar work, but that didn’t help the record get any higher than #20 on the Hot 100 in 1978.
It was 1980 before the release of their ninth studio album, Voices, produced a string of hit singles that really launched their career into the heights that have made them the most successful duo of the rock era.
The original version of this article is now included in LOST OR FORGOTTEN OLDIES VOLUME 2: Hit Records From 1955 To 1989 That The Radio Seldom Plays
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_%26_Oates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_%26_Oates_discography
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