40 Years Ago: Hall and Oates Begin to Crack With ‘Big Bam Boom’

Hall & Oates’ 1984 album Big Bam Boom continued the duo’s impressive commercial success – even while foreshadowing the end of their classic era.

At the time, Hall & Oates were one of the biggest acts on the planet. Their three preceding LPs – Voices (1980), Private Eyes (1981) and H2O (1982) – had been multi-platinum triumphs, spawning such memorable hits as “Kiss on My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” “I Can’t Go for That” and “Maneater.”

The duo’s heyday also coincided with technological advancements in electronic instruments. So as Hall & Oates prepped for their twelfth studio album, they were given access to what was then state-of-the-art equipment.

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“We embraced each new device on its merits as a tool to enhance and integrate into the recording process,” John Oates recalled in his 2017 memoir Change of Seasons. “For us, they were instruments to be used to achieve an end: service and enrich the songs.”

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