The New York Post launches an exclusive new video series today — “Music to My Years.”
Famous artists will tour New York City neighborhoods that inspired them — and bring resident music critic Chuck Arnold along as they walk down memory lane.
For the premiere episode, John Oates went back to his roots. Chock-full of history, the 76-year-old musician chose three meaningful spots from his Hall & Oates days: Rudy’s Music Soho, Electric Lady Studios and the former site of Gaslight Cafe.
Gaslight Cafe is the Greenwich Village coffeehouse where Oates and former music partner Daryl Hall played their first New York show together in the late ’60s — when they were both in different groups.
“And so when you’re with one of the greatest singers of all time, of course you’re not going to be the frontman. And it’s actually OK, because I don’t think I really felt comfortable doing that anyway,” Oates explained to Arnold of their partnership.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame duo met as students at Temple University in Philadelphia. The band recently split and Oates has gone solo with his new album, “Reunion,” which dropped this month.
“When we met, we pooled our individual influences and created something uniquely original. But the guy I was before that never really left. He just got pushed over to the side, you know, kind of like an old bear sleeping through the winter,” he said. “And now it’s been reawakened. And so I feel like I’m rediscovering a part of myself that I forgot about.”
