"Okay," says Goodman, with forced enthusiasm, "this
is the Big Bam Boom phone-in on MTV. Let's show the first video from that album." As
MTV cuts to the video, Tommy Mottola, Hall and Oates' omnipresent manager, scurries about
the soundstage. "Who are these callers?" he asks with some urgency. "Do we
have people ready to call with better questions?" Mottola sends Jeb Brien, one of his
closest associates, off to investigate the switchboard situation. He reports back. Calls
are coming in rapidly, but the questions are no good. "Are John and Daryl really
fags?" seems to be a favorite inquiry. Brien shakes his head: "They're better
off with questions about their clothes."
Back inside the studio, Goodman is trying to discuss the
just-seen video, in which Hall and Oates are squashed by a giant drum and then resurrected
to perform their first Big Bam Boom hit, "Out of Touch." "I hear Jeff
Stein, who did that great Cars" video 'You Might Think,' directed this," Goodman
says. Hall nods, smoking a cigarette. Oates just stares. "Ooo kay," Goodman
says, "I guess we should take another call." |
The phone buzzes.
"What's your favorite group?" says the caller. "The Three Stooges,"
deadpans Hall. "How'd you get the drum so big in the video?" someone from
Detroit asks. "We just rubbed it, and it grew," deadpans Oates. "What was
your most embarrassing moment?" caller number three wants to know. "Right
now!" Hall and Oates scream in unison. They crack up, and Mark Goodman, relieved,
laughs, too. He's still laughing as he announces a commercial break, but Mottola isn't
even smiling. "This isn't funny, he says to no one in particular. "This really
isn't funny at all." "SO," DARYL HALL
IS SAYING THE NEXT DAY OVER PASTA SALAD, "did you see MTV last night?" We are at
the SIR rehearsal studio in Manhattan, and the phone-in show seems like the distant past,
like a bad dream, what with Mottola letting Mark Goodman have it afterward - "You
were there to insulate them, goddamnit" - and approximately 12 million viewers tuning
in to watch the mess. |