Adult Education (song)

"Adult Education" is a song by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, released as a single on February 18, 1984. The song is featured on the duo's second compilation album Rock 'n Soul Part 1 (1983). It was one of two new tracks that were recorded specifically for the compilation release and hit number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100. This song was featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V.

Lyrics

The song centers on the plight of a teenage girl in high school. Her girlfriends only "care about what she wears" and the narrator assures her "there's life after high school." The lyrics suggest she is wiser than her years and, in fact, is receiving an education to the behavior of adults in high school.^[1]

Music video

The music video to "Adult Education", directed by Tim Pope, takes place in what appears to be a torchlit stone temple or tomb. As Hall & Oates and their band sing, dance and play with modified instruments and ceremonial objects, a middle-aged man in a baseball cap organizes and wields several idols, while chanting. A teenage boy wearing a loincloth and a teenage girl draped in a white sheet cross a platform illuminated with modern lights and ascend a staircase to meet the man, who appears to bless them with an animal idol. The girl removes the sheet from her head and part of her body and the ritual continues. Eventually, both teenagers are placed on stone slabs; the boy acts terrified and appears to be restrained, while the girl lies motionless, her body draped in the white sheet. The video ends with the boy standing behind the idols' altar and the girl sitting on the stone slab in front of it, as Hall & Oates and their band continue to sing, dance and play instruments in the background. The final shots of the video are of hieroglyphs and ceremonial items scattered around the structure.

Hall later criticized the video in the book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. "Videos began to attract wannabe Cecil B. Demilles, directors who had almost unlimited budgets and did whatever they felt like. 'Adult Education' is a perfect example. We brought in a director I didn't know [Pope], who was newly hot. He didn't have a clue what to do with the song. The plot? I couldn't tell you."^[2]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1984)	Peak position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[3]	9
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	18
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[4]	7
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	63
US Billboard Hot 100	8
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)	21

References

↑ Sexism and Cultural Lag: The Rise of the Jailbait Song, 1955–85.JR Huffman. The Journal of Popular Culture 1987.Wiley Online Library
↑
↑ "Ultratop.be – Daryl Hall / John Oates – Adult Education" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Daryl Hall / John Oates – Adult Education" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.

Daryl Hall & John Oates

Daryl Hall John Oates

Studio albums	Whole Oats (1972) Abandoned Luncheonette (1973) War Babies (1974) Daryl Hall & John Oates (1975) Bigger Than Both of Us (1976) Beauty on a Back Street (1977) Along the Red Ledge (1978) X-Static (1979) Voices (1980) Private Eyes (1981) H₂O (1982) Big Bam Boom (1984) Ooh Yeah! (1988) Change of Season (1990) Marigold Sky (1997) Do It for Love (2003) Our Kind of Soul (2004) Home for Christmas (2006)

Live albums	Livetime (1978) Live at the Apollo (1985)

Compilation albums	No Goodbyes (1977) Rock 'n Soul Part 1 (1983) The Atlantic Collection (1996) Playlist: The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates (1998) The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates (2001) VH1 Behind the Music: The Daryl Hall and John Oates Collection (2002) Ultimate Daryl Hall + John Oates (2004) The Singles (2008)

Singles	"She's Gone" (1974) "Sara Smile" (1976) "Rich Girl" (1977) "Wait for Me" (1979) "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (1980) "Kiss on My List" (1981) "You Make My Dreams" (1981) "Private Eyes" (1981) "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (1981) "Did It in a Minute" (1982) "Maneater" (1982) "One on One" (1983) "Family Man" (1983) "Jingle Bell Rock" (1983) "Say It Isn't So" (1983) "Adult Education" (1984) "Out of Touch" (1984) "Method of Modern Love" (1985) "A Nite at the Apollo Live! The Way You Do the Things You Do/My Girl" (live) (1985) "Everything Your Heart Desires" (1988) "Love Train" (1989) "So Close" (1990) "Do It for Love" (2002) "Someday We'll Know" (2003) "Getaway Car" (2003) "I'll Be Around" (2004) "Without You" (2004) "I Can Dream About You" (2005) "Ooh Child" (2005) "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (2006)

Hall solo albums	Sacred Songs (1980) Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine (1986) Soul Alone (1993) Can't Stop Dreaming (1996) Laughing Down Crying (2011)

Oates solo albums	Phunk Shui (2002) John Oates: Live at the Historic Wheeler Opera House (2004) John Oates Solo – The Album, The Concert (2006) 1000 Miles of Life (2008) Mississippi Mile (2011) The Bluesville Sessions (2012) Good Road to Follow (2014)

Related articles	Discography Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates Live from Daryl's House

Book Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.