"Kiss on My List" is a song by American duo

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall & John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while John Oates primarily supplied electric guitar and ba ...

. It was written by

Daryl Hall Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B, and soul singer. He is best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Hall & Oates, with guitarist and songwriter John Oa ...

and Janna Allen, and produced by Hall and

John Oates John William Oates (born April 7, 1948) is an American musician, best known as half of the rock and soul duo Hall & Oates along with Daryl Hall. He has played rock, R&B, and soul music, serving as a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record ...

. It was the third single release from their ninth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

Voices Voices or The Voices may refer to: Film and television * ''Voices'' (1920 film), by Chester M. De Vonde, with Diana Allen * ''Voices'' (1973 film), a British horror film * ''Voices'' (1979 film), a film by Robert Markowitz * ''Voices'' (1 ...

'' (1980), and became their second US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one single (after " Rich Girl" in 1977). It spent three weeks at the top spot. The music video was the 204th that aired on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's first day of broadcast. The 45 rpm version of the song appears on the compilation albums '' Rock 'n Soul Part 1'' (1983) and '' Playlist: The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates'' (2008).

Background

The song was written with the intention of Janna Allen, sister of Hall's longtime girlfriend

Sara Allen Sara Allen (born March 23, 1954) is an American songwriter best known for her work with the duo Hall & Oates. Working as a flight attendant in the early 1970s, Allen was introduced to John Oates, who subsequently wrote the song "Las Vegas Turna ...

, singing it, as she was interested in starting a music career. Hall cut a demo version as a guide for her, but later when his manager found the tape lying around the studio, he insisted that Hall and Oates cut the song themselves. In fact, the production team liked the demo so much that they did not do a second take, instead adding background vocals and instrumentation to the demo and mixing them together. Hall recalled that is why the drums sounded so "dinky" - the "drums" in fact being the early

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine manufactured by Roland Corporation that was released in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular b ...

drum machine mixed in with a live drumming overdub. Hall calls it an anti-love song, with the song title being tongue-in-cheek sarcasm in that the kiss is not that important, in that it is on a list of other things that are just as important. In an interview with ''Mix'' magazine,

said: "

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

told me that he copied the synth part from 'Kiss on My List' and used it in ' Jump.' I don't have a problem with that at all."Classic Tracks: Hall & Oates "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"
". mixonline.com, 2006.

Reception

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said it has "a bouncy pop sound with heavenly harmonies."

Personnel

– lead vocals, keyboards, synthesizers *

– backing vocals, 6 and 12-string guitars,

drum machine *John Siegler – bass guitar *

Jerry Marotta Jerome David Marotta (born February 6, 1956) is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta; Rick is also a drummer and composer. Career Marotta was a member of the bands Arthur, Hurley & ...

– drums ;Additional musicians *Jeff Southworth – lead guitar *Mike Klvana – equipment technician

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control Songs about kissing 1979 songs 1981 singles American synth-pop songs Hall & Oates songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Daryl Hall Songs written by Janna Allen RCA Records singles