"Out of Touch" is a song by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates from their twelfth studio albumBig Bam Boom (1984). The song was released as the lead single from Big Bam Boom on Thursday, October 4, 1984, by RCA Records. This song was their last Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, topping the chart for two weeks in December 1984. It also became the duo's fourteenth consecutive top 40 hit since 1980.[1]
The song often segued from "Dance on Your Knees", which is the opening song of the Big Bam Boom album. The accompanying music video for "Out of Touch", featuring a gigantic drum kit, also contains the "Dance on Your Knees" intro, which segues into an edit of the 12-inch remix version.
According to John Oates, he came up with the chorus while randomly playing around with a synthesizer that he did not know how to use. He thought it could be a song for the Stylistics, having a Philly sound. But in the studio the next day a co-producer told him it should be a hit for Hall & Oates themselves. Oates and Hall then co-wrote the verse.[2]
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Music video
A video was made for the song, including scenes in which Hall and Oates were inside a gigantic drum set, which Oates bangs an equally gigantic bass drum pedal into, and from which at the end of the video, both Hall and Oates escape. The video also features the word boom in gigantic letters, with Hall and Oates dancing inside the two big O letters.[26]
English dance music act Uniting Nations covered "Out of Touch" and released it as their debut single on November 15, 2004. This version peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart in January 2005 and remained in the top 75 for 21 weeks. Elsewhere, the cover reached number one in Romania—where it was the most successful single of 2005—and became a top-10 hit in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway. The vocals on the recording were done by vocalist and session artist Jinian Wilde.
Music video
The music video for the song features actors Paul Spicer,[27] Charleene Rena, Hayley-Marie Coppin, Sophie Lovell Anderson, Daniela Martins, a participant of French Big Brother Secret Story, and one unidentified woman playing strip poker. The women realise Spicer is cheating by wearing an in-ear monitor which leads to a CCTV room with cameras watching the girls and their cards. The video continues with the women getting their own back, and Spicer losing his trousers during the poker game. The video ends with Spicer running out the room with his hair ruffled in his briefs, looking embarrassed, while the girls pop champagne corks and continue partying.
^Out of Touch (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Uniting Nations. Gusto Records. 2004. 12GUS13.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)