THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide throughout their career. The band has been active in five decades, with their biggest success occurring in the 1970’s. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004. (More from Wikipedia)
Name shortening has been common among rock bands: The Young Rascals became the Rascals, the Troglodytes lost a little something in the translation when they changed their name to the Troggs, Small Faces morphed into Faces, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark was abbreviated to OMD, and (believe it or not) the 1990’s Irish band the Cranberries started out with the name The Cranberry Saw Us. Sometimes the official name never changes, but fans and DJ’s naturally begin to shorten the name, so the Rolling Stones are just as often the Stones, the Doobie Brothers are sometimes rendered the Doobies (as on two of their Greatest Hits albums, Best of the Doobies and Best of the Doobies Volume II), and bands like, say, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show are called just Dr. Hook. Occasionally it can even go the other way: A DJ on one of our local radio stations where I was growing up in Winston-Salem, Dick Bennick at WTOB-AM Radio was forever calling the Fab Four “the beetley, bootley Beatles”.
(June 2012)
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The Doobie Brothers formed in 1970 and began performing live throughout northern California, attracting a particularly strong following among the Hells Angels. The Doobies would have fit right into the discussion last month about bands who changed their styles considerably over the course of their career; they had two very different lead singers in quick succession during the 1970’s, Tom Johnston and Michael McDonald, yet scarcely missed a beat in scoring hit songs.
I always thought that “Jesus is Just Alright” was their first hit song, but it was actually the third single released by the Doobie Brothers (in late 1972), after “Listen to the Music”. While originally peaking at #35, the song quickly became a staple of classic rock stations.
(July 2014)
