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0:00 coming up next we break down the evolution of a band that was named after a drug and we have four members here to tell the tell it's the story of a band that was a straightup rock and roll band with a score of classic rock standards and a huge number one hit together and then they became something entirely different that's when their lead singer was sideline and they had to bring in a replacement to keep the music playing and they moved their sound to a more smooth and Soulful place they returned to number one up next we have Sheriff's with Samurai swords a record that a DJ accidentally turned around and played the bside and that went straight to number one when the phone lines went crazy and another song that defeated disco in 1979 after 34 straight weeks of
0:45 a disco song it's coming up next on professor of rock hey music junkies professor of rock always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time you know if you ever Chow Down on a big bowl of SpaghettiOs back in the day you're going to dig this channel of deep musical Nostalgia make sure to subscribe below right now click the white button and click the Bell so he's know when our stuff comes out also go to Professor of rock.com we've got so many things going on there I'm going to start doing live streams there we've got exclusive content uh it's a great Community we're trying to build there we'll see you there so it's time for another episode of our series Evolution this is the show where we tell the story of a band's career through five defining tracks they
1:30 may not be the band's most popular songs they may not even be my personal favorites but each song will take you from the beginning to the end of a band's journey and showcase the evolution of their sound and their artistic Direction Story of the band today we have a band that has two famous iterations in fact to some degree they're almost two different bands the first iteration was straight up classic rock and then their singer got sick and they had to bring in a temporary replacement or so they thought he ended up infusing some really smooth Soulful sounds into the band got him back to number one and made him just as popular talking about the Dobie brothers so let me give you a brief history of the players throughout the dubes run and then we'll get right into the evolution of their songs story of the dubes evolution started in San Jose California
2:17 dubie Brothers started with Tom Johnson Patrick Simmons Dave shogran and John Hartman and after the band released his self-title debut album that didn't do much on the charts and then they recorded two tracks for 1972's followup Tulu Street Shak was replaced by Tyron Porter and then Michael Hosk was added as a second drummer in December 71 the captain and me followed after which Hosk was replaced by Keith kudon uh that happened in September of 74 then the dubie brothers expanded to a six- piece when they added pedal still guitarist Jeff skunk Baxter he left Steely Dan and joined the group and then during the tour in promotion of 1975 Stampede another album Tom Johnson was forced to take time off due to a stomach illness and this is when Steely Dam backup
3:03 singer Michael McDonald joined the band in 1975 that of course on the recommendation of skunk Baxter initially filling in for Tom on tour and then he became a full-time member and Infused a lot of his influence in the band okay so when the band first formed they couldn't think of a good band name they went through quite a few but the Dobie Brothers came from their friend Keith Rosen who lived next door he said to him you know what why don't you just call yourself the Doobie Brothers because you're always spok compt and actually some of the band didn't even know what a doobie was till very much later okay so my first evolution pick pretty easy the Dobie Brothers breakthrough came with their second LP Tulu Street and that happened in 1972 an album that Blended Rock folk and soul into a distinctive
3:48 California sound and of course the standout track on that one is listening to the [Music] music probably my easiest first pick that I've ever had since I started the show written by Tom Johnson the song was inspired by the idea that music has the power to bring people together and bring peace to a troubled world it's upbeat acoustic riff and Feelgood Groove instantly captured the band's laidback Vibe and you know that singal chorus that was an Anthem of optimism in the early 70s [Music] listen to the music's Universal message resonated with listeners and helped push
4:34 the dubies into the mainstream it actually peaked at number 11 on the bill wo Hot 100 but Johnson's vision of music as a healing force made the song More Than Just a hit it became a mission statement for this band and one of the great classic rock songs of all time here's what Tom Johnson and Pat Simmons told me about the song I was just fooling around with a chord structure I didn't really have anything in mind but and it's part of that same Rhythm structure we've been talking about doing [Music] that like that the chord changes kind of wrote themselves the best songs write
5:19 [Music] themselves do you guys remember the first time you heard your song on the radio uh we were we had a regular gig at uh this place in North Beach ony that we played key Keystone Keystone Keystone Corners it was in in San Francisco so uh we had played and and I spent the night there in San Francisco at our manager's house he was living in a house in the Mission District with uh with the the Ries for Santana Herby Herby Herbert uh Johnny and Jackie Ville and AA and they were all living in this house out there and I I spent the night there and I was upstairs you know just getting out of bed up room upstairs and uh I hear Bruce
6:07 pat pat you got to come down here you got to come down here right now and I came down and listened to music was on the radio Jesus that's us we're on the radio I don't believe that we did it all right going from an easy first pick to a really tough second pick I had to to pick uh one song from the captain and me as the dubes evolved they had two incredible guitar songs classic rock standards I mean you hear both of these songs on Classic Rock Radio every day great guitar songs I'm talking about Long Train Running and China Grove and I decided to go with the ladder my second evolution pick I got to go with China
6:53 [Music] [Applause] Gro again from the 19 73 album the captain and me the record Fus rock blues and country into a Polish radio friendly sound and of course like I said it featured the top 10 hit Long Train Running as well but Tom Johnson's iconic Unstoppable guitar was enough for me to choose China Grove over Long Train Running this song's Relentless high energy Groove grabs you from the very first note [Music] born out of a happy accident in the studio Johnson wrote the lyrics without realizing that China Grove was a real town in Texas he thought he'd made it up
7:38 until Simmons mentioned that he'd recently driven through this town but you know what Johnson's version of this town I'm sure is much more colorful than the real China grovee was populated by quirky characters like a sheriff wielding a samurai sword I love Tom Johnson's depiction here I'll let him tell you more about that we had the whole track cut no lyrics and I said Je Jesus that's crazy I like that and then I started going off on this thing about the sheriff in uh China grow was actually a town and we in 72 we were touring in in Winne bagos and we were driving the damn things and we did drive right down the highway into San Antonio right past China Grove and I had remembered it specifically that there's a road sign that says China Grove and I'm assuming that back here somewhere it
8:25 registered and so the sheriff of the samurai swords and all that kind stuff just came out well China Grove top out at number 15 on the Hot 100 this song is a clear fan favorite and decades later it's still a staple of Classic Rock Radio you hear it every [Music] day now by the time the doie brothers release their fourth album were once vices are now habits in 1974 I mean the band had really begun exploring a broad range of sounds you know from folk and Funk to gospel and Country these guys were all over the map now this experimental Spirit gave birth to my third evolution song Black Water a
9:11 sing along if there ever was [Music] one a swampy acoustic track inspired by the Mississippi River I mean it's the rock and roll equivalent of Gone With the Wind meet Huck Finn Patrick Simmons actually came up with a song as rooty Rift during a jam session and he later crafted Vivid Southern lyrics he'll tell you about it in a second here The Haunting chorus old black water keep on rolling that captures the river's hypnotic flow you know a symbol of life's journey and a tribute to Southern [Music] Culture although blackwat was initially released as a bide not thinking much of it thanks to a Virginia DJ who flipped the record over accidentally the song went straight to number one I mean the
9:57 phone lines went nuts and everybody picked up on here's what Pat told me about it I had the Riff you know the and I'd been trying to write a song and I nothing was really coming and I was on the street car and it started to rain I started scribbling stuff down on some piece of paper I had and uh for rains I don't care don't make no difference to me I'll take that street card that's going up town and that was like one of the first things that I remember writing down about the song that's what you were literally doing and [Music] exactly my favorite town you know in in the country just about and I decided I'm going to write
10:44 this song about New Orleans Blackwater be in the Mississippi and then I took lyrics directly out of you know from Mark Twain you know mississipp call now I could have taken the easy way out I've done that a few times cheating a little bit by doing uh two different evolutions for the Dobie Brothers there two different bands of two different singers but I figured I'd make it a little bit tougher and just do five songs from the band overall and this is at the point where we get to the Michael McDonald era uh you know and and the band really changed I mean so really for my fourth Evolution pick is very difficult but I'm choosing the title track from the dubes 197 76 album taking
11:30 it to the streets the street the street this record it was a bold turning point for the band of course because it introduced a new era with the arrival of Michael McDonald you know he came aboard like I said to replace Tom Johnson Johnson was diagnosed with stomach ulcers and you know McDonald's smooth voice and keyboard driven sound that brought the new vibe to the band taking it to the streets became the anthem of this transformation I feel a socially conscious song that Michael McDonald wrote about the struggles of marginalized [Music] communities and with its gospel tinge Groove the song urged people to take their concerns out of the shadows and
12:15 into the streets it was really a far cry from the band's early Boogie rock hits but this shift paid off and it made the dues popular in a different way it proved that they could evolve and stay true to the original Spirit of the [Music] band taking it to the streets reached number 13 in the Hot 100 and proved a successful debut for McDonald as the new dubie frontman here's guitarist skunk Baxter talking about Michael McDonald's coming into the band and the song well bands evolve or they should I mean if you look at when I brought Mike McDonald and the duie brothers that was a huge seismic shift take this mage [Music]
13:02 taking it to the streets is so infectious because gospel music is meant to be infectious it is meant to embrace and Inspire and taking it to the streets is a gospel song I mean it's not a gospel song It's not a religious song but it's in a sense it is a reflection of a philosophy not a specific theology but definitely a a philosop phos ophy about what was happening at the time and why there were so many seismic changes in [Music] society now the Doobie Brothers really hit their commercial Peak with their eth Studio ALB minute by minute released in
13:48 December of 1978 driven Again by Michael McDonald Soulful sound and really a new emphasis on Jazz inflicted soft rock the album standout track and my final evolution pick very easy one What a Fool Believes what a [Music] fool that returned the band the number one in 1979 and it actually stopped 34 straight weeks of a disco song being at number one so if you want to talk about who really stopped disco I mean the Doobie Brothers did after 34 straight weeks really it was a breath of fresh air
14:33 a classic standard if there ever was one it was co-written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins the song tells a story of a man who clings to a memory of past love but the connection was never actually real it's bitter sweet theme of self-deception resonated with listeners and you know Michael McDonald's silky vocals smoothest voice in music and the Jazzy core progressions it helped Define the late 70s and really started a term that is controversial for reasons I don't understand yach Rock I mean to me yach rock it's just kind of fun it's you know it's a fun thing those guys did a parody it took off it actually has helped a lot of people's careers so my opinion of yach rock is you know it's fine I sometimes you got to not take
15:20 things so seriously I don't think it's meant to actually the original Yacht Rock series was totally a tribute to these guys and it's hilarious if you want to watch something that will make you laugh your head off you got to watch yach Rock every episode's hilarious decades later What a Fool Believes remains a Timeless reminder of the stories that we tell ourselves and really the truths that we refuse to see here are both Kenny loggin and Michael McDonald telling the story behind this track I was unloading my guitar out of my trunk the door to his house was open and and I heard him playing the piano and as I'm walking up to the door I
16:05 hear and my imagination kept [Applause] going I grabbed a couple things for him and helped him in through the door and I said man so great to meet you he goes I think I know the next section to that thing you were playing so we walked in and started riding the bridge like immediately I want to work on that first that's let's work on that before anything else and that happened to be What a Fool Believes So within a day or two I probably took us about two days to write the song uh we we Kenny had already ritten the bridge outside the door so by the time we sat down he already had a bridge in [Music] mind this song won the Grammy for song of the year and record of the year like
16:52 I said it became the only non-iso one of the only non-iso number one hits of that year and uh just like the first pick was really easy this was the easiest last pick [Music] ever now the Doobie Brothers Journey took an unexpected turn in 82 when the band decided to call it quits and they broke everybody's heart and the Doobie Brothers broke up when did that happen after more than a decade of riding hits Relentless touring and constant lineup changes the strain began to take its toll Michael McDonald who had become the group's Prime Mary creative force was eager to explore solo status welld deserved other members like Patrick Simmons were feeling creatively spent by that moment the band played
17:38 their farewell concert in 1982 at the Greek Theater in Berkeley California however it wasn't long before fans began calling for a reunion just 5 years later an extensive lineup of dues reunited for a veterans benefit concert that reignited the band's passion for playing together [Music] together by 1989 the Dobie brothers were back in full swing and with a lineup of Johnston Simmons Porter Hartman Hosk and line they released their 10th studio album cycles that came out in May of [Music] 1989 they released what would be their final hit and guess what it went to
18:24 number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 they didn't miss a Beat that's because they're incredible since then the lineup has continued to shuffle but really Tom Johnson Patrick Simmons and John MC have remained at the band's core selling out Arenas all over the duie brothers were to release five more Studio albums four in the New Millennium their most recent offering is called liberte came out back in 2021 made it and just a year prior in 2020 the dubie brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about freaking time a lot of our musical influences are enshrined in the hall so we couldn't ask
19:10 for better company I wish to thank first of all the guys who I accept this award with tonight I want to thank all the dubie brothers past and present they were originally eligible in 1997 so do the map that's 23 years that they should have been in the Hall of Fame it's insane how long they had to wait but I guess better late than never they're currently touring and the new album is on the horizon very cool to see both iterations coming together uh love seeing Michael McDonald and Tom Johnson and Pat Simmons but what about you what are your Evolution picks for the Dobie Brothers what's your favorite iteration of the Dobie Brothers I like them both for different reasons little bit more partial to Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons I mean Pat Simmons was always in the band but I just love those early classic
19:58 rock songs uh myself but again I mean I love Michael McDonald's one of my favorite singers ever and what a Fool Believes is one of the greatest songs ever so yeah take your pick I love them both and I love that they're both together now but leave us a comment tell us your memories of this incredible band of these songs and your top five or your Evolution picks if you like our content we invite you to subscribe we'd love to have you as part of our community until next time three chords and the truth my friends [Music]
