I remembered something Keith Richards said about the late George Harrison when Saleski and I discussed underrated and overlooked guitarists on the BCRadio Podcast.. Richards said, “The thing is, you've got your Jimi Hendrix, you've got your Eric Clapton, and then you've got guys who can play with bands.”
Richards was not being uncomplimentary of Clapton or Hendrix. He was pointing out a lot of the guitarists who are heralded as masters of the instrument tend to dominate any band they might be in, or they are solo artists. Guitarists who serve the song and serve the band tend to get overlooked. You won't hear Tom Johnston or Patrick Simmons mentioned among the so-called “Guitar Gods,” nor are the Doobie Brothers likely to be mentioned as part of the Rock and Roll Varsity Team. The Doobie Brothers aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame despite having recorded one of the coolest and single-most copied riffs of all time, “China Grove.” “Long Train Running” might not be in that same category, but it as least JV.
What stands in between The Doobie Brothers and a seat at the Big Boy Table? It has to be Michael McDonald, enemy of non-Viagra using men everywhere.
That is not entirely fair. it is a lot like the Classic Coke/New Coke debate. New Coke wasn't terrible, but it paled in comparison to the classic formula. If McDonald's pleasant hits were a discography on their own, they would hold up much better than they do when asked to stand next to “China Grove.” The early work of the band has balls. The McDonald-era has class. There is merit to both. In this debate, I'll take the balls over the sophistication.
The truth is, I don't know why acclaim has eluded The Doobie Brothers. The Lovin' Spoonful is in the Hall of Fame. They have two songs, and one of them sucks. “Summer in the City” is an all-time classic. “Do You Believe in Magic?” is horseshit. How many classic rock stations go 24 hours without playing one DB song? The format might not exist if not for songs like "Black Water" and "Listen to the Music." Add in the band's second act, the McDonald era, and that is one hell of a run.
Article comments
1 - Pico
Haha, funny stuff even as I couldn't help but to agree with your take. "Vagina Grove"? Try singing ELO's "Strange Magic" to the missus and see if she thinks you're saying "Gotta...scratch my dick". Somebody could make a mint selling a board game devoted to mangling the words of classic rock songs.
I've been to China Grove several times, my brother once worked at the bakery there. It may "out around San Antone" but the place is a one red light town seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Definitely not the kind of place that you would think could inspire such a monster riff. I think the only way the Doobies could have found it was by taking the wrong exit off of east Loop 410.
Hey, glad I was able to help in a small way to get the gears in your head going (psst - linky not worky). I loved the Brothers from that period, including that third band guitarist/pedal steel player extraordinaire, Skunk Baxter.
When Michael McDonald comes out with his own "Best Of" CD, you should take a crack at that one, too. The Viagra crowd would be delighted ;&)
2 - Mark Saleski
i still can't believe they left "Without You" off of this collection.
i know, i'm being bitter.
3 - DJRadiohead
Mark, you're not being bitter. This set isn't defined for people who own Captain and Vices, etc.
Linky fixy... I think. If only Skunk hadn't suggested McDonald...
4 - Jim Jankiewicz
Good article, I just DO NOT agree with you on Do You Believe In Magic being in any way a bad song or sucking. It is a classic and IMHO much better than the tired Summer in the City. JANK
5 - Stephen Connolly
I always thought that Daydream was the Lovin' Spoonful's biggest hit.
6 - Holly Hughes
I've got to defend the Spoonful. Considering that they were only together, what, a year and a half? Maybe less? Okay, 2 years before Zal left and 3 before John B Sebastian left, and I don't count anything after that. There are so many wonderful tracks from that brief period. "Daydream"," "Nashville Cats," "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?" "Darling Be Home Soon". . . It's not fair to judge them by rock band standards; they were a jug-band phenomenon, on the fringe of folk-rock, who happened to have a string of wonderful hits -- and even better songs buried on the albums (like the DBs). As such, they had a unique sound, VERY evocative of the late 60s, which may be why they got the Hall of Fame nod.
I'm with you on how solid, and underrated, the Doobie Brothers were. But we don't need to trash the Lovin' Spoonful to get there.
7 - DJRadiohead
All right, Spooners, settle down. They were one of a range of convenient targets. I still cannot believe they are in the HoF, but I could have picked many others. Mostly I chose them because I remember watching them be inducted on VH-1. They certainly didn't get better with age. It was embarrassing. They aren't the worst band- far from it. I was also going for a laugh.
I do still hate "Do You Believe in Magic," though. It's just dreck.
8 - El Bicho
Look for my next article coming soon:
The Doobie Brothers are over-rated.
However, I do love seeing them in Yacht Rock.
9 - DJRadiohead
ElB, just remember "Vagina Grove" sounds like masturbating with fingerknives.
10 - Glen Boyd
DJR,
I realize the subject was already addressed by Holly but I gotta get my $.02 in on the Spoonful (which I realize was one of a "variety of choices" you had available when making your case for the Doobies).
First of all, "Do You Believe In Magic" is not horseshit.
The line "it's like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll" for me says it all. They are saying the very same thing with that single line our guy Saleski is saying in his very poignant Friday Morning Listen on Springsteen today. It's about the emotion you feel when you hear (or play, or write about) this music and how it makes you want to share it with the world.
Second, another Spoonful classic is the song "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice (I Would have Liked You Anyway)'. This, for my money, is just one of the most sweetly innocent little pop tunes of the sixties.
The Spoonful, along with the Byrds, Mamas and Papas, and Buffalo Springfield represented the vanguard of folk rock. You made a (very rare for you) bad call here DJR.
As for your assessment of the Doobies, pretty much spot on.
-Glen
11 - DJRadiohead
Glen, I appreciate yours and everyone else's thoughts on this. Maybe it wasn't as good a joke as I thought. It wouldn't be the first time.
I think the Spoonful belong in the Hall of Good, not the Hall of Fame. I don't like "Do You Believe in Magic" and no amount of anything is going to change that. That said, the band obviously has a group of people who respond to what they did.
The HoF, while a silly thing, should ideally stand for something and when everybody is special, nobody is special. There are a lot of nice bands that people like and then there are those who rise to the top and tower above all others. While I might have gone too far with the joke, I'd stand by the premise that TLS aren't a tower of song (thanks, Leonard).
12 - Glen Boyd
I just thought that Spoonful was an odd insertion into an otherwise great piece on the Doobies DJR (I've got my own coming, which will come more from the perspective of listening to these songs on the radio as a teenager in the seventies).
Agree on the HoF too by the way. But these things that honor people are never, ever perfect.
But the Spoonful did have an impact. I think if you remove them your remark and replace them with somebody like the Beau Brummels (who really DID have only two songs -- "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just A Little"), your point is much better made. Thats all.
And like I said, your piece is otherwise spot on.
-Glen
13 - bitterspice
I know you apologized for the Spoonful thing, but bad jokes/cheap shots deserved to be slapped down, boy! The above commenters had all good points, PLUS the Lovin' Spoonful scored two soundtracks for a couple of young directors who turned out to be Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen. (Even though the latter was the producer's idea, and not Allen's.) These projects were done before "The Graduate" brought into the mainstream soundtracks by rock bands who are not The Beatles.
"Do You Believe in Magic" is not one of my favorites, but the album "Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful" is a forgotten classic that showcases their unique sound that's part pop, part folk and part country. A number of different Lovin' Spoonful songs have been covered by artists as diverse as David Lee Roth (Coconut Grove), Quincy Jones (Summer in the City), Johnny Cash (Darlin' Companion), Peggy Lee (Didn't Want to Have To Do It), and um... Aly and AJ (Do You Believe in Magic -- which I don't understand that "band," but the little girls seem to like them). As someone else once put it, they were a band that focused on the "roll" part of "rock and roll."
As for the Doobies, I like Long Train Running and their Michael McDonald singles-- which have a sound that truly stands out among other songs on the radio -- but as for the rest of their songs, I can't differentiate them from other guitar bands at the time -- Bob Seger, Steve Miller, the Eagles.... All have good songs, but I think of them as one radio station, rather than individual bands/artists.