Memories of the Doobie Brothers

The cover for the Doobie Brothers' 1980 album "One Step Closer".

Source: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/doobie-brothers-one-step-closer/

(May be subject to copyright)

When I was growing up, I idolized my cousin Carl. He always seemed to be doing cool things, and he had cool things. It started with toys like a Geronimo doll and Sea Diver, and moved to collecting stamps. He eventually got into music, something he still does to this day, and that would take him away from Southern Alberta to pursue his dreams.

Before that, we would spend a lot of time together when our families would visit each other. We were both blonde and kind of looked alike, and our birthdays were a day apart, although he was four years older.

That kinship made me feel close to him.

Then one day, I was watching an episode of a show called “What’s Happening”, and the characters were going to see a concert by a group called “The Doobie Brothers”.

Carl had seen that too. I had an active imagination and was always conjuring up adventures with Carl. I thought we needed a name. I think we were riding bikes in a grainery when I said, “Hey, we’re the ‘Doobie Cousins’.”

That was my introduction to a band that recently announced it had added a Canadian leg to its upcoming tour.

“What’s Happening?”
The first time I ever heard of the Doobie Brothers was on “What’s Happening”. Rerun takes a tape recorder into a Doobie Brother’s concert to secretly – and illegally – record the album. At the end of the episode he is discovered and the show is to be continued. I didn’t see part two.

So, I went online and not only is that episode available but there were comments about how that episode did a lot to raise awareness of the damage bootleg concert taping could be. It is kind of funny to look at now, given the number of people pulling out cell phones at every concert and recording the music.

The other comment about the Doobie Brothers appearance on that episode of “What’s Happening?” is how good the Doobie Brothers sounded.

As it turns out, I really did not absorb much Doobie Brothers music until much later, with a few exceptions.

Profile
LA-107 FM in Lethbridge used to broadcast these profile features where they would spotlight a particular band. I recall one day they profiled the Doobie Brothers. I don’t recall much of the music from then as much as I remember discovering Michael McDonald was part of the band. I had come to know him from his solo career.

Mixed tape
My brother started doing something that, looking back, was pretty cool. For Christmas, he made me a tape of music of songs he thought I might like. It was an amazingly diverse cross section of music from Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Boston, to the Charlie Daniels Band and…the Doobie Brothers. If memory serves, one of the songs was “Black Water”.

The end is the beginning
During the summer of 1989 I was living in res at the University of Alberta, working part time for the university and taking summer classes.

My good friend Avtar, who I said goodbye to at the end of the school year because I thought he was graduating, came back to Edmonton. It turned out he needed one more class to graduate. Not only did we hang out that summer, but he enrolled in the class I was taking.

He had his car with him, and we went cruising at night, usually to get something to eat.

One night, we were driving and this song came on. I kind of liked it, but had never heard it before.

Av told me it was the Doobie Brothers. I told him I actually thought they were dead – as a band.

Just as I said that, Av sang “Music is the doctor,” and laughed. He actually told me the song sounded kind of goofy. It really wasn’t his thing.

That song was “The Doctor” which went all the way to number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it their last top 10 song to date.

I had begun to listen to new Doobie Brothers at what seemed to be the end of that phase of their career.

Over time, I learned just how much of their music I actually had heard all through the ‘80s.

The songs
Their first top 20 single was “Listen to the Music”, which went all the way to number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.

“Long Train Runnin’” peaked at number eight in 1973, and “China Grove”, one of my favourite Doobie Brothers’ songs, went all the way to number 15 that year.

Then, the Doobie Brothers had their first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 as “Black Water” topped the charts in 1974.

The band was back in the top 20 in 1976 with “Takin’ it to the Streets”.

Three years later, the Doobie Brothers topped the charts again in 1979 with another favourite of mine called “What a Fool Believes”. They also won the Grammy for Record of the Year for “What a Fool Believes”.

In 1980, “Real Love” went all the way to number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

That would be the last chart success until the very end of the decade.

Incidentally, in the summer of 1986, I was taking driver’s education in Lethbridge for two weeks and staying at my sister’s place. During the day, she went to work at the hospital and I would go to the Lethbridge Public Library. I found this book of Billboard’s number one singles and I just pored over it. I actually recall reading about “Black Water” and “What a Fool Believes”.

The years after
The Doobie Brothers are currently on their 50th anniversary tour, which was re-scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also continue to write and record new music.

In 2020 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Parting thoughts
Back in the 1980s, I was just getting to know about the Doobie Brothers and their music, hearing a song here on the radio and there. After all, in the ‘80s their music was already more than 10 years old. They had little to no material hit the air waves.

With the dawn of oldies radio stations, that changed. I have heard a lot of the Doobie Brothers and all their music for a long time now. Yet it really was long after the ‘80s that I really got to know “Listen to the Music”, “China Grove”, “Black Water” and their other stuff.

Back in the 80s, I was just getting started. The Doobie Brothers were more of an idea than anything, and as much about hanging out with my cousin as anything else.