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The Doobie Brothers changed their sound significantly throughout their career, moving from mellow hippies to soulful popsters in the ?70s, and continued to bank on their sound, creating an exciting and very popular nuance within the pop rock scene.
The band actually began as Pud, a country-rock band from California that featured Tom Johnston on guitar and vocals and Josh Hartman on drums. In the early ?70s they became a quartet and named themselves the Doobie Brothers, after the nickname for marijuana, and developed a following from the Hell?s Angels and others in Southern California. After adding another drummer and releasing "Toulouse Street" in 1972, the band broke through onto the mainstream with the hit singles "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just Alright." In 1973, "The Captain and Me" was even more successful, producing the hits "Long Train Runnin?" and "China Grove."
The next single, "Black Water" from "What Were Once Vices are Now Habits," created a bond with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter from Steely Dan, which eventually led to Baxter joining the group on a fulltime basis. Michael McDonald, also of Steely Dan, eventually joined the fun as well. After a disappointing commercial album, the band let McDonald ad Baxter transform the sound of the band yet again with 1976?s "Takin? It To the Streets," which was certified platinum. The sound turned from an electric guitar-fueled rock to a more blue-eyed soul sound, including more jazz tunes, similar to that of Steely Dan.
The band?s most successful album was "Minute by Minute" in 1978. The collection sat on the top of the Billboard Charts for five weeks, fueled by the hit single "What a Fool Believes." After the album, Baxter left the group and it became more of a vehicle for McDonald than it had been before. After the platinum-certified "One Step Closer," the group disbanded with a farewell tour and a live album to match in 1982. The group reunited in 1987 for a tour, and the original lineup went back to the studios to release "Cycles" in 1989, which included the hit "The Doctor."
As the group did to gain popularity in Southern California at the beginning of their career, they travel regularly today. In the 1990?s, the touring was almost constant, including a reunion tour with McDonald co-headlining with Steve Miller Band in 1995, which lent itself to the live double album "Rockin? Down the Highway: The Wildlife Concert."
In 1999, the first box set was released from the collective, "Long Train Runnin?: 1970 ? 2000." This decade, the band has continued to tour regularly and is quite popular. In 2005, McDonald joined the band on tour as a "special guest."
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