Posted on 08/15/2025 1:02:55 PM PDT by DallasBiff
I wouldn’t call it awful, but Tom was a straight up rocker.
Michael was more of a slow song crooner.
A lot of bands did the switch. Foreigner went from rock to ballads. Journey went to slower songs for a while. There were others.
...or when KISS fired Peter Criss, their drummer.........................
Oh wait, never mind, nothing changed.............
Pat Simmons used to live a few miles west of me.
Genesis with Peter Gabriel to Phil Collins.
(And yes, both were great!)
We used to say Michael McDonald sang like he had a dirty sweat sock in his mouth...
He was better as a backup singer, with Steely Dan.
Journey started as a sort of progressive, experimental and sometimes jazz-fusion band. They were quite different in the Rolie-Schon era (both ex-Santana), especially with Aynsley Dunbar on drums for the first album.
Ice in DC ought to be playing “takin it to the Streets” from thier load speaker.
Neal’s Fandango, Texas Lullaby and Rainy Day Crossroad Blues from Stampede always made my playlist
“But I don’t know if he even played bass on those 80s Chicago albums.”
Per Wikipedia (take that FWIW), most of the singles in their Chicago 17 album were sung by Cetera and make no mention of him playing an instrument during the recording of the album.
Bkmk
Our band in FL used to play that. We opened for Molly Hatchet one-year and they thanked us for playing it and reminding them of touring with the Dobbies. Awesome compliment!
That was pretty funny
“A lot of bands did the switch.”
Chicago came under the influence of David Foster in the early 1980’s. Like him or not, Foster knew how to crank out the hits. He did it for many bands - even including The Tubes.
“The Michael McDonald era was awful, they made a lot of money, but the music was awful.”
He didn’t do anything for me either, though I know excellent musicians who worship him.
We opened for Molly Hatchet
With Danny Joe Brown? Hatchet was always my favorite Southern Rock band.
I Cheat The Hangman is a great song, as well.
I saw the Doobie brothers a number of times in the 70s the last time was in San Bernardino where they suddenly announced Tom Johnston was being replaced by Sammy Hagar - horrible concert. Glad Tom fixed his ulcer.
Re: McDonald
Hated that era but like his solo work.
Ulcers are nasty, Gene Vincent died from that, ruptured ulcer
After. They still rocked it.
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