Tom Johnston Says He Nearly Died When He Left Doobie Brothers in 1977

Noise 11 ^ | 7/4/25 | Paul Cashmere

[DallasBiff]

The early Doobie Brothers were great, "China Grove" and such, the media never mentions "Jesus is just alright".

Happy 77th birthday Tom Johnson.

The Michael McDonald era was awful, they made a lot of money, but the music was awful.

Have fun and flame away, its friday

[dfwgator]

Best thing about the Doobies was Tiran Porter, one of my favorite bass players.

[HIDEK6]

never had another hick-up

This sort of thing is why I hate reading today's news prose.

[Red Badger]

“The Michael McDonald era was awful, they made a lot of money, but the music was awful.”

Yes...................

[CaptainK]

I loved both eras. So half a flame from me.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“The early Doobie Brothers were great, “China Grove” and such, the media never mentions “Jesus is just alright”.”

You got that right. Fantastic first album. Doobies and CCR.

[dfwgator]

Takin’ It To The Streets was ok, had a few good songs on it, especially “For Someone Special”, that Tiran wrote about Tom and his struggles at the time.

[dfwgator]

Stampede is a great album, my favorite Doobies song is “Neal’s Fandango”.

[Lizavetta]

Agreed. McDonald’s voice is too high, too weak, too something. Doobie Bros. were better before him.

[Texas Eagle]

They should’ve changed their name after Johnston left. McDonald’s Doobies or something. Songs were decent but not as rockin’.

[dfwgator]

It’s like Peter Cetera-era Chicago. Sure they had a bunch of hits, but that era didn’t age very well compared to the early stuff.

[Olog-hai]

Cetera was there from the start. The post-Kath era, then?

[MayflowerMadam]

Really. Hick-up. oy!

[dfwgator]

Right, basically from “If You Leave Me Now” onwards.

[dfwgator]

And I certainly give Cetera his props as a bass player, he was fantastic. But I don’t know if he even played bass on those 80s Chicago albums.

[Teflonic]

Keith Knudsen used to play basketball in the church parking lot with me and the other kids in the neighborhood back in 79 - cool guy! Groveville, NJ

[Olog-hai]

The “rock and rock lifestyle”? Is that worse than the roll and roll lifestyle?

And “hick-up” . . . a form of hiccups only hicks get?

[KingLudd]

Jesus Is Just Alright was written by Art Reynolds in 1965. The version sung by The Art Reynolds Singers is raw. The 1969 cover by the Byrds in 1969 is excellent, but my favorite is the Doobies’ cover from 1972.

[Right Brother]

Michael McDonald’s voice is horrid. Throat singing that would have been better suited for The Muppet Show.

[dfwgator]

Michael McDonald - SCTV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKw6jZV0vag