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

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

[DallasBiff]

Tom tells Noise11.com, “I had an ulcer. I had had it since high school and let’s just say the rock and rock lifestyle, especially the formative years in the early 70s when we started taking off, let’s just say we didn’t take care of ourselves very well. The ulcer didn’t like that. I ended up paying the price for that. I ended up having to go to a hospital. I came close to dying. It was quite an experience. I never had the problem again. I got it fixed. It healed and I have never had another hick-up with that at all.”

Tom Johnston and Michael McDonald have never made a Doobie Brothers album together until the new album ‘Walk This Road’. “I had a song on the ‘Taking It To The Streets’ album,” Tom says. “I was there long enough to get it done in Warner Brothers Studio in North Hollywood where we did a lot of our recording. That’s the other thing I gave to that album. I had been getting better. That was my thing for ‘Taking It To The Streets’. It wasn’t a band accomplishment for me. This is. Mike’s on the album, I’m on the album, Pat’s on the album. This is the first album we’ve done together”.

[dennisw]

“especially with Aynsley Dunbar on drums for the first album.”

One of the most English names ever!

[hellinahandcart]

I like it, too. Takes me straight back to high school (in a good way).

[hellinahandcart]

I didn’t know that about Gene Vincent.

My husband had a perforated ulcer and HE almost died.

[sauropod]

That’s true. 1/2 hour away from it.

[Fish Speaker]

Yes. 1974.

[SamAdams76]

Does anybody remember when The Doobie Brothers did the "What's Happening" sitcom in “Doobie or Not To Doobie” back in 1978?.

It was a double-episode and was very cringe-worthy.

The plot centered around the What's Happening gang going to a Doobie Brothers concert and the rotund character Rerun was convinced by bootleggers to conceal a cassette recorder in his clothing.

During the concert, the overly enthusiastic Rerun was dancing in the aisles like a maniac and suddenly the cassette recorder clattered to the floor, completely stopping the concert as the "shocked" Doobies looked on in acute disappointment from the stage.

The rest of the episode devolved into this overly long and cringe-worthy lecture by the Doobies to Rerun and his sad cast of friends (Dwayne, Roger, Dee, etc) about the evils of bootlegging.

No doubt the RIAA arranged for this lame appearance. In those days, there was much controversy over blank cassette tapes and the easy ability for people to record music on them that was not paid for. The average album in those days retailed for about $8.98.

This double-episode was intended to shame the nation by exposing the loss of revenue to music bands through bootlegging.

But wouldn't circulated bootlegged concert tapes produce more fans of a given band, and thus propel album sales?

We may never know for sure. But Rerun was certainly humiliated by the experience and was never the same again.

[Olog-hai]

And I was mistaken about how many Journey albums Dunbar was on; his last album with them was “Infinity”, the first with Steve Perry.

[RightWingNut]

I remember that episode.

I’M OLD !!!!!!

Didn’t The Grateful Dead invite people to record their concerts ?

[nickcarraway]

Terry Kath was alive and played on that song.

A lot of people have the "anti-Lindsey Buckingham" ethic, that every album should sound the same.

[nickcarraway]

I agree.

[nickcarraway]

I don’t understand. The Doobie Brothers first few albums don’t sound like hard rock to me, it sounds like soft rock.

[nickcarraway]

Also, Chicago’s first five years didn’t sound like hard rock to me, it sounds like soft rock.

[dennisw]

Most notably was the UK group he led called “The Ainsley Dunbar Retaliation”. He played with John Mayall!!
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Aynsley Dunbar was a drummer who played with John Mayall early in his career. He joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers by replacing Hughie Flint and stayed with the band until the spring of 1967. During his time with the Bluesbreakers, Dunbar played on the influential album “A Hard Road.”

He was then replaced by Mick Fleetwood after leaving the band. Dunbar’s departure was reportedly because Mayall wanted him to play more traditional blues drumming, which Dunbar was reluctant to do. After leaving Mayall’s band, Dunbar joined the Jeff Beck Group briefly and then formed his own band, The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation.

[Hot Tabasco]

The Michael McDonald era was awful,

A bunch of years ago, he came out with a solo album that was advertised ad nauseam on local TV channels. I can't stand to even hear his voice anymore....

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Wow, glad to hear he didn’t pass. From what I read Gene was with his dad and he tripped and fell and his ulcer ruptured and he bled to death internally, only 36 years old, very sad. He had an amazing voice. Most people know him as a Rock and roll singer but he was an amazing ballad singer as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYIx1pJnrVM

[SamAdams76]

Yes, the Grateful Dead encouraged recording of their concerts and therefore you can find a quality recording of nearly every Grateful Dead concert ever performed on the Internet, including soundboard recordings that the band themselves put out there, free for the taking.

Now that may be a good or a bad thing depending on how you feel about the band!

I don't consider myself a super fan but I do randomly listen to their concerts from time to time. Each concert is unique and there are usually pleasant surprises, be it an extended jam of a familiar song or a cover version of another song you never imagined they'd cover, such as "Iko Iko" by The Dixie Cups.

I believe circulating "free" recordings of live concerts help promote the band and thus actually increase their record sales as well as concert attendance.

[dfwgator]

Terry Kath was alive and played on that song.

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Actually Terry didn’t, Peter played acoustic guitar on it.

[Olog-hai]

There was a lot of instrument switchup on the Chicago X album. They also had five lead singers; Lee Loughnane and James Pankow sang lead on one song each. They brought in a lot of session musicians of course, for the strings and French horns.

[Olog-hai]

There was a lot of instrument switchup on the Chicago X album. They also had five lead singers; Lee Loughnane and James Pankow sang lead on one song each. They brought in a lot of session musicians of course, for the strings and French horns.

[dfwgator]

Up to that point, Robert Lamm was their main songwriter, but by then, he was so deep into drugs, his output greatly diminished.

And without Nixon in the White House, he couldn’t write songs like “A Song For Richard And His Friends” anymore.