He’s a dedicated follower of fashion

Posted on by brucehhackett

When they talk about Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, they should’ve added Fashion. The clothes you wore, the styles you presented in performances and other appearances, had a lot to do with establishing your image and reputation.

Early rockers like Elvis and Little Richard wore loose suits and shiny shoes. The Beatles wore matching suits and “Beatle boots.” By the mid-Sixties, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were wearing flamboyant sashes and boas. There was David Crosby and his fringe jacket, Creedence and their flannel shirts, Simon and Garfunkel and their turtlenecks.

Rock fashion exploded in the ’70s with ever more outlandish examples: David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust costumes, Elton John’s platform shoes and wild eyeglasses, Donna Summer’s radiant jumpsuits, Stevie Nicks’ Welsh witch capes and top hat. The ’80s brought Michael Jackson’s one sequined glove and fedora, Madonna’s excessive jewelry and pointy bras, Prince’s head-to-toe purple outfits. The MTV culture enabled an “anything goes” approach for many artists hoping to grab attention and get airtime.

Songwriters have sometimes written about the appeal of certain fashion choices and trends, so I have taken the liberty of compiling a list of 15 songs that mention clothing of various types in the title. It’s a fun playlist I encourage you to check out.

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“Blue Suede Shoes,” Carl Perkins, 1956

images-367In December 1955, as Perkins was performing at a dance, he noticed a couple dancing near the stage, and the guy said, “Uh-uh, don’t step on my suedes!”  He thought it was amusing that the guy was more worried about his shoes than his pretty dancing partner.  Two weeks later, he wrote a song about it, recorded it a couple days after that, and Sun Records released it in February 1956.  It ended up at #2, kept out of the top spot by Elvis Presley’s first #1 single, “Heartbreak Hotel.”  Presley also recorded “Blue Suede Shoes” and released it as the first track on his RCA debut album, which helped sales of Perkins’ version considerably.

unknown-665-2“You Can Leave Your Hat On,” Joe Cocker, 1986

Songwriter extraordinaire Randy Newman came up with this sexy song for his 1972 LP “Sail Away,” but he always felt he hadn’t done it justice.  It took nearly 15 years, but Joe Cocker finally recorded the definitive version with an R&B piano, full horn section and backing vocals.  It is considered a classic striptease song, thanks especially to the first verse:  “Baby, take off your coat…real slow, /Baby, take off your shoes…here, I’ll take your shoes, /Baby, take off your dress, yes, yes, yes, /You can leave your hat on…”  It never mentions a specific kind of hat, but I’ve always pictured a fedora.

Unknown-666“Wet T-Shirt,” The Bellamy Brothers, 1979

This brothers duo from Florida was a big deal in country music in the ’70s and ’80s, scoring 20 #1 singles on the country charts.  Rock fans may remember them from their #1 crossover hit, “Let Your Love Flow,” in 1976. On their 1979 LP, “The Two and Only,” David Bellamy came up with a crowd pleaser called “Wet T-Shirt” that whimsically summarized the “good clean fun” that went on (and no doubt still goes on) in many country bars around the country.  The record features a guy named Danny Jones, who plays some mighty sweet pedal steel guitar as the brothers harmonize. 

“Devil With a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly,” Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, 1966

Unknown-667“Shorty” Long and Mickey Stevenson, a couple of singer/songwriters from one of Motown’s subsidiary labels, collaborated to write and record “Devil With the Blue Dress” in 1964, but their version failed to chart.  In 1966, Ryder and his band came up with a rendition that tied “Blue Dress” together with Little Richard’s potent “Good Golly Miss Molly,” and the record made its way to #4 on the pop charts.  Its position as a timeless classic was further cemented when Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band made it a staple of their concert set list, and their live recording appears on the 1979 “No Nukes” extravaganza.

“Sucker in a 3-Piece,” Van Halen, 1988

images-368Rock musicians have always showed disdain for “the suits” — the corporate guys from the record label who try to insert their unhip ideas into rock and roll production.  On “OU812,” Van Halen’s second album with Sammy Hagar on vocals instead of original singer David Lee Roth, critics hailed it as “a veritable feast of great white rock and roll wow.”  One example is “Sucker in a 3-Piece,” a putdown of a “suit” who offers his girl money but little else:  “I got everything you wanted, give you everything you need, /Still, you want that sugar daddy over me, /She want a sucker, a sucker in a 3 piece, /A sucker all dressed up in a 3 piece suit…”

“Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress),” The Hollies, 1972

Unknown-668Enormously successful in the UK but less so in the US, The Hollies relied on Allan Clarke and Graham Nash, who took turns on lead vocals and songwriting.  In 1971, now without Nash, they recorded “Long Cool Woman” in the “swamp rock” style of Creedence, and Clarke sang it like CCR vocalist John Fogerty.  It wasn’t intended as a single, but their US label released it in the summer of ’72 and it reached #2 on the charts with great guitar and lusty lyrics:  “A pair of 45’s made me open my eyes, My temperature started to rise, /She was a long cool woman in a black dress, just 5’9″, beautiful, tall,/With just one look I was a bad mess, ’cause that long cool woman had it all…”

“Coat of Many Colors,” Dolly Parton, 1971

Unknown-670The amazing Parton has written about a thousand songs, but the one she treasures the most is this one, the title track from her third solo album after her amicable split from Porter Wagoner in 1971.  The gentle tune tells of how Parton’s mother couldn’t afford to buy a new coat for her daughter, so she stitched together a coat made from rags.  As she sewed, she told her child the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors.  Dolly, “with patches on my britches and holes in both my shoes,” rushed to school, “just to find the others laughing and making fun of me” for wearing a coat made of rags.  It’s a marvelous, emotional song.

“These Boots Are Made for Walking,” Nancy Sinatra, 1966

71C5jKslRpL._SS500_Regarded then and now as a song of female empowerment, this infectious hit single was written by Lee Hazlewood, who intended to sing it himself until Sinatra talked him out of it.  “Coming from a guy, it was harsh and abusive, but was perfect for a girl to sing,” she noted, and she was right.  Not only did it reach #1 in the US and the UK, it helped spark sales of fashionable boots for women to go with their miniskirts in the mid-Sixties.  Since then, artists ranging from Billy Ray Cyrus to Megadeth have released their own radically different versions, and the song has been used in countless films and even a few ad campaigns.    

“Slit Skirts,” Pete Townshend, 1982

images-369As The Who were winding down their careers as recording artists, Townshend was doing more on his own.  He’d released his “Empty Glass” LP in 1980, then followed it up with “All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes” in 1982, in between making the final two Who studio albums (“Face Dances” and “It’s Hard”).  The lyrics to tracks like “Slit Skirts” read like journal entries, full of wordy verses about his troubled personal life, broken relationships and his dread of aging:  “Slit skirts, Jeanie never wears those slit skirts, /Wouldn’t be seen dead in no slit skirt, /I don’t ever wear no ripped shirts, /Can’t pretend that growing older never hurts…” 

“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” Paul Simon, 1986

Unknown-671For his celebrated “Graceland” LP, Simon featured the compelling rhythms he heard from indigenous musicians in South Africa, using them to craft accessible pop songs with whimsical lyrics.  On “Diamonds,” which he called his favorite on the album, Ladysmith Black Mambazo provided wonderful vocals in support of Simon’s simple tale of “a rich girl, she don’t try to hide it, she got diamonds on the soles of her shoes.”  Said Simon, “That’s all there is to it, really.  I came right out and said so:  ‘And I could say ooh, ooh, ooh, as if everybody would know exactly what I’m talking about…’”  

“Man in the Long Black Coat,” Bob Dylan, 1989

images-370Within Dylan’s voluminous catalog, there are few songs that match the dark mood and imagery he summons in this stunning track from his well-received 26th LP, “Oh Mercy.”  In countless films and television shows, if there’s death and despair on your doorstep, it often appears as a man in a long black coat, waiting in the shadows to do you harm.  Dylan called the recording “menacing,” with lyrics that paint a picture of his lover falling under the spell of this mystery man:  “Crickets are chirpin’, the water is high, /There’s a soft cotton dress on the line hangin’ dry, /Not a word of goodbye, not even a note, /She gone with the man in the long black coat…”

“High Heel Sneakers,” Tommy Tucker, 1964

images-371Here’s another example of an early rock and roll song that mentions items of clothing to set the stage for an evening out on the town.  The narrator asks his girl to wear a red dress, but also bring some boxing gloves “in case some fool might want to fight.”  Most important are her high heel sneakers, evidently a good choice for dancing.  Robert Higginbotham, whose stage name was Tommy Tucker, wrote and recorded the tune in 1963, and it reached #11 in March 1964, just as The Beatles began their dominance of the U.S. charts.  Three decades later, Paul McCartney recorded the song on his 1991 “Unplugged” album.    

“Gold-Tipped Boots, Black Jacket and Tie,” Jethro Tull, 1991

Unknown-672Ian Anderson, the supreme showman who led Jethro Tull to the top of the charts in the ’70s, was still at it years later when the band released this self-deprecating tune from Tull’s “Catfish Rising” LP in 1991.  As the lyrics explain, Tull was very popular, then not so much in the ’80s, but they turned things around somewhat for a four-album stretch, and he’s wearing fashionable duds now:  “Well, I’ve been second to none, this horse was ready to run, /Now I’m has-been and used, disarmed and de-fused, /But I’m turning again, yes, and I’m turning again, /Wearing gold-tipped boots, black jacket and tie…”   

“Bell Bottom Blues,” Derek and The Dominos, 1970

Unknown-673In 1970, Eric Clapton had fallen in love with Pattie Harrison, ex-Beatle George’s wife, which caused Clapton considerable angst and heartache, because his feelings were not reciprocated by her (at least not right away).  He wrote several songs about it, including the iconic “Layla” and this powerful track from the “Layla” album.  Pattie had mentioned to Clapton how she loved bell-bottom jeans, so when he was on a US tour, he bought her several pair.  You can hear the anguish as he sings these lyrics:  “Bell bottom blues, you made me cry, /I don’t want to lose this feeling, /If I could choose a place to die, it would be in your arms…”   

“Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” Brian Hyland, 1960

Unknown-674In 1946, a Paris designer came up with the skimpy two-piece women’s swimsuit that he named after the Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific where nuclear bomb tests were held, hoping his creation would have the same explosive effect on culture.  That didn’t happen for another 15 years, when the wild and freewheeling Sixties arrived.  But in 1960, it was still very risqué on most beaches, which is why Hyland’s bossa nova novelty tune “Itsy Bitsy” made such a big impression, reaching #1 that summer in the US and a half-dozen other countries.  About a hundred artists around the world recorded cover versions in numerous languages.    

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Honorable mention:

“Zoot Suit Riot,” Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, 1990;  “Those Shoes,” The Eagles, 1979;  “Saturday Clothes,” Gordon Lightfoot, 1970;  “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat,” Bob Dylan, 1975;  “Famous Blue Raincoat,” Leonard Cohen, 1971;  “I Love My Shirt,” Donovan, 1969;  “Raspberry Beret,” Prince, 1983;  “Leather Jackets,” Elton John, 1986;  “Forever in Blue Jeans,” Neil Diamond, 1971.

What the people need is a way to make ’em smile

Posted on by brucehhackett

Periodically, I use this space to pay homage to artists I believe are worthy of focused attention — artists with an extraordinary, influential, consistently excellent body of work and/or a compelling story to tell. In this essay, I take an in-depth look at a band that has enjoyed considerable success with different lineups, playing several very different musical styles from roadhouse boogie to country rock to “blue-eyed soul,” selling many millions of albums and singles, and are still active into their sixth decade: The Doobie Brothers.

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I have often chuckled about how many of The Doobie Brothers’ more straight-laced fans have raved about them and their songs over the years without knowing that their name is slang for marijuana.

Co-founder Tom Johnston, the group’s chief singer-songwriter-guitarist, recalls how the name came to be. “Back in 1970, we were brand new and didn’t even have a name, really. We were just playing around the San Jose area where we lived. One night after a gig, we were sitting around in the kitchen of the house where I was living, getting high. Our friend Keith walked in and said, ‘Man, you guys love smoking pot so much, why don’t you just call yourselves the Doobie Brothers?’ We thought it was a stupid name, but we used it for the next several jobs, and it kind of stuck.”

Tom Johnston

Fifty years later, after being eligible since 1996, these multi-talented former stoners were at last inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month. As Patrick Simmons, the band’s other co-founding singer-songwriter-guitarist, put it, “I figured it would happen eventually, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be around to enjoy it!”

For a decade (1972-1982), The Doobies were one of America’s top rock groups, pumping out nearly an album a year and sprinkling the Top 40 with all sorts of hit singles, all while touring almost relentlessly. In the years since their initial dissolution, various members have reconvened for special performances, several tours and a couple of new studio and live albums, and the band was set to embark on a full-fledged 50th reunion tour in 2020 before the coronavirus postponed those plans.

They were so good at everything they tried that it’s hard to define what Doobies music is. There’s pounding rock and roll, highlighted by hard-edged electric guitars. There’s melodic acoustic stuff, featuring country-style picking, pedal steel guitar and fiddle. There’s funky R&B, carried by soulful electric piano, jazz-inflected guitar and syncopated percussion. In the Doobies, these disparate styles had a common denominator — dominant three-part harmonies and strong lead vocals.

I remember the first time I heard The Doobie Brothers when their first hit, “Listen to the Music,” came bursting out of my friend’s high-quality stereo. I was immediately taken by the pristine sound of the guitars, the distinctive lead voice and the fabulous harmonies on the chorus. I picked up my own copy of their “Toulouse Street” album within a day or two and was delighted to find another five or six excellent tracks: the quintessential road song “Rockin’ Down the Highway,” the insistent “Jesus is Just Alright,” the gorgeous acoustic tunes “Toulouse Street” and “White Sun,” the island music of “Mamaloi” and a balls-out cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s blues stomp, “Don’t Start Me Talkin’.” I became a big fan and have remained one ever since.

Johnston and original drummer John Hartman met in San Jose in 1970, eventually teaming up with Simmons and bass player David Shogren to form the group. Ted Templeman — then a young A&R man for Warner Brothers and now a respected veteran producer of multiple artists — heard their demos featuring the dual lead guitars and three-part harmonies and signed them to the WB label.

Their early following consisted of Hells Angels and other rough-and-tumble biker types who frequented the bars and roadhouses they played in Northern California, and although their debut album cover featured the band dressed in leather jackets, the music within was decidedly more acoustic-based. It didn’t sell much.

That all changed with “Toulouse Street,” which reached #21 on the album charts in 1972 and yielded two singles (“Listen to the Music” at #11 and “Jesus is Just Alright” at #35). The Doobie Brothers, now with bassist-vocalist Tiran Porter and second drummer Michael Hossack, were on their way.

The band’s finest hour, in my opinion, came in 1973 with the outstanding “The Captain and Me” LP. Two tracks, “Long Train Runnin'” and “China Grove,” are permanently imbedded in everybody’s classic rock ’70s playlist, but it’s the deeper tracks that have always grabbed me. Simmons contributed “Clear as the Driven Snow” and the stunning “South City Midnight Lady,” two of the finest tunes in their catalog, and Johnston’s “Ukiah” and “The Captain and Me” bring the album to a dynamic finish.

The band adopted a three-guitar attack with the addition of Jeff “Skunk” Baxter in 1974. Baxter had been an original member of Steely Dan, but when co-founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker decided to quit touring and become a creature of the studios, Baxter found a spot with The Doobies, bringing his adventurous, jazz-inflected chops to the mix. Drummer-singer Keith Knudsen took Hossack’s place on second drums, and this lineup cranked out two albums, 1974’s “What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits” and 1975’s “Stampede,” both making the Top Five. A trove of really fine material — “Song to See You Through,” “Spirit,” “Eyes of Silver,” “Daughter of the Sea,” “Sweet Maxine,” “Take Me In Your Arms,” “I Cheat the Hangman” — beefed up their already high-quality repertoire.

Pat Simmons

From “Vices and Habits,” the label released Johnston’s pretty “Another Park, Another Sunday” as the single, but it stalled at #32. In Virginia, a radio station started playing the single’s B-side, “Black Water,” partly because there was a real Blackwater River nearby. The song took off like the proverbial wildfire, first regionally and then nationally, and by early 1975, The Doobie Brothers had their first #1 single. Simmons’ lead vocal, sublime acoustic picking with intermittent fiddle, and the a cappella refrain “I”d like to hear some funky Dixieland, /Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand” made “Black Water” one of the most popular songs of the year.

During the 1975 tour to promote “Stampede,” Johnston began suffering from exhaustion and ulcers, and doctors advised him to stay off the road and rest. “I hadn’t quit the band,” he later stated. “I just wasn’t physically able to do it. I needed to get off the road and get away from that whole scene for a while.” In need of someone who could somehow temporarily replace their leader on stage, the band approved Baxter’s suggestion to invite occasional Steely Dan vocals contributor Michael McDonald to fill in. McDonald was hesitant at first: “They were looking for someone who could play organ and a lot of keyboards, and I was just a songwriter who dabbled at piano. More than anything, I think they were looking for a singer to fill (Johnston’s) shoes.” It proved to be a momentous decision, as we shall see.

Michael McDonald

Their contract required another album in 1976, but Johnston still wasn’t able to participate fully, so the band asked McDonald if he had any original songs to contribute. Once producer Templeman heard the demos for “It Keeps You Runnin’,” “Takin’ It To the Streets,” “Carry Me Away” and “Losin’ End,” he told the band, “You’ve got a real diamond in the rough here that you can make into something if you want to go ahead.” Everyone was reluctant to mess too much with the Doobies formula, including McDonald. “I knew the record company was panicked about any change in the band,” he said. “They were leery about getting a new guy. I was thrilled just to have the gig, but I wasn’t expecting much.”

They decided to proceed, knowing this would significantly change the band’s overall sound and image. The sessions also included three Simmons songs (co-written with Baxter) and one lone track written and sung by Johnston (“Turn It Loose”) that maintained ties to the original Doobies groove, but the label chose to release “Taking It to the Streets” as the single (and album title), so the evolution toward McDonald began.

“Takin’ It to the Streets,” 1976

Many older fans balked, but I liked the new blood he injected, and most critics did, too. The arrangements of the new material reflected a Steely Dan influence, which suited me fine, and McDonald’s good looks made him something of a heartthrob as well, which helped attract a new audience. He, Simmons, Porter and Knudsen were ably to credibly perform the vocals on live versions of Johnston’s older songs and, with help from the four-man horn section, The Memphis Horns (who had already chipped in on the last few albums), the band never missed a step.

I saw the “new” Doobie Brothers five times over the next five summers every time they came to town, as they were one of the tightest, most entertaining bands going. McDonald cemented his place as band leader, first by singing lead on the Motown cover “Little Darling (I Need You),” the single from the 1977 LP “Livin’ on the Fault Line,” but even more dramatically on their 1978 #1 album, “Minute By Minute,” which dominated the airwaves for the better part of 1979 and made them superstars. “What a Fool Believes,” the #1 single McDonald wrote with Kenny Loggins (who also recorded his own version), won Grammys for Song of the Year (for the composers) and Record of the Year (for the band and producer).

The rigors of touring and recording albums nearly non-stop took its toll, though, causing Hartman and Baxter to depart. They were replaced by drummer Chet McCracken and multi-instrumentalist John McFee, and the lineup was further expanded with the addition of Cornelius Bumpus on saxophone, flute, keyboards and vocals. This lineup recorded what turned out to be the last Doobies album for a decade, 1980’s “One Step Closer,” with McDonald’s “Real Love” (a #5 single) and the title song (sung by Bumpus) getting most of the airplay. They were now about as far away from a boogie biker band as they could be, with several tracks that sounded more like cool jazz (later derisively known as “yacht rock”).

When Simmons, the only constant throughout The Doobies’ career arc, started itching to leave for a solo project, and McDonald voiced similar desires, the remaining members chose to dissolve, but not until they wrapped things up with a lengthy farewell tour in 1982 that even brought Johnston back for a few special performances.

Simmons’ album “Arcade” came and went without much attention, but McDonald fared far better. He had done guest vocals on several hit records for Loggins, Christopher Cross, Nicolette Larson and others, and he continued this trend through the ’80s with the likes of James Ingram (“Yah Mo B There”), Patti Labelle (“On My Own”) and Joni Mitchell (“Good Friends”). Two of his own solo singles (“I Keep Forgettin’,” “Sweet Freedom”) went Top 10 as well. In 2003 and 2004, he put together two sterling collections of Motown covers that both went Top 20.

Nothing was heard from The Doobies until the end of the ’80s when the original lineup of Johnston, Simmons, Porter, Hartman and Hossack reunited to record “Cycles,” a surprisingly strong effort that reached the Top 20 and was reminiscent of the band’s early work. “The Doctor” was a #9 hit in 1989, and the group made a triumphant return to the road to promote the LP, which included Simmons’ “South of the Border” and a kickass cover of The Isley Brothers’ “Need a Little Taste of Love.” They tried a follow-up album, “Brotherhood,” which stiffed by comparison, although “Excited” and the single “Dangerous” had merit.

In the 30 years since, various Doobies lineups have reconvened, always with Johnston, Simmons and McFee as the core group. A 2010 LP, “World Gone Crazy,” was generally ignored, but I suggest you check out “A Brighter Day” and a remake of their very first single, “Nobody.” Five live albums have also been released capturing various lineups and eras of the band. “Live at Wolf Trap” (2014), “Live at the Greek Theater 1982” (2011) and “Live from the Beacon Theatre” (2019) all have tracks to recommend them, and some have been included on my Spotify playlist below.

Most intriguing, and beautifully executed, is “Southbound,” a 2014 release on which The Doobies, including McDonald, re-recorded some of their biggest hits with the contributions of various new-generation artists on instruments and/or vocals, including Zac Brown Band, Sara Evans, Hunter Hayes, Toby Keith, Huey Lewis, Love and Theft, Blake Shelton and Brad Paisley.

I have to rank The Doobie Brothers in my top 20 rock groups. I’ve seen them perform 10 times and I own pretty much everything they recorded, and still play their stuff often. God bless ’em, they’re still doing Zoom performances during the pandemic and are hoping to tour with McDonald in 2021. I’d buy tickets to that one, for sure.