The Doobie Brothers were consistent hitmakers through most of the 1970s. In 1975, Tom Johnston’s stomach ulcers forced the group to hire Michael McDonald as their new lead singer, but even changing the face of the band didn’t slow the Doobies’ momentum. By the latter part of the decade, though, their commercial appeal began to wane.
It didn’t take long for the Doobies to reverse their fortunes. Could that be chalked up to the melodic strains of their 1979 hit “What a Fool Believes,” which became the band’s second No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100? Perhaps, but it didn’t hurt that they were featured in a two-part episode on a popular situation comedy that is still remembered today.
In a 2018 interview for Yahoo Entertainment, Doobie Brothers guitarist Patrick Simmons said, “That’s one of those things that when people forget what the hell The Doobie Brothers ever did musically, they’ll remember that we were on ‘What’s Happening!!’”
How did a venerable classic rock band wind up being key characters in a prime time TV program? And what was the burning issue of the day that What’s Happening!! addressed on the Doobies’ episodes? Keep the dial on this channel, and you’ll find out.
Takin’ It to the Schools
In the summer of 1977, The Doobie Brothers released Livin’ on the Fault Line, the follow-up to their Top-10 album Takin’ It to the Streets. Livin’ on the Fault Line also cracked the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, but it failed to produce a Top-40 single, whereas its predecessor had two (the title track and “It Keeps You Runnin’”). By the first week of 1978, Livin’ on the Fault Line was already on its way out of the chart, having fallen below the Top 150.
Despite the album’s relatively lackluster performance, the Doobies were on the verge of making one of the most memorable TV appearances by a major recording act. On January 7, 1978, they began filming the two-part episode for What’s Happening!! entitled “Doobie or Not Doobie.” The premise of the story was the band were returning to their alma mater, Jefferson High School, which happened to be the same high school where the show’s main characters—Raj, Dwayne, and Rerun—currently went. They schedule a concert in the school’s auditorium, for which the proceeds would be used to purchase new band instruments for the students. Raj, Dwayne, and Rerun fail to get tickets for the show, but a shady character bails them out by giving them tickets in exchange for them taping the show for a bootleg recording.
The episodes devoted plenty of airtime to live Doobie Brothers performances. In Part 1, the Doobies showcased the singles from Livin’ on the Fault Line—“Echoes of Love” and “Little Darling (I Need You)”—during a scene where they were rehearsing for the show. For the actual concert in Part 2, the Doobies opened their set with “Black Water,” followed by “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me),” the outro for “I Cheat the Hangman,” and “Takin’ It to the Streets.” At the conclusion of the set, Rerun jumps up and down, jarring loose the massive tape recorder he had hidden under his coat. The Doobies instantly spot it, leading to them expressing their disappointment to the three high schoolers, and then foiling the villains who set them up to illegally tape the show.
Doobies on a Crusade?
So how did the Doobies wind up at Jefferson High? According to Simmons, the idea came from their publicist David Gest, who went on to become a television producer. Initially, Simmons was the only Doobie Brother who was on board with Gest’s idea. He told Yahoo Entertainment, “I know a lot of the guys didn’t want to do it. … But I recognized it as something fun. I loved the show, and I thought it was a unique thing to do. Between David and I, we had to talk the rest of the guys into it.”
As for the lesson the show delivered about the evils of bootlegging, Simmons didn’t exactly see it as a crusade for himself and his bandmates. In his Yahoo Entertainment interview, he said, “Some bands didn’t care—with bands like the Grateful Dead, that was part of their shtick. … I don’t think you really cared too much about that, unless it sounds s–tty.” He did acknowledge in a 2018 interview for AXS TV the band was not totally unconcerned about the issue, as they “had been ripped off more than once.” Putting bootlegging in a more contemporary perspective, Simmons added, “It’s silly looking back on it now because everyone is recording shows on their phones and giving it away on YouTube, but it was a different world in those days.”
More surprising was Simmons’ revelation that the method of recording employed by Rerun wasn’t as unrealistic as it seemed to many viewers. While Simmons acknowledged the show had to use an oversized recorder to make it visible to viewers, he recalled he had seen people using even larger units to illegally record shows in real life.
Taking Away the Mystique
It would be an overstatement to say the substantial exposure The Doobie Brothers received on What’s Happening!! turned their career around. It’s not going too far to note the appearance was highly unusual, and that’s part of what made it so memorable. In the pre-MTV era, there was a certain mystique around many popular artists, as they had far fewer opportunities to be seen by a large audience than they have today. Even fans of The Doobie Brothers may have never actually seen the band’s members, other than in album art, or heard their speaking voices before. What’s Happening!! allowed fans, old and new, to get a sense of the band’s personality.
Maybe it was a coincidence The Doobie Brothers’ next two albums—Minute by Minute (No. 1) and One Step Closer (No. 3)—were their highest-charting entries on the Billboard 200. Or maybe busting some crooked bootleggers was not the only good thing that came out of their visit to a fictional high school.
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