Tell Me About Michael McDonald

And who else can hit those protate-shriveling high notes and make it sound effortless? Who among the living or dead can add depth and emotional resonance to songs from Toto and Christopher Cross? How many have co-written a Van Halen song, for heaven's sake? If you can't show love, at least show some respect.

http://sethputnam.com/seth&michael.jpg

Must be those phone commericals.

I'm trying to get my friend Joe to this thread. MM is an obsession of ours. According to Joe, MM is epitome of Beard Rock. (Well, "rock" being a relative term here).

He would so kick Daryl Hall's ass in "UFC MCXVIII: Blue-Eyed Soul".

the stop-start modulation coming out of the bridge ("i've got an eye on my hand and still i can't find you") is glorious.

"Now you're even talkin' divorce... and you weren't even married!"

"Minute by Minute", the song from the Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines movie...

Classic Michael McDonald (Steely, Doobie, some solo) is generally fantastic — my friends and I got really fucked up in college and actually arranged a "Michael McDonald Barbershop Quartet."

As a kid, I used to think he was saying this! I figured it was some kind of Randy Newman-esque social commentary - you know, only a fool would think that.

Michael McDonald used to make more guest appearances than Snoop Dogg. Listen to more than a few '70s-'80s lite-rock songs at once and you're bound to hear his trademark falsetto.

That Michael McDonald. Almost as impenetrable as early REM.

I need help identifying a Michael McDonald song...the chorus goes 'sha sha free / da da da me (horn fill) / you got that da da of love / holding on'

that's 'Siegfried Om', his classic dedication to Buddhist tricksters who work with Siberian tigers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht_rock

An old friend of mine got to sing backup with him once, circa '94 - I don't know any singers who aren't at least somewhat in awe of Michael McDonald's voice, it's one of the most distinctive natural gifts I've ever heard (though Boz Scaggs is not-dissimilarly gifted & has better phrasing but gets less love, which is a bummer). Anyhow my friend (who is no slouch, she's got 2 strong octaves at her disposal) said the second THAT SOUND started to come out of his body she got chills, it was like singing with somebody whose craft is from another planet or the distant future or something

yamo be there

What's the tune that Regulate samples again?

"I Keep Forgettin'"

This sounds like the beginning of a very bad joke.

I keep forgettin'.
xpost. lol

Michael McDonald's backup vocals are pretty amazing too. On "Peg" by Steely Dan. Ride like the wind by Christopher Cross etc.

that was the 'jammin remix' off the uk 12"... its on the death row greatest hits 2cd thing that always shows up used for like 5 bucks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQDGlV34BeQ

ah, that's it! haven't heard this since i left the UK.

http://90smusix.blogspot.com/2007/09/warren-g-regulate-ep-above-rim.html

found it!

FUCK! that's not the right version. the guy who posted that posted the wrong tracklist!

I know for a fact that Papawheelie does a mean Michael McDonald impersonation.

Just watched the episode of 30 Rock last night where Kenneth sings "Oh Tracy you can’t use any of my songs" to the tune of "What A Fool Believes", after Michael McDonald forbids Tracy from covering any of his songs. Ha!

IT KEEPS YOU RUNNING, YEAH IT KEEPS YOU RUNNING!

tempted.

http://www.davekozcruise.com/2013/

doobies-era spottily playlist

Joe Cocker's "Feelin' Alright" just came on and damn if MM's voice doesn't sound similar.

for the last few decades this guy is one bad choice after another

but

but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjqOsYRQI0o

that album has been in the #1 slot in my car's cd changer for 3 years.

love that album so much. perfect sunny morning music.

oof

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohNfQpf8SUY

That record sounds better and better to me every year I get older

https://open.spotify.com/track/1NI2i1BjKiVrEYCC0WTug4?si=saSXEa3_Rf62KYkgsoWVmg

His voice (cringe), his music (ugh) and his hair helmet.

― don old, Sunday, June 27, 2004 8:42 PM (fourteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Possibly the worst OP in ILX history. And that's saying something.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_of_an_Eye_(Michael_McDonald_album)

there's a paul buchanan writing credit on here.

which i can't currently listen to because I'm at work

TELL HIM YOU WERE FOOLIN’
...
TELL HIM HES A STRANGER

McDonald reuniting with the Doobie Brothers for a 2020 summer tour:

The Doobie Brothers 50th Anniversary Tour
Jun 9 – West Palm Beach, FL – Coral Sky Amphitheatre
Jun 10 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Jun 14 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Jun 17 – Nashville – Bridgestone Arena
Jun 19 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
Jun 20 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
Jun 23 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
Jun 24 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live
Jun 26 – Allentown, PA – PPL Center
Jun 27 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion
Jun 29 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
Jun 30 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
Jul 2 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
Jul 3 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
Jul 19 – Toronto – Budweiser Stage
Jul 22 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
Jul 26 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Jul 30 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
Aug 2 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
Aug 4 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
Aug 8 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago
Aug 14 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis
Aug 30 – Denver – Pepsi Center
Sep 2 – Salt Lake City – USANA Amphitheatre
Sep 5 – Seattle – White River Amphitheatre
Sep 12 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
Sep 18 – Los Angeles – The Forum
Oct 3 – Phoenix – Ak-Chin Pavilion
Oct 9 – Irving, TX – Toyota Music Factory
Oct 10 – Houston – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

I mean, this is as good as a holiday concert can be. Does some standards, but also does his hits ("Sweet Freedom" even!) and closes with a somehow original take on "Hallelujah."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW2gg-GL_Cs

This tween who is pants shittingly excited to meet… Michael McDonald. pic.twitter.com/u0dOBR8vkp

— Kendra James (@KendraJames_) June 25, 2023

the Watch on Twitter button looks like a mustache in this context

aw that video is adorable.

i am so in love with this guy rn. the way he just floats over the rhythm goddamn. deep in the doobie bros era so please recommend me other stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3rVtcm6pBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OnhjZcWpaI

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

yes. chinatown is an amazing song. i wonder if bejar was trying to replicate that vibe

What's the tune that Regulate samples again?

“I keep forgetting”

yah mo be there
― blueski, Monday, 23 April 2007 00:21 (sixteen years ago) link

Great deep cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSUZP0_7o4

would be so mad to be alive in 1982 and witness the debut of this song and then "welp guess I'll never hear that again but I will inquire at the music store next time I go into town"

“Do you know a song that goes do doo do do do doo do?”

what's the name of the song they sampled for Regulate

Realized a year or two ago that Minute By Minute sounds a bit like if the Grateful Dead decided to make an album of top-10 pop smashes.

Been reading his autobiography, written with Paul Reiser. This guy apparently spent the ‘70s and early ‘80s completely high. He seems to be incredibly modest considering his success and maybe has a bit of imposter syndrome, and never blames anyone else for his mistakes in life. He sounds like a very solid dude. The best story in the book involves him and Walter Becker, buying some cocaine and hoping to cut it and resell it, but spending one night snorting up most of it, and therefore ruining their plan, and their plan to sell what was left was also ruined when Becker returned later to McDonald’s house at 4 AM banging on the doors wanting more cocaine, attracting the attention of the police, and Michael was forced to let Becker in, at which point the latter snorted what was left of their investment.

haha, that's a good story

sounds like a good book

he really does seem like a great guy in that new yacht rock doc, hanging out with christopher cross (one of few interviewed as a couple)

Omar thank you that will color my future listens of gaucho

Was about to say, it's a wonder these guys survived their lifestyles, but then, many didn't! RIP Becker, Porcaro ... It's a miracle Gadd is alive.

The famous Gadd/"Aja" story, via Gary Katz, for those that have never heard it:

“Someone said, ‘Maybe this would be a good time to try Gadd’. (At this time) Steve had a distinct problem with drugs. When he came into the room he said, ‘Let me put the score up…’ It was a very long score, because of the eight minutes, so they set up a semi-circle of music stands. He said, ‘Can we just run it down so I can mark it?’ So Chuck Rainey, Victor Feldman, great musicians, ran it down, Gadd marks it. Said ‘Okay, I’m ready’. Walter and I were in the control room, Donald was outside with his back to us, doing the scratch vocal. He only played it once. The only time he played it, is what you hear (sounds of incredulity from audience). Walter says, ‘You know, we may have made a mistake about Gadd’. (laughter)

I guess the Dan guys where not big Gadd fans?"

“So six months go by, as they usually do on our records, we went back to New York to mix, and we were just about finished mixing the song, and someone said, ‘You know Gadd’s down the hall working on a Michael Franks record’, and Don says, ‘Go get him, and let him hear this.’ So we go down, say we want to play him something – he was a mess… he sat in front of the console and we played it really loud, really good sound. The track is over, he goes ‘Wow… who’s playing drums?’ We just look at each other, ’cause he wasn’t kidding. I said, ‘You did, Steve’. He said, ‘I’m a motherfucker’ (audience collapses)”.

lol

yeah McDonald comes across like a really humble, unassuming dude in Ted Templeman's book. like Templeman more or less handpicked this guy to help the Doobie Brothers fulfill their touring commitments when their frontman had health problems, none of them had any idea he was going to lead the band to Grammys and a #1 single.

There's a Jaco Pastorius story where he borrowed someone's red sports car and somehow got the hood splattered in white paint. Jaco returns the car, the owner is speechless until Jaco says "Oh no! Steve Gadd must have sneezed!"

Cleg KuntforceJuly 8, 2024 at 7:50 PM

No Michael Mcdonald slander will be tolerated. He dated my mom for a while in the '70s and she said he was an extremely generous lover. Said he had no rival when it came to eating box.

Takin' It On The Sheets

If that’s what it takes…