Eagles, Doobies, Three Dog Night or America? Quiz

Answer: Eagles

I love the story behind "Life in the Fast Lane". Don Henley based the lyrics on a terrifying, late-night high-speed freeway ride he took with a prominent Los Angeles drug dealer. Some time later, guitarist Glenn Frey overheard Joe Walsh getting ready with a riff during a soundcheck. Recognizing its potential, Frey immediately told Walsh that the riff belonged in an Eagles song. Frey brought Walsh to play the riff for Henley, who went to work using his previous highway experience to draft the classic track "Life in the Fast Lane".

Answer: Eagles

This is a classic 1970s rock band story. Guitarist Bernie Leadon brought an eerie guitar part over to Don Henley's house. They would record a demo but then Henley quickly came down with a severe case of the flu. While resting in a quasi-delirious fever dream, he passed the time reading a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, the troubled wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Henley combined the imagery of Zelda's wild life with memories of various girls he met at Los Angeles hotspots like the Whisky a Go Go and the Troubadour to draft the haunted lyrics.

Answer: Eagles

This classic track, "Take It Easy", was started by singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, a one-time apartment neighbor of Eagles front man Glenn Frey. Browne had previously broken down in Winslow, Arizona, and used the experience to get a start on the song. Browne later got stuck finishing the second verse and Frey stepped in with the now-iconic flatbed Ford line to complete the lyric. Today, Winslow honors the hit song with a public mural, a vintage Ford truck, and bronze statues of both artists.

Answer: The Doobie Brothers

"Black Water" started life in February of 1974 as the B-side to "Another Park, Another Sunday". DJs in the Roanoke, Virginia area liked the reference to their local river named Blackwater and kept the song in heavy rotation. It got picked up nationally and became an A-side single by November of the same year.

Answer: The Doobie Brothers

Written by lead singer Tom Johnston, "Listen To The Music" was the band's first hit. It climbed to number 11 on the (US) Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: The Doobie Brothers

The song is titled "Takin' it to the Streets" and was the first song in which the Doobies featured Michael McDonald as the lead singer. McDonald wrote the song after reading a college essay, penned by his sister, about the treatment of lower socio-economic classes.

Answer: America

Many listeners completely mistook this breakout track as a Neil Young release due to the striking vocal similarities - including his own father! Actually sung by its writer, Dewey Bunnell, it would replace Young's "Heart of Gold" at number one on the (US) Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.

Answer: America

The song would rise to number eight on the (US) Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. The song would go on to see twenty-first century life: it was heavily sampled in the 2001 Janet Jackson hit song, "Someone to Call My Lover".

Answer: America

"Sister Golden Hair" was written by America founding member Gerry Beckley. He also penned the classics "I Need You", "Daisy Jane" and "You Can Do Magic". Another cool snippet is that the song was produced by legendary Beatles producer George Martin.
Martin's work with America would span seven albums from 1974 to 1979. America was Martin's first major post-Beatles-breakup project.

Answer: Three Dog Night

"Shambala" came to Three Dog Night through an outside songwriter, Daniel Moore, which was common practice for the band. Moore had simultaneously given the song to country-rock artist B.W. Stevenson, who rushed his version out to radio stations first. However, the version by Three Dog Night received a massive promotional push, peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, while Stevenson's version stalled at number 66. To make amends, Moore teamed up with Stevenson to co-write "My Maria".

This second collaboration became a massive redemption success, soaring into the Top Ten later that same year.

Answer: Three Dog Night

Typical for Three Dog Night, the band took a song written by someone else and made it their own. This time it was from the celebrated song writer Paul Williams. Three Dog Night would take the song to number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number two in Canada.

Answer: Three Dog Night

The opening lyric would create the second most famous frog of the century, right behind Kermit. Like so many other hits for Three Dog Night, this track was written by an outside artist. Country singer-songwriter Hoyt Axton originally started writing the song for a proposed animated cartoon television special called "The Happy Song" while he was serving as the band's opening act.

When the television show got canceled, he pitched it to the group. Fortunately, Axton had only written the famous bullfrog line as a placeholder until he could think of something better.

The band declined Axton's advice and kept it.