Three Dog Night touted itself on being "pure entertainment" in an era of musical messages. They were there to look good and make hit records, and that’s exactly what they did, amassing fourteen gold or platinum awards between 1969 and 1976. They outlasted nearly all of their contemporaries, and most of their critics.
"We were blasted back then," said co-founder Danny Hutton, "by people who thought ‘commercial’ was a dirty word. Yeah, we weren’t ‘purists.’ Purists believe there’s some virtue in being unknown and living in poverty. We wanted to play music that would have a broad appeal — please the greatest number of people. If being commercial meant satisfying your audience, then yes, we were commercial. And proud of it."
Three Dog Night began their streak in 1969 with "Try a Little Tenderness," "One," "Easy to Be Hard," and "Eli’s Coming." In 1970, the hits continued with "Celebrate," "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," "Out in the Country" and "One Man Band." Cory Wells, another founder (along with Chuck Negron), talked about the biggest of those songs.
