Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night weren't exactly hip even in their late '60s heyday. Nearly dated before they formed, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells were a trio of good harmony singers who actually knew a good song when they found one. Hell, they made a hit out of "Mama Told Me Not to Come," Randy Newman's first-person narrative of a dwarf at a sex party. Three Dog Night helped out a lot of struggling songwriters of the '60s and '70s, sending royalty checks to Hoyt Axton ("Joy to the World"), Harry Nilsson ("One") and Laura Nyro ("Eli's Coming"). Not bad for three guys with about as much legitimate soul as Pee Wee Herman.