Battle of the bands The Doors vs. Jefferson Airplane

[Amaya]

Poll question: Battle of the bands The Doors vs. Jefferson Airplane

Or



You decide.

Poll result (52 votes)
The Doors	(33 votes, 63%)	Vote
Jefferson Airplane	(18 votes, 35%)	Vote
This poll sucks	(1 votes, 2%)	Vote

[Osamasux]

1. Need both.

[saltpoint]

2. "You cannot petition the Lord with prayer..."

Voted for the Doors because I was afraid not to.

----
Morrison even screams on pitch. These guys were arresting as personalities and musicians.

Nothing against Grace and the boys -- love 'em to death -- but Morrison was from another realm altogether.

[Amaya]

3. Totally agree

"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end"

[saltpoint]

4. Hi, Amaya. Alright then!

A cold beer for both of us!

[On the Road]

5. Jefferson Airplane Had Much Greater Talent

Unfortunately, their best songs were not the ones that got airplay. And a lot of the best material was done by spinoffs, esp. Hot Tuna and early Jefferson Starship. I also don't know of any other band who had both the political and psychedelic thing down to the same extent. I think they're underrated partly because their public face did not include an alpha male.

Jim Morrison was a great rock and roll persona, and The Doors were a great band. But they were not as good as JA.

[zeemike]

9. I agree

They did have the greater talent and longevity.

[Dying Eagle]

6. DOORS

Are you kidding? Jim Morrison is a GOD!

[jonnyblitz]

7. Doors mainly because i ((((loathe)) what the other band became

jefferson starship. blech.

[no name no slogan]

8. I hate Morrison, but I love the Doors

So many people overlook the other three guys that it's a crime.

Robby is a phenominal guitarist, who can play everything from blues to flamenco-- and often does so in the same damn song! He really knows his stuff.

Ray may be a pompous windbag, but he knows his way around the organ. Add to the fact that he plays bass notes with his left hand and often subbed for a drunken Morrison when Jimmy couldn't play the gig, and you've got one hell of a musician.

John is possibly the most underrated drummer in all of rock. His subtle jazzlike playing totally differentiated the Doors from the other psychedelic bands of the day. He can hold his own with any skin-pounder in rock, and put most of them to shame.

Morrison was a drunken egotistical dickhead who wrote bad poetry and would not have amounted to shit if not for bumping into Ray Manzarek on the beach in Venice.

[FM Arouet666]

10. Doors by far

Both bands fronted by drugged out poets with enormous talent, Morrison died and became a legend, Slick survived got sober, fat and forgotten.

[The Magistrate]

11. Hands Down 'The Doors', Ma'am

'Jefferson Airplane' did some good things; 'The Doors' did a great many great things....

"I think I like it fine...so far...."

[Hardrada]

12. Especially that version of "Light My Fire"

Which seemed to last 45 minutes. Or was it because I was "experimenting with drugs?" There was some Dylan song about Sad Eyed Ladies and Arabian Drums which apparently lasted all afternoon. They just can't (or,for some reason, will not) do that sort of thing anymore.

[Downtown Hound]

13. The Doors all the way

JA had its moments, but The Doors was one of the most unique bands in the history of rock. Whether you love Morrison or hate him, the man was a true enigma. He was the last of the true rock martyrs, someone actually crazy, selfish, and dedicated enough to essentially commit suicide in order to become a legend. He may have been drunk as hell most of the time, but he always knew exactly what he was doing and how his place in the halls of rock would eventually be formed. As Jim himself said, "There will never be another like you."

No Jim, there certainly won't.

[Squeech]

14. I prefer the Airplane

Admittedly we have two of the all-time greats of what remains my favorite epoch of rock music.

But the Airplane wins, mainly because they kept growing at a time that Jimbo was already obviously losing it. I strenuously disagree with the post above claiming that Morrison was always in control. The whole point of that Rimbaudesque "systematic derangement of the senses" he was trying for was to shut down the superego and let the inner poetry out of the subconscious, but by definition that means to be out of control. And he was known to be a dangerous drunk; he'd get rowdy, start fights, etc. The time (maybe more than once?) Ray had to sing was because Jim overindulged and passed out. Curiously, the instance I know about was on tour in Europe with the Airplane opening up for them.

If Jim hadn't died in Paris, but continued to write crap like "Let us lament for the death of my cock," nowadays he'd be a far greater embarrassment than even the depths to which the Starship sank when Balin and Kantner were no longer around. As it was, despite its high points, half of the L.A. Woman album is rubbish.

The Airplane were hardly immune to drug-addled self-indulgence, but with more viewpoints around (plus further critiques from friends and allies like Jerry Garcia and David Crosby) they left more of their silliest ideas on the cutting room floor.

Sorry, this should be a better critique, but I guess it's too early in the morning for heavy thinking. I'm gonna fall back on an album-by-album comparison:

The Doors vs. Jefferson Airplane Takes Off-- point Doors.

Strange Days vs. Surrealistic Pillow-- tie. But note that the Doors have already peaked, and the Airplane are still evolving.

Waiting for the Sun vs. After Bathing at Baxter's-- point Airplane. There's maybe two songs on the Doors record that approach the level of *every song* on the Airplane's, no matter how dated and naive all that airy-fairy hippie twaddle seems nowadays.

Soft Parade vs. Crown of Creation-- I'll be *really* generous to the Doors and score this a tie. The zeitgeist was at this point bigger than both of them, what with the war resistance and the chaos in Chicago; 1968 was when everything got seriously out of kilter.

Morrison Hotel vs. Bless Its Pointed Little Head-- point Airplane.

L.A. Woman vs. Volunteers-- I prefer the Airplane's hopeful attitude that we can be together to the Doors' solipsistic pessimism, although subsequent events showed that the Doors were correct. At this remove the two records seem like complementary sides of one huge anachronism. Tie.

I think Jefferson Airplane wins. Your mileage may vary.

[Amaya]

17. Good analysis

In my opinion, I think you had a hard time deciding

I say it's a tie.

[RadicalMom]

15. Doors, no question. Airplane was good, but not the same impact ,

nor did they create the kind of haunting to-the-depths-of-your-soul fascination that still exists about Morrison and the Doors even now. There may be kids now who appreciate Airplane, but I see even kids my daughter's age (13) getting hooked on the Doors.

[dbt]

16. Bad as I LOVE The Doors, I vote Airplane.

Summer 1967. Doors with "Light My Fire," Jefferson Airplane with "Somebody To Love." Me, 16, male and clueless (but I repeat myself).

Sitting in Mom's '65 Ford Galaxie, listening to KAAY in Little Rock. "Light My Fire" is played. Nice, but how is it different from any other mid-tempo Pop song of the day? I have heard of The Doors, but I am curiously untouched by this lyric.

DJ plays "Somebody To Love." Teenage head explodes! For openers, this mofo rocks about a hundred times harder than The Doors' tune. Then, there's a WOMAN singing. THEN, Jorma and Jack turn accepted notions of lead guitar and bass inside-out.

Grace was singing to me and nobody else in that moment. She UNDERSTOOD; she WAS the Goddess From Hell. Morrison wouldn't make the connection until "People Are Strange," some months later (at which time Krieger would re-invent the guitar just like Jorma).

Jefferson Airplane opened The Doors for this kid!


dbt
(Noticing that Logic and Proportion have fallen softly dead...)

[Liberal_Andy]

18. Airplane yes, Starship (after BATE) no

[redsoxliberal]

19. tough call... but went doors.

I could not find an airplane song comparable to light my fire.

[sundog]

20. The Cure!

oops, wrong poll

[H2O Man]

21. Doors.

Three of the Doors were as good as JA. Then there was Jim. Yes, he had a few bad times, and said and did a few silly things. But he was a great Irish poet, and great Irish poets are allowed to, from time to time, get too drunk and act like an ass.

[SarahB]

22. Jefferson Airplane

Too bad they had to jump the shark though.