The Doors- one of the greatest rock bands of all time

[Angry Mollusk]

The Doors were a band with no middle ground- People either love them, or hate them...They weren't very chummy with their contemporary peers in rock, many of whom usually looked down on the Doors. Jefferson Airplane toured with the Doors in Europe in 1968, and thought the Doors were a bit odd. David Crosby hated the Doors, and accused them of producing 'the most clubfooted songs in history'. However the Doors got on famously with Canned Heat, and Morrison struck up a friendship with early rock pioneer Gene Vincent.

But the influence the Doors had on musicians that followed them cannot be denied- The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Billy Idol, Alice Cooper, X, many early punk and New wave artists and most 8os metal bands all cite the Doors as a major influence.
Marylin Manson wrote the reason the Doors weren't so easily pigeon holed was part of their appeal- The sound was truly unique- Keyboardist Ray Manzarek was a disciple of jazz, and that was reflected in his style of playing.The Doors had no bass player (save for session players brought in during some of their studio sessions), so Ray played bass on his organ with his left hand. Drummer John Densmore was also an avid jazz fan, and jazz influences can be heard in his playing- His current solo endeavors heavily focus on jazz. Guitarist Robby Krieger was heavily influenced by the Spanish Flamenco style of playing, and using that plus the bottleneck style of playing gave him a unique sound. listen to 'Moonlight Drive' and 'Spanish Caravan' to hear Robby at his best.
Then there was Jim Morrison- Despite having no formal training in music, was a phenomenal singer and songwriter, and incorporated his poems into the framework of his songs. The chemistry of the Morrison/Krieger songwriting team was seldom matched, as just about every #1 hit for the Doors was a Krieger penned song.
Jim possessed everything a rock singer needed- Good looks, stage presence, creative chemistry with his band mates, song writing abilities and one hell of a voice. The Doors worked best in small intimate clubs- i think in arenas and in outdoor festivals, the music lost something.....
Any other Doors fans out there?

Jim was always one to challenge authority (Could be because as he was singer of the Doors, his Dad was an Admiral in the US Navy). Songs such as 'Five To One', 'Break On Through', 'Universal Mind', and many more spoke of freedom- of challenging authority and seizing the right to be free..
In Dec 1967, backstage at a Doors concert in New haven CT, a cop sprayed Jim in the face with mace-After the show started, Jim did a few songs, then told the audience what happened to him backstage- the irate cops dragged him offstage, beat him, then arrested him.
In March 1969 there was the infamous concert at Dinner Key auditorium in Miami FL- Jim arrived drunk, after a nasty fight with his girlfriend Pam- He slurred his way through one of his worst performances ever-And shortly after returning to CA was charged with having had exposed himself at that Miami concert . It never happened- he was drunk that night, and profane, but he never pulled out his snake....
A Christian group for decency, with Nixon's support, decided to make an example of the Doors and charging Jim- the charges were bogus, but it cost the Doors countless gigs. The right wing hated Jim Morrison and all he and the rebellious youth of America stood for- that idea of challenging authority and not blindly supporting Nixon or the war in Vietnam offended them to no end-, and they wanted him destroyed. The stress of the trial drove Jim to drink heavily, which is what I think killed him at the young age of 27.

Even still, the Doors albums and performances that followed the Miami fiasco were stellar..

After Jim died in 1971, the remaining Doors put out the albums Full Circle and Other Voices- which instrumentally were strong, but vocally and lyrically weak-as Jim was gone, and Ray and Robby opted to cover vocals themselves.
In 2002 I caught Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger touring as the Doors (without John Densmore, and with Ian Astbury filling in for Jim). It was a good concert, but not as good with Jim.
Jim would have hated GW Bush- Is it any wonder Ray Manzarek despises GW Bush, and asserts Jim Morrison would feel the same.
What do you think of the Doors? Love them? Hate them?

[Blue_In_AK]

1. I liked the Doors a lot

but the really big fan in my family is my 22-year-old daughter who started obsessing on Jim Morrison when she was about 14. I think she owns everything they ever recorded.

[thereismore]

2. Like them. nt

[gateley]

3. DId you hear a recent interview with Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger? It was

on Coast to Coast AM -- it was great!!

And how could anyone who grew up in the 60's NOT be a Doors fan?

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. LA Woman is one of the best songs ever.

Right up there with Samba Pa Ti.

[Whisp]

22. This is The End.

is the one I think of when I think Doors. explorative work right up there with Zep and the other icons of the past.

[Warpy]

5. Loved Krieger's lyrics, loved the rhythm section

had no use at all for Morrison's drunken rambling. It was really too bad Morrison was fronting the band. He wasn't a bad singer and he was handsome enough to clean up like a mannequin, but his ad libs were some of the stupidest stuff I've ever heard and his need to show up for gigs falling down drunk really dragged the rest of them down.

The Lizard King should have gone to join his people and the band should have found a better front guy.

[1620rock]

7. Great band.

[mitchum]

6. I thought that they were the greatest thing in the world until I was 15 (1975)...

then for the next 20 years I thought that they were indeed a club-footed circus band fronted by a drunken, bloated fool.
However, for the past decade I have come around and consider them to be one of the greatest musical acts ever.
They really did try to do something unique and subversive...and they suceeded at it.
I use their pulse and drone in much of my own music. And Kreiger is one of the most underrated guitarists in rock.
I still find Manzarek, not his playing, to just be...annoying. But that's all right; I'll just listen to his playing and not his interviews.

The Doors endure

[gateley]

9. "The Doors endure"

And so does Lou! :hi:

[Angry Mollusk]

10. Alcohol and drugs used to excess can destroy the greatest artists

When Jim Morrison was at his best, it was almost like a religious experince.
Watch the footage of the Doors doing 'The End' in Toronto, Aug 1967 (on a Canadian tv spot). You can easily find that on Youtube- some site it as the best Doors performance ever filmed...
There were many amazing Doors performances that were recorded- and a few bad ones..
Miami was awful, Cleveland 68' was dreadful, as was the 1970 appearance at the Seattle Pop festival.
But the entire 1968 European tour, particularly the Doors televised performance in Denmark was amazing, and the concert performed in NYC on PBS (in 1969) was superb.
There is no denying that Jim was an alcoholic- some nights he gave stellar performances, other nights it was a train-wreck- Alcohol and drugs done to excess will destroy artistic ability...

look at Elvis- in the 50s he was phenomenal- but by his Vegas days, he was a parody of himself.

Pink Floyd shined with Syd barret at the helm,'Pipers at the Gates of Dawn' was a masterpiece, but massive amounts of lsd fried his mind....

Same with Jimi Hendrix- he was amazing, but there were a few concerts that were awful because he was too stoned to play...


Even still, at the end of Jim's time with the Doors, he helped create LA Woman, which is one phenomenal album, the title track being one of the best rock songs ever recorded.

[femmocrat]

8. I have always loved them.

Too bad about Morrison though. And the others of that era who burned out way too young.

[karmaqueen]

11. Love the Doors!

Love everything they did, "Riders On The Storm" one of the all time best songs ever. I hate what happened to Jim, so smart, yet not able to see what he was doing to himself. So sad to see him leave us so soon, we could have had many more years of great music.

[mwb970]

12. I was onstage (briefly) with the Doors!

It was the late 60s, Ohio State University. There was a short-lived fad back then of "rushing the stage" during the encore and either standing right in front of the stage or even clambering up on the stage, which is what my roommate and I (and a few others) did during "Light My Fire." Disconcerted, the authorities closed the curtain with the Doors still playing and with us stage-rushers standing amid the band behind the curtain!

It was very weird to be looking directly over Ray's shoulder as he played the familiar keyboard riff (and the bass part, which he played separately with his left hand). I'll never forget it.

[silent]

13. Greatest Vocalist Ever

#1... Jim Morrison
#2... Tupac Shakur
#3... Barack Obama

“That's what real love amounts to- letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending- performing. You get to love your pretence. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act-” - Jim Morrison

[mwb970]

19. Performer, poet, and provocateur.

There's never been another like him.

[comradebillyboy]

14. In 1967 when Light My Fire was their first big hit

I was on a road trip from NM to Montreal and back down through NYC, Washington and then west again. I remember driving trough Detroit after the race riots of '67 when big parts of the city were torched. Light my Fire was on the radio.

I have the vinyl version of every Doors album till 1970. Only the Rolling Stones hold up as well. And I have every album of theirs from '63 to 1972, the early ones in mono.

[mkultra]

15. i am the reincarnation and jim morrison

[Angry Mollusk]

16. Check out the outtakes and bonus tracks on the 40th anniversary edition reissues of the Doors cds,

If you are a hardcore Doors fan like me, check out the special 40th anniversary editions of all 6 studio albums (The Doors, Strange Days, Waiting For the Sun, The Soft Parade, Morrison Hotel and LA Woman)
Each cd has bonus tracks and/or unreleased songs from that particular session- here is the list


(The Doors)- The cd of the 1st album has as bonus tracks 2 alternate takes of 'Moonlight Drive', originally recorded for this session, and a take of 'Indian Summer', also recorded for this session


(Strange Days)-This includes false starts on 'People are Strange' and 'Love Me Two Times'

(Waiting For The Sun)- This includes as bonus tracks the classical piece 'Albinoni's Adagio in G minor', 3 alternate takes of 'Not to Touch The Earth', plus the unreleased studio version of 'Celebration of The Lizard'

(The Soft Parade)Bonus tracks includes the B side track 'Who Scared You', 2 takes of 'Whiskey Mystics and Men', 'Push Push' ( a piano instrumental), and 2 takes of 'Touch me'

(Morrison Hotel) Bonus tacks include 4 alternate takes of 'Roadhouse Blues', a false start on 'Peace Frog', and jazzy alternate versions of 'The Spy' and 'Queen of the Highway'

(LA Woman) Bonus tracks include 'Don't Go No Further'(Ray Manzarek on vocal), and 'Orange County Suite'.

In addition to having alternate tracks and previously unreleased songs, all of the songs on the 40th anniversary Doors cds were remixed such that certain guitar riffs and vocals previously buried were brought back to the surface- such as Jim's 'fuck me baby!' rant during 'The End', and Robby's out of tune British National anthem/My Country Tis of Thee' opening to the song LA Woman.

[sepulveda]

17. i love the doors

i got to meet ray manzarek in college and that was pretty cool.

while i love the doors, i think few things have ever been penned that were more odious that jim morrison's poetry.

love the music. but the poetry he wrote was simply awful imo

and fwiw, i really could not care less what a musician's politics are, in relation to whether i like their music.

i've always loved rage against the machine, and they are marxists (i'm obviously not).

i also think stranglehold by ted nugent is one of the greatest rock songs ever, and i needless to say disagree with him politically. doesn't make me like the music any less.

my favorite bands of all time are the who and the ramones. famously, one of the members of the ramones is quite republican. the song "the kkk took my baby away" was actually a subtle riff on him iirc by one bandmate to another. i have absolutely no idea of the who's politics, nor do i care.

i like morrison a lot because he was a provacateur, and he pushed the envelope.

i didn't know that david crosby hated the doors, but every interview with him i have ever seen - he seems like a braindead buffoon, so that makes me like them more! :)

now, if neil young hated the doors i might have to reconsider :)

[Angry Mollusk]

18. I'll admit, I Iike Elvis's music , even though he was a Nixon worshiping right winger

Great points sepulveda

I will admit Jim Morrison's left wing politics are very appealing to me- But there have been some artists who were right wing whose music I still enjoy-despite their politics-
Elvis was the king- even though he hated war protesters, hated the 60s counterculture and worshiped Richard Nixon.

Ted Nugent is as radical right wing as they come- I tune out his politics, and enjoy his music. Just because he can be a right wing nut doesn't mean he's a bad musician...

[abq e streeter]

20. I have loved the Doors since 1967

and always will.I agree with the assessment of some that his poetry ( on paper) is overrated ,but within the songs, they work...always. I never saw them, unfortunately. Morrison was the great shaman of rock and roll of that era, and the sinister subversiveness of their music is as powerful now as when it first came out. They were dealing with timeless, universal themes, and to me , its still fresh and exciting. As far as the politics, I can enjoy an artist who I have political disagreements with , but in the case of the great sixties bands, the political and social commentary aspects of their art can't be divorced from who and what they were, and what they were saying.......I'm fortunate to own a bootleg cassette of an evidently VERY inebriated Morrison onstage with Hendrix ( and supposedly Johnny Winter) just basically babbling incoherently except for slurring " f-k her in the a--....popular favorite' every minute or so. ( inspiring my band for while to introduce at least one song a night as " here's a popular favorite for ya" as an inside joke..). Explains , maybe , putting Back Door Man on vinyl... One last note: I lived , till a year ago, about 6 blocks from where Jim lived when he was in junior high. ( I still live just a couple of miles away). OK , one more, I remember Jim describing how he turned out so wild after growing up in a military family; something like : " Imagine an arrow being pulled back for 20 (?) years and then suddenly being let go. My sympathies to everyone that doesn't "get" the Doors.

[Jamastiene]

21. Fucking love 'em. n/t

[annabanana]

23. fan from the start

My doors album wore out, my second one nearly did...n/t