I’m sorry, but I just don’t see what the big deal was about “The Doors.” The music was not anything wonderful; in fact, I think “The Doors” were no better or worse than many of the bar bands playing in Fells Point (Baltimore). What’s the big attraction - a lead singer that swore on stage and exposed himself?
Bah, humbug.
Riders On The Storm?
LA Woman?
People Are Strange?
The End?
Love Her Madly?
Every one of these (and more) thrilled me back during the period when they were written and still do to this day.
Hint: Try 'em on an FM radio next time.
I’ll add some of my own favorites:
When The Music’s Over
My Eyes Have Seen You
Light My Fire
Take It As It Comes
Wild Child
Highway To The End Of The Night (that barely audible cymbal effect in the intro still sends shivers down my spine)
Spanish Caravan
We Could Be So Good Together
Hyacinth House
And many more …
As to the OP, I think he/she expresses an attitude which is implicit in a lot of discussion of late 1960’s rock. Basically it’s this: because instrumental virtuosity became a hallmark of the genre around this time, there’s a tendency to dismiss non-virtuosic musicians/groups of the era as inconsequential. I can’t see any one of The Doors being rivals to Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix. If instrumental prowess is the only criterion, then the Doors are indeed only average at best. But music is a lot more than how many notes you can play in a measure, or it should be. The Doors were one of the most innovative bands around and created some remarkable tunes. And, to give them musical credit, their last album (Riders On The Storm) does show much more musical maturity than their first outing.
I don’t really mind the Doors musically(although, I don’t really like 'em either) but the folks that get me are the ones who think that Fat Jimmy was the greatest poet ever.
“He’s so deeep, man”
No, he isn’t. Take enough acid and you’ll think the Drive-Thru Menu at Burger King has a special message that can profoundly effect your life.
Man, what is it with people doggin’ the Doors as of late? It’s the fuckin’ Doors, man! You wanna be a Doors fan? Here’s how you become a Doors fan…
But seriously.
It seems like in the past year or two, every time I hear about the Doors, its been to badmouth them. Someone will smugly ‘point out’ that the every Doors song was just “bad poetry set to music”, or some such thing. This is, of course, commonly known amoung the condescending musical elite.
Why? I guess some sort of backlash against their long-standing popularity, but why them? There are plenty of other bands of that era that could have been targeted. Interesting.
The Doors made some very good music. However, some of their best songs don’t get any airplay these days due to their length. Morrison and Krieger (who gets overlooked*) were first-class songwriters.
Other songs to be added to favorites:
“Love Me Two Times”
“The Soft Parade” (“You cannot petition the lord with prayer!”)
“Roadhouse Blues”
“Waiting For the Sun” (the song, not the album)
“Variety is the Spice of Life,” “I’m Horny, I’m Stoned,” and “Ships with Sails” (all from the forgotten “Other Voices” album, released after Morrison’s death).
*The Doors credited their songs to “The Doors,” so the entire group got royalties. There was an assumption that Morrison wrote all the best stuff, and one comment was that this was very nice of Jim, since his songs were the ones that were hits. Later, when they started crediting them to “Morrison/Doors” or “Kreiger/Doors,” it was revealed Kreiger wrote “Light My Fire.”
I’d say half the super-famous bands/singers do nothing at all for me.
Springsteen? I have never listened to one of his songs without changing stations. Etc.
So, even though I like the Doors, it doesn’t surprise me that some people can do without them.
Paging Dave Cartwright.
Dave Cartwright…clean up on aisle IMHO.
I’m surprised it’s taken this long.
FTR, I don’t think much of them either. Though I think “Break On Through” is a good song. Just kinda executed poorly.
Have to agree with the OP - the Doors were pretty lame.
For me, they fall into the same category as the Grateful Dead: undisciplined, and wasteful of any talent they might have posessed.
The suggestion that Doors-bashing is a backlash because of their previous popularity doesn’t make sense to me. I find the Door’s music boring and simplistic. The fact that they were once popular has nothing to do with it.
…because there’s nothing on the radio these days that holds a candle to The Doors.
And frankly, not because the Doors were all that special in their era, when they’d have had to slug it out with The Who, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, the Beatles, CSN&Y, and more others than I can remember without going downstairs and rifling through my LPs.
And I’m not saying this as one who thinks all '60s music was great, and all current music is trash. I listen to the radio, and I enjoy a lot of contemporary bands. But much as I like 'em, Blink 182, Third Eye Blind, and so forth pale by comparison with the better '60s bands, many of whom could have fit a whole career of 3-4 brilliant albums between consecutive releases by today’s big groups, many of whom lack enough new material to put out albums more than once every 3 years or so.
sidewalk crouches at her feet
like a dawg that begs for something sweet
free-fall flow, river flow
on and on it goes
breathe underwater 'til the end…
She lives on love street
lingers long on love street
she has a house and garden
I would like to see what happens
…just to quote a few songs not yet listed.
Maybe the Doors songs were ‘bad poetry set to music’. But the fact is that with rock songs, it’s rarely if ever been the poetry by itself, and only occasionally has it been just the music. It’s how they work in combination that’s always propelled them - or failed to.
And with the Doors, the poetry has been more than good enough, combined with the unlikely but wonderful combination of Morrison’s mordant vocals and Manzarek’s almost churchy keyboards.
It’s hard to see them as a ‘wasted’ talent, especially by contemporary standards. We can talk about the Doors’ 50 best songs, which would be pretty damned good. For most bands nowadays, that would be a real challenge.
Is everyone in?
IS EVERYONE IN?
Then let the show begin.
cue…opening chords of Love Her Madly.
Surprised no one’s mentioned Love Street.
Aaaah, everyones a critic.
The Doors songs were often simple in construction, for sure, but then so are the best songs of all the best bands.
Thats what makes the song so good - the fact it can have something that catches hold of your ear while yet being so simple.
I would find it hard to choose between The Doors, The Beatles and The Who as the best band of the 60s (with Velvet Underground getting an honourable mention).
Though in the end I’d probably go with Beatles first, Doors second.
“Here, take this. It’s an 8-track casette of Morrison Hotel, one of the last in exsistence. Now, go steal a car…”
“I have a car.”
“Steal a car, listen to the casette and drive until you run out of gas. Then get out a start a fight.”
“And you, my man, will be a Doors fan…”
“Break on Through” by itself would have made them memorable. Combined with “The End” and “Light My Fire” on the self named album would make this album worth keeping. They were the first to do long songs.
Although, if you think about it, what are the odds that the car he’ll steal will have an eight-track player?
Bwahahahaha!!!
I was too young to see the Doors live, but by all accounts they were probably the hotest act in their day, and that’s with some pretty stiff competition. Jim Morrison was certainly a cultural icon that far surpased the “alleged simulated fellato on stage” headlines. You don’t see cops out to “get” Ricky Martin and toss him in jail. Morrison and the Doors were seen as a threat by the “straight establishment.”
They also had a pretty unique sound with the bass sound coming out from the organ, heavy blues influence, the lyrics, etc etc. Maybe they don’t sound that unique to someone getting introduced to Doors music today simply because so many people have tried to copy their sound. And maybe without the cultural background of their times, the way they could piss off huge chunks of society with their sex and drugs and rock n roll message, then maybe you can’t appreciate the Doors as much. Personally, I think they’re music stands alone but maybe it doesn’t. I do know that if it’s on the jukebox, instead of the Titanic song, I’ll be playing Break on Thru.
The Doors made a very strong debut. Strange Days was great too. But I doubt if anyone has listened to The Soft Parade all the way through more than once.
Also most of us have conveniently forgotten the pair of albums the Doors did after Morrison’s death, and American Prayer, bad poetry (there I said it) set to lounge disco music. I suppose those don’t count though.
I don’t know if they were the hottest act in their day. Have we forgotten Jimi Hendrix? And the MC5 got into far more call the police trouble than Jim Morrison could wish for in those days.
I think the Doors did have some good songs, and their Greatest Hits package is worth picking up (I have a tape of it somewhere.) My personal favorite is Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar).
That said, The Doors, like the Greatful Dead and many other 60’s bands, inspired such a cult-following that that could be what turns a lot of listeners off nowadays. I don’t think they were anywhere near as brilliant a group as the Beatles or Rolling Stones, per se. Jim Morrison was a fairly good songwriter, but not a songwriting genius (though he may well have had a genius I.Q.). He was the heart of the group, though, as The Doors record sales plummeted into obscurity after his departure (and death.)
Well no, not really.
We’re always going to judge the rock groups that were good by the quality and quantity of the good stuff they did, not by the median quality of their music. No matter how many mediocre albums Neil Young released in the two decades since Rust Never Sleeps, it’s not going to detract from “Cinnamon Girl”, “Don’t Let It Bring You Down”, or “Powderfinger”.
Just like when most of us think of how great a hitter Mark McGwire was/is, we’re going to remember his 70-HR season, and his many other good seasons, and not the years in mid-career when he was apparently washed up.