# Sorry, but "The Doors" were no more than average . . . at best **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138 "2001-10-23T18:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/41 "2001-10-25T05:56:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by absoul \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by bdgr \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by absoul \* > > > \*\*“The men don’t know, but the little girls understand.” \*\* > > > > Actually, that was a Willie Dixon lyric. \*\* > > Oh yeah, I realize its Wille D. It just fits so well. 😃 > > I’ll let Knighted Vorpal Sword eat all the pork and beans cuz… I eat more chicken any man seen. \*\* Its amazing how much stuff that man wrote. He wrote a book called I am the blues, and it is a really interesting read. > **[I Am The Blues: The Willie Dixon Story: Dixon, Willie, Snowden, Don:...](https://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Blues-Capo-paperback/dp/0306804158)** > > I Am The Blues: The Willie Dixon Story \[Dixon, Willie, Snowden, Don\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. I Am The Blues: The Willie Dixon Story ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/42 "2001-10-25T17:33:12Z")
I have to weigh in on the “Doors are pretentious crap” side of things. No one can deny that true art takes risks; having said that, the scarcity of true art is testimony to the fact that most people taking risks…fail. So, the question is whether the Doors succeeded or not. IMHO, they failed - Morrison had the swagger, but not the content. They played decent music - Ray and Robbie are fine musicians, but who cares when the criteria is whether they deserve to be considered in the pantheon of legends? When I think of the risks the Beatles, Hendrix, the Who, just to name a few - and the extent to which those artists not only succeeded, but changed the way we consider music, the Doors aren’t in the same ballpark. The are a combination of art-house claptrap and blues-based simplicity, but they didn’t produce the art of legends…IMHO. That all being said, if someone gets pleasure from them, more power to that - ultimately, that’s all that matters. I look for my pleasure elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/43 "2001-10-25T20:39:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bdgr \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \* > > \*\* > > > > Very good stuff, with old Moog organs, too. > > Worth picking up. Even if just for the sound of a Moog. \*\* > > Moog made synths, not organs. Ray used primarily Vox organs, with a rhodes piano bass(a little short version of the rhodes electric piano). \*\* Vox, Vox, Vox. Sorry, I always get them backwards. That, and I like saying Moog. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/44 "2001-10-25T22:11:48Z")
I’ll tell you what, why not sit yourself down with a Lovin’ Spoonful album, _then_ put on the Doors, and tell me which one is the average band? Then, skip forward a decade or so, put on The Fixx, _then_ listen to the Doors, and tell me which one is the average band. Then, skip ahead another decade, listen to Mudhoney, _then_ listen to the doors, and tell me which one is the average band. And then put on whatever it is that is new and cool, and ask yourself, “what will this sound like in thirty years?” ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/45 "2001-10-25T22:21:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \* > \*\*Worth picking up. Even if just for the sound of a Moog. \*\* Moog made synths, not organs. Ray used primarily Vox organs, with a rhodes piano bass(a little short version of the rhodes electric piano). \*\* [/QUOTE] Vox, Vox, Vox. Sorry, I always get them backwards. That, and I like saying Moog. \*\* [/QUOTE] My friends used to pronounce it wrong just to irritate me. For those who arent familiar, name is pronounced moge. It used to be the way you could tell someone was a keyboard player…Of course now, most keyboard players have never touched a moog. I remember when they sold them at radio shack, and had Elton John hawking the thing. Bob moog had primarily been making theramins, but it looks like he is bringing back the [minimoog](http://www.bigbriar.com/)… ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/46 "2001-10-26T01:41:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Airman Doors, USAF \* > **They wereabsolutely the most innovative band of their genre. They did acid rock, art house music, down and dirty blues, and funk with aplomb, and NOBODY did atmospheric music like they did.** Funk? Let me look at that again. FUNK? Still seems strange. Tell you what…I’ve got the CD changer fixed and rarin’ to go. You bring that ‘funk’ Doors song and I’ll hit it with some James Brown or some early 70s soul and we’ll see who gets butts shaking on the dance floor. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/47 "2001-10-26T02:03:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Airman Doors, USAF \* > > **They wereabsolutely the most innovative band of their genre. They did acid rock, art house music, down and dirty blues, and funk with aplomb, and NOBODY did atmospheric music like they did.** > > Funk? > > Let me look at that again. > > FUNK? > > Still seems strange. > > Tell you what…I’ve got the CD changer fixed and rarin’ to go. You bring that ‘funk’ Doors song and I’ll hit it with some James Brown or some early 70s soul and we’ll see who gets butts shaking on the dance floor. \*\* Hey, if your gonna compare funk, you gotta have George Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/48 "2001-10-26T03:06:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Grok \* > For me, they fall into the same category as the Grateful Dead: undisciplined, and wasteful of any talent they might have posessed. I don’t really see any similarities between the two bands other than the drug use. One can barely compare Jim and Jerry at all. I’m not a huge Dead fan, but I can’t deny the vast amount of talent they possessed. Same goes for the Doors. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/49 "2001-10-26T03:49:14Z")
I’m going to get reamed for this, I’ll wager, but it always struck me that the ‘best’ Doors stuff was either blues or ‘funk-like’-- i.e., a bunch of white boys finally do music for white kids similar to that which has been done by black musicians for years (thus making an old, well-developed style accessible and acceptible to white culture in general, in a sort of youth culture rebellion sort of way) and all of a sudden they’re brilliant. The more syntho- psychedellic stuff was a bit more original, though. But “Love you Madly”? Who cares? ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/50 "2001-10-26T04:55:50Z")
Don’t diss the doors! I will love them forever simply for the memories of sitting around Dan’s Lakewood Cafe in Dallas (it’s in a scary-ass part of town, dirty as all hell, and so good, open all night) and listening to “Riders On The Storm” play on the jukebox on in to the wee hours. Everyone always played that song there, and it just fit. If you’re at Dan’s at 2 AM there’s a damn good chance that you believe Jim when he says > [@](#): > > _Originally Posted By Jim Morrison_ > **There’s a killer on the road > His brain is squirming like a toad** Ohh, man. That’s such a trip to remember. LC ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/51 "2001-10-26T22:22:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*Paging Dave Cartwright. > FTR, I don’t think much of them either. Though I think “Break On Through” is a good song. Just kinda executed poorly. \*\* But explain yourself, please. You say it’s a good song, yet the definitive recording is poorly executed? How could they have done better? Put in more notes? More intricate guitar runs? Keyboard riffs a al Emerson Lake & Palmer? If they’d done that, it would have been a different song. ---
**Author:** ![Grok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/52 "2001-10-26T22:33:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shrew \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Grok \* > > For me, they fall into the same category as the Grateful Dead: undisciplined, and wasteful of any talent they might have posessed. > > I don’t really see any similarities between the two bands other than the drug use. One can barely compare Jim and Jerry at all. I’m not a huge Dead fan, but I can’t deny the vast amount of talent they possessed. Same goes for the Doors. \*\* I wasn’t comparing the two bands musically. Rather, I feel the two groups share the dubious distinction of having produced mediocre work given that they had a fair amount of talent to work with. ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/53 "2001-10-27T01:32:16Z")
This thread helps illustrate one of my favorite sayings as good as anything I’ve ever seen. “There’s no accounting for taste.” Put me down in The Doors are awesome category. If you can’t see that, well, you must not like The Doors. I can relate since there’s plenty of music people like that I think is 100% garbage, so there you go, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/54 "2001-10-27T01:44:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Grok: I wasn’t comparing the two bands musically. Rather, I feel the two groups share the dubious distinction of having produced mediocre work given that they had a fair amount of talent to work with. Noted. On a coincidental note…I took about eighty high school kids to see _The Outsiders_ today. This particular production used a great deal of music to express mood and _Break On Through_ by the doors was used during the Rumble scene. It was quite effective. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138/55 "2001-10-29T03:58:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*Funk? > > Let me look at that again. > > FUNK? > > Still seems strange. > > Tell you what…I’ve got the CD changer fixed and rarin’ to go. You bring that ‘funk’ Doors song and I’ll hit it with some James Brown or some early 70s soul and we’ll see who gets butts shaking on the dance floor. \*\* Sorry I missed this before the party, or I might have put on “Peace Frog”. Don’t get me wrong, they are certainly not George Clinton in that regard, but they could do it, and do it well if they wanted to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-but-the-doors-were-no-more-than-average-at-best/89138.md?page=2)