The Doors: Classic or Dud?

I am still on the other side of this divine revelation you J.D. and Brad seem to have had.

I used to think they were painfully overrated and hadn't aged as well as some other '60s bands, but a couple of years ago I gave it all another try and I found myself enjoying quite a lot of it. I guess they're easier to enjoy now that a lot of the "Cult of Jim" lot have fucked off.

I think they've gone through phases of being overrated and underrated, they're about due to be overrated again.

I think I would like them more if they werent stiff as hell, Manzarek is such a weak link w his rinky dink bullshit

Looks like the beach bum was right >:(

He was

Lol

I'm not sure that some widespread "cult of Jim" where people idolized him in annoying ways or whatever ever really existed.

It did...it's called "High School".

OTM.

Is it still though ? It was the case when I was in high school but it was around the release of the O. Stone movie. I kinda doubt th kids are still into the lizard king instead of migos or whatever...

None of my high school classmates (late 90s) gave a shit about the Doors so I've never been directly exposed to Lizard King worship. Why should I hate them? A lot of their music is just banging and the S/T is still a favourite of mine to this day.

Last night i had a dream that a beach bum was haranguing me in a parking lot for not being a TRUE Doors fan

― Οὖτις, Sunday, August 12, 2018 11:24 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's ok, we've all been tested

when it happened to me I recited American Prayer in its entirety from memory and he saluted me and said thank you for your service

When i occasionally want to listen to the the Doors I listen to ‘weird scenes inside the goldmine’, rather than any of their studio albums. It’s one of those weird German double vinyls - I do the same with the Who, most of the time.

I think I would like them more if they werent stiff as hell, Manzarek is such a weak link w his rinky dink bullshit

― Οὖτις, Sunday, August 12, 2018 7:26 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I guess I don't hear them as stiff at all? Densmore has kind of a light, jazzy touch and Krieger is one of the least macho or chugging of the 60s guitar heroes

also on most of the records it's usually some ace pro bass session dude not Manzarek on bass

I'm not sure that some widespread "cult of Jim" where people idolized him in annoying ways or whatever ever really existed.

― timellison, Monday, August 13, 2018 2:06 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I want to say that 75% percent of my high school friends circa 1993 had a Jim Morrison flag in their bedrooms, along with copies of Wilderness and The American Night.

https://d9nvuahg4xykp.cloudfront.net/1122575879283534192/-6879144968917854075.jpg

they sound pretty cool

there was also a wave of dorm posters around 1980, when Jerry Hopkins published No One Here Gets Out Alive

Also, "Apocalypse Now" soundtrack.

Huh, not my experience at all though I guess I was in high school in between Hopkins and Oliver Stone. The Doors were a very esoteric interest at the time.

(College too now that I think about it - late '80s)

Must...try and...remember...

Was at an art gallery on Saturday and it seems Val Kilmer is producing Morrison-related art works. Stuff like this.

https://cdn8.bigcommerce.com/s-bamcrxgk9l/images/stencil/500x659/products/686/641/JM0_095__99801.1518721636.jpg?c=2&imbypass=on

To his credit he's not charging "celebrity art work" prices, I think they were around $250-$300.

Apparently he's got a whole cottage industry going. https://valkilmer.com/

I guess I don't hear them as stiff at all? Densmore has kind of a light, jazzy touch and Krieger is one of the least macho or chugging of the 60s guitar heroes

otm. "break on through" came on at a bar yesterday and i suddenly fell in love with densmore's drumming on it

I've never thought Densmore was all that good but Krieger was a really interesting guitarist.

Not that interested in repeating myself so will note that my thoughts on Manzarek and Densmore's relative stiff-ness is upthread - Manzarek in particular can't swing for shit, and his circus organ playing style is grating in a lot of places.

The famous 1981 Rolling Stone piece is when I remember the hype took off:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jim-morrison-lives-the-legacy-of-the-lizard-king-64885/

I like Densmore and Krieger's playing on almost all Doors stuff.

If you can swing on a harpsichord, Manzarek's comping on "Love Me Too Times" seems fine to me.

Or a tack piano on "People Are Strange"

the Lost Boys must have given them a bit of a boost as well.

Are any members of the Doors egregious in their lack of ability to swing on "Love Street?"

That RS article is fucking amazing.

Haven't read the whole article yet so it may say in there but '81 is also when the No One Here Gets Out Alive documentary (based on the book mentioned) came out. I saw it a bit later, '85 possibly, around the release of the The Best Of double album. The Doors definitely on the radar of impressionable youths in the mid to late 80s.

"On the radar," sure, "Cult of Jim" much less sure based on own life experience.

I have strong memories of witnessing this Cult of Jimbo forming out of the corner of my eye in the early eighties. Not sure I can organize them properly to type in this tiny text box.

stiff like a mad prancing stallion
in the wild, illuminated by moonlight

i think the "cult of jim" is real but it's pretty much just confined to teenagers and oliver stone these days. i've known a lot of doors fans and i don't think any of them have built backyard shrines to morrison or gone on pilgrimages to his grave or whatever.

Has anyone on this thread gone along on one of those pilgrimages to Père Lachaise?

*raises hand*

i never realized how much jim morrison looks like warwick davis

doors fans weren't as obnoxious when i was a teenager (in the early '90s) as dead fans, but there was a sort of adolescent intensity to them that made it all a little embarrassing later on. that part where you realize oh wait jim morrison _isn't_ actually a Great Poet. once one gets over that, they're pretty good.

We are overlooking the 80s goth connection to Jim, those def overlapped a bit (echo & the bunnymen for ex)

To the Cult of Jim, i meant to say

ian curtis had to be a doors fan, right?

Brad Smithfield on Iggy Pop:

October 1967 at a homecoming dance at the University of Michigan, he found the inspiration for his own utterly “blasphemous” live performances. The young Iggy was blown away by Morrison’s charisma and dark energy and started a band which would go on to become an archetype of punk rock.

“Here’s this guy, out of his head on acid, dressed in leather with his hair all oiled and curled,” says Iggy, remembering Morrison in 2011. “It got confrontational. Part of me was like, ‘Wow, this is great. He’s really pissing people off and he’s lurching around making these guys angry.’ ”

iggy, ian curtis, nick cave, m gira all doors fans

If my trip to the county fair last week is any indication (totally scientific), cobain is the Morrison of the kids these days. Though I did see a doors shirt on a teen.

county fairs are very scientific for doors research