The Doors: Classic or Dud?

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

"Weird Scenes Inside The 4H Tent..."

I went to his grave too, quite underwhelming

Ahah I have lived 10 years next to the Pere Lachaise, have walked around regularly (it’s a gorgeous place) but somehow I have never been to the lizard’s grave !

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

Oh I forgot, there's Père Lachaise as well! In the UK, there's was definitely a Goth-y aspect and corny Goth/rock crossover people like ... Ian Astbury omg!

https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2008/05/ridersonthestorm021106w.jpg

Jim is alive

I actually went to Pere Lachaise with the intention of checking out Morrison's grave when I visited Paris 20 years ago, but when I got to the gates I had an overwhelming feeling like I was an asshole and I turned around and walked away.

doors were very beloved among our scene of suburban teen potheads, mainly because the most charismatic, older-than-his-years kid at the center of our social circle was a huge believer in the cult of jim. starting at age 10 or 11 he turned us all on

Jim is alive

Looking at that photo, I'm not entirely sure that Krieger is.

Goofy Thought On A Lazy Friday Afternoon: "Roadhouse Blues" Kind Of Invented Aerosmith.

Aerosmith did do quite a few mid tempo blues shuffle feels/songs like "Roadhouse Blues" like "Uncle Salty", "Same Old Song & Dance", etc...

The band you will see Tyler, Perry and Whitford all talk about in interviews was seeing the Yardbirds live in Boston. Many of those hard rock bands that came out of Detroit also point to seeing Yardbirds live as a big eye opener too.

Yeah, their Yardbirds love runs deep. But I was listening to Morrison Hotel today, and it struck me how RB sets a template for the Aerosmith Blooz numbers you mention, down to Jimbo's scatting.

really feeling "Indian Summer" rn, so dreamy and introspective, is that Krieger on bass?

That track was left over from the recording sessions for their 1st album and I think it's just Manzarek playing bass on a Fender Rhodes

This is...sort of interesting: Apparently WMG (or whoever) released a "stripped" (no strings, no horns) version of The Soft Parade for Record Store Day.

Not much info here, but this is now a thing which exists.

It came out last year as bonus tracks of the 50th Anniversary edition, though it was called "Doors only mix" and I think there were new overdubs too, I haven't heard it but I guess they are really grasping at straws w/r/t to "unreleased" material

No strings no horns sounds just about right ?

Interesting to check out like all these leftovers for a deep listener, but rare to have it be a real nugget I would figure at this point.

I kind of like listening to that American Prayer record or the two without Jimbo sometimes, as there is some really good 'music' there that might have taken step to the other side if liz' king would have still been around. Fatboy Slim found one hook in the debris.

the rework of Waiting For The Sun that whitehallunity made is soooooo good

Gave the 'Other Voices/Full Circle' another listen this morning in a mix. Casually listening to it, it hit me on how some tunes got a similar sound to "Loaded" VU. I had some old Flaming Lips, Grifters, Gallon Drunk in the same mix and the tunes fit better than you would think. The Lizard King-less Doors do kinda have sound that would fit with some 90s UK indie rock, especially hearing it side by side with an Inspiral Carpets track.

my favorite sound is the guitar tone during krieger's big solo in "when the music's over"