defending the indefensible, pt 1: the doors

Erm, I'd just like to point out the trousers. That is all.

i like all the doors EXCEPT morrison but hey, he's the one who got them in one place so he's OK too, on the "julia lennon is the fifth beatle" principle

Everett True to thread.

Well, could you be any more general if you tried? I can't think of a single band that someone loves that they could not describe that way. (Unless they are punk and *not* being excellent musicians is the point.)

(Though I've found that for making leather less smelly, the best thing to do is hang them in the bathroom while taking a really steamy and hot shower, and that will generally get most smells out.)

so what is ''blooz-shit''? are you just referring to blues in general or what?

I like every note and every vocal from that first album of theirs. I have heard a bit of LA woman actually and jim sounds drunk. One of the best examples examples of 'so bad its good'.

You know, it's one of the main reasons that the Dandy Warhols went electro - their guitarist stopped wearing leather trousers!

The Doors would've been OK, if they'd dropped the student art-wanker of a singer, and that fucking horibble dribbling keyboard sound, written a couple of memorable songs, lost all their pseudo-religious fixations, not actually released a record, and been incarcerated at birth

And the leather trousers of course

And the drugs

I've never forgiven them for the "sixties" either

And did ANYONE really enjoy having wanker Morrison's scrawny little dick waved in their faces?

if you wanna have a role model for leather trousers, go for Stephen Pastel (actually, I've never forgiven the Doors for that either). Or Astrid whatsername

The trousers were the best thing about the Doors, do not dis them.

Exactly what people love about the VU - the darkness and the drugs and the leather trousers and the arty affectations - are what the same people loathe about the Doors. And vice versa.

Have we had this taking sides yet?

kate, i wrote the above and then saw your post.

Taking Sides: The Velvet Underground vs. The Doors

hey scott I love the first two velvets records. after john cale left, not so good I'd say. And in fact lots of what the velvets did after cale left ended up being copied by awful indie bands from the 80s (in the UK this)=> i was sort of replying to jerry.

as i said i like doors and velvets up to cale. I like drugs (though i haven't taken them) and leather pants (I haven't worn them heh but i'm all for women wearing 'em) but I'm not that keen on the stooges. the guitars don't do much for me.

what does 'chamber-punk' mean? (I think i know but i'm not sure)

Hey man, listen up. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. You know that new Depeche Mode album? It sucks. You know what? That new Cure album? It sucks. That new Happy Mondays album? I don't know if there is one, but if there is, it sucks. I can say this 'cause I know. 'Cause I'm a Doors fan. And you know, if you want to be a Doors fan, you know what? You might already be one, and you don't even know it. You know, sort of like being gay, you're walking around, you know something's up, you just don't know what it is. You see, Doors fans aren't made, they're born. I'll bet right now, in Africa, there's some guy madely beatin' on a drum; he's one. Or an old lady on a bus, suckin' humbugs; she's a Rider on The Storm, and she don't even know it. I do... 'Cause I'm a Doors fan.

And if you want to be a Doors fan, don't just go buy a greatest hits album. Greatest Hits albums are for housewives and little girls. You want to be a Doors fan, you gotta do it right. It's very scientific. You gotta buy Waiting For The Sun. It's their third album, but really it's their first. We call it the departure point.

Okay, Quick quiz: Who's on bass? No bass. That's right. The Doors had no bass. You see, the gypsies ad no homes. Don't let that scare you, let that free you. Let that liberate you. 'Cause when you're free-flying with the Doors, man, you don't need no safety net. If you scream, "Viva la Doors!" loud enough for your landlord to start thumpin' on the walls, then you might in fact be a Doors fan.

There's one way to know for absolute sure. Get an eight-track tape of LA Woman -there's only a few in existence- and steal a car. Even if you own one, steal a car. Get in that car, play the tape, full blast, and drive West. When the tape ends, get out, and go to the nearest bar, and start to play pool, or pinbball, or possibly even foosball, and wait to get into a fight. Afterwards, get back into that car, and drive till it runs out of gas. Then, torch it. And if, as you're standing there, watching those flames, if you can still hear the Doors sound, you will have become a Doors fan. You wanna know how I know? You wanna know who told me? Well, last year, Jim fuckin' Morrisson told me, that's who. He came to me, 'cause I'm a Doors fan. I'm a Doors fan, man... man, I love their sound. I like the Doors.

DAMN YOU ILX!!!

Alex K I'm sorry, I stopped reading after that. It seemed like the right thing to do?

It really shows how much they breathed as a group, I love the dynamics and ability to open up their songs (not just to turn them into jams, although they do that too, but to include the vocals as a leading improvisational instrument).

at the end of the day is it possible that they're both just good pop bands,and people let image get in the way?

Though "Touch Me" remains hilarious.

the oliver stone portrayal of him made him seem humorless, though.

I just dug Waiting for the Sun out of my stacks of vinyl and listened to it way loud last night. I forgot how much of a visceral reaction this band's music could pull out of me. Good shit, me says.

I always thought that Densmore was 90% of what I liked about the Doors and even though he's still a dorky hippie in this article I find his outlook here refreshing...

Bob Dylan is singing "The Times They Are A-Changin' " in a television ad for healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente these days, and who could argue? With Led Zeppelin pitching Cadillacs, the Rolling Stones strutting in an Ameriquest Mortgage ad and Paul McCartney warbling for Fidelity Investments, it's clear that the old counterculture heroes of classic rock are now firmly entrenched as the house band of corporate America.

That only makes the case of John Densmore all the more intriguing.

Once, back when rock 'n' roll still seemed dangerous, Densmore was the drummer for the Doors, the band with dark hits such as "Light My Fire" and "People Are Strange." That band more or less went into the grave with lead singer Jim Morrison in 1971, but, like all top classic-rock franchises, it now has the chance to exploit a lucrative afterlife in television commercials. Offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song "Break On Through (to the Other Side)" to hawk its luxury SUVs.

To the surprise of the corporation and the chagrin of his former bandmates, Densmore vetoed the idea. He said he did the same when Apple Computer called with a $4-million offer, and every time "some deodorant company wants to use 'Light My Fire.' "

The reason? Prepare to get a lump in your throat — or to roll your eyes.

Great pop singles band

Shitty art rock band

where's the devotion like this today? the sincerety like this?

he died cuz he was a fat fucking junkie and alcoholic...everything i've read about morrisson was that he was pretty "devoted" to being a total asshole.

Shitty art rock band

-- M@tt He1geson (matt@game[remove]informer.com), October 5th, 2005.

Yeah, I don't agree. Where's the dividing line? Is "The Crystal Ship" shitty art rock or good pop singles music? Or any number of songs from the second album, for that matter? What about "Light My Fire" at almost seven minutes - shitty art rock?

"When the Music's Over" is my favorite of their long tracks. It's great.

I'm not "outraged" by it. I just find it interesting that it seems so natural to see a thread like this on ILM - a popular thread, at that - and yet you wouldn't expect the same thing for the Stones or the VU.

Sure, Morrison was a douche bag but he had a serious set of pipes and he wrote some fantastic rock 'n' roll poetry.

Manzarek is a dickweed but he came up with some hypnotic, droning, meandering but always rhythmic organ parts.

Fuck, I can't even explaint myself on this one. The Doors rule.

OTM. Morrison alone is classic for spawning Iggy & Keiji Haino.

picked up my first three Doors albums (s/t, Strange Days, and L.A. Woman), and I think 80% of the people in this thread are crazy.

I bet if they came out now everybody would be championing their cause.