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The Doors Are My New (second!) Favorite Band

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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43226
Printed Date: December 04 2024 at 20:47
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Topic: The Doors Are My New (second!) Favorite Band
Posted By: The Whistler
Subject: The Doors Are My New (second!) Favorite Band
Date Posted: November 05 2007 at 02:15
For the longest time, the slot of "The Whistler's Second Favorite Band" stood open, purposefuly, occupied by whoever seemed right at the time. Tull was (and is, let me assure you I've yet to hang up the codpiece) my first love, but the second spot could be held by Procol Harum, King Crimson, the Who, or even Emerson, Lake OR Palmer respectively. Or, you know...GWAR or something. I'm open minded.
 
But I think that little Jimmy Morrison and his squad of killer lizards has finally taken residence in that place. And I want to tell all the people just why...because the Doors are an American band.
 
LET ME ELABORATE! The Doors aren't just an American band; they are, quite possibly, the greatest American band ever. Better'n Ween even. Yeah, I said it...hmm though, Ween IS pretty good...WAIT! Lemme get back on track.
 
The Doors do something for me that no other American band can, or ever has. They have made music that is appropriately epic. It's easier for a British band to be "epic" (I mean, if Led Zep could do it, anyone could), because British bands can fall back on their medieval folk history to create that kind of sound. American bands therefore had two options: either ape the British acts, or stick with "American" music, which is fairly unepic, even when traced to the roots.
 
The Doors, however, were able to forge a golden compromise, and make American epics. Convincing ones too, and without having to do British sounding stuff. Their fusion of blues and Goth is fairly unique, and I can't really think of an American band that's done better (if you can, please tell me! I'll eat that crap up). I mean, stuff like "Maggie M'Gill" and "Riders on the Storm?" It's all very epic, but at the same time, very American (blues and Western influences respectively). And "The End" is certainly epic and American in its lyrical imagery ("Ride the King's Highway," "The west is the best," the infamous "weird scenes inside a gold mine").
 
Oh, and, the Doors actually "take me there." I know some people rave on and on about the weird scenes inside a wolfhound that "Close to the Edge" does for 'em, but Strange Days is a complete trip for me from start to finish. And that's something that's kind of rare for me; the only thing that comes to mind so vividly was the aquatic Ainglish imagery of "The Poet and the Painter" from the "Thick as a Brick" suite.
 
So, that's my story...why did I post this again?


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"There seem to be quite a large percentage of young American boys out there tonight. A long way from home, eh? Well so are we... Gotta stick together." -I. Anderson



Replies:
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: November 05 2007 at 02:24
hear hear...  you know I'm not in love with the band but they did, somehow, make good music..   and hey, aren't just American, they came from YOUR hometown... like, you did know that, man, right...?


   ;)






Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: November 05 2007 at 02:29
Though I'm a born and bred European, I find your concept of "American epics" quite fascinating... I think it is something worth exploring further, both from a musical and a lyrical point of view. Personally, I've always liked The Doors quite a lot, though to be honest I find their output a tad uneven. However, when they are good, they are VERY good.


Posted By: erik neuteboom
Date Posted: November 05 2007 at 03:01
 
                     Wisdom is coming with age The Whistler Wink, congratulations
                     with the discovery of The Doors their unique prog sound and
                     have fun on your trip with Strange Days Thumbs%20Up
 
 
                                                                         


Posted By: The Whistler
Date Posted: November 05 2007 at 03:45
Originally posted by Atavachron Atavachron wrote:

hear hear...  you know I'm not in love with the band but they did, somehow, make good music..   and hey, aren't just American, they came from YOUR hometown... like, you did know that, man, right...?


   ;)




 
Heh. You know I love that. All Angeleno bands are great by default.
 
Hey, whatchu mean "SOMEHOW make good music?" How could a rampaging frontman who was hated by his band possibly NOT make "good music?"
 
Ghost Rider: the only other band I can possibly think of (in my, largely inadequate theorizing, I'm sure) is Kansas, but alls I know 'em for is "Carry On My Inward Truck." Uneven bands are great! It means they ain't afraid to experiment. As my pappy (God rest his soul) always used to say, "It takes a great band to make a bad album."
 
And, c'mon...feeding duckies? Those ain't my Doors. Oh well, at least Robbie looks kinda suspicious about it.
 
(Coincidentally, I didn't start with Days, but Hotel. Which means that I'm divided over what to get next: the debut, for its extreme popularity here and at allmusic (although they HATED Strange Days by comparison, the bashtahds), or LA Woman for the town...so I'll probably end up getting a "pop" album, since I got a Goth and a Blues one anyways.)


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"There seem to be quite a large percentage of young American boys out there tonight. A long way from home, eh? Well so are we... Gotta stick together." -I. Anderson


Posted By: jammun
Date Posted: November 07 2007 at 23:12
I'm not so sure that The Doors were not the worst of the LA bands of the period.  I mean, ya got Love, ya got Spirit, ya got The Mothers, all of whom recorded at least one great album, which can't be said for The Doors.
 
For me, I bought the whole damn box set of the Doors stuff.  Just got it out of the way in one shot.  Don't know what I'd do one at a time, since I grew up with these and they all have special time/space resonance with me and were part of the aural soundtrack of my sorry teenage years.
 
The Crew I hung out with spent an entire summer listening to Waiting for the Sun, so it has lots of meaning for me.  Same with Hotel.  Same with LA Woman.  We were all expecting to get drafted and sent to Vietnam to die, so the music held some sway back in those days. 


Posted By: jikai55
Date Posted: November 10 2007 at 15:54
Originally posted by The Whistler The Whistler wrote:


Hey, whatchu mean "SOMEHOW make good music?" How could a rampaging frontman who was hated by his band possibly NOT make "good music?"



He was only hated by John Densmore . Kreiger was neutral to him and Manzarek particularly liked him. Then again, Kreiger was the quiet one, and in my opinion the true musical (not lyrical) genius of the Doors. Little known fact that Kreiger actually wrote Light My Fire, even though it's credited to all four Doors.

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I like cheese and I like metal! --Mikael Åkerfeldt


Posted By: Duncan
Date Posted: November 10 2007 at 16:39
I've always thought Captain Beefheart a distinctly american artist with an incredibly evocative, immersive sense of mythology to the music. Interesting reflections, anyway...


Posted By: The Whistler
Date Posted: November 11 2007 at 00:32
Originally posted by jikai55 jikai55 wrote:

Originally posted by The Whistler The Whistler wrote:


Hey, whatchu mean "SOMEHOW make good music?" How could a rampaging frontman who was hated by his band possibly NOT make "good music?"



He was only hated by John Densmore . Kreiger was neutral to him and Manzarek particularly liked him. Then again, Kreiger was the quiet one, and in my opinion the true musical (not lyrical) genius of the Doors. Little known fact that Kreiger actually wrote Light My Fire, even though it's credited to all four Doors.
 
Yeah, I know man...I saw the movie. Pack o' lies that it was...gods, if I saw that Indian one more time, I was gonna strangle Oliver Stone...


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"There seem to be quite a large percentage of young American boys out there tonight. A long way from home, eh? Well so are we... Gotta stick together." -I. Anderson


Posted By: MonkeyphoneAlex
Date Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:53
Densmore never hated Morrison.  They sort-of had a love-hate relationship, but Densmore thought of Jim as his brother.  I just finished John's bio of his time with the Doors.  Excellent read, btw.  The Doors are one of my all-time favorite bands, there's nobody else quite like 'em.  And as for American epics, how 'bout.......  Free Bird?  Dead

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"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST."
-FZ


Posted By: Zargus
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 08:42
Well they only made 6 albums and imo they are all gold, so you cant realy go wrong with any of em yust buy em all in whatever order you like. Smile

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Posted By: Prog-jester
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 08:51
awesome band and Jim is a cult



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