Opinion of The Doors

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I should do a graph correlating the fact that one posts here with their dislike of the Doors. I may need a third axes, but I'm beginning to see a disturbing trend, and it's making me think I should leave the forum.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

While I don't share his overall opinion of the band, I do agree with Oakvale that Touch Me is the best Doors song.

[they don't love you like i love you]

*read those lyrics*

Wow. Didn't Cathcon once make fun of Guy Picciotto's lyrics?

[Mopsus]

The instrumental content of their songs tended to be really unique and interesting, but Jim Morrison's lyrics were usually pretty lame. The band would have been better off if it were entirely instrumental.

Also, "Alabama Song" is definitely The Doors' best song. 

[angus]

Also, "Alabama Song" is definitely The Doors' best song. 

I like that song as well.  I was trying to think of what is my favorite Doors song.  Many good ones.  I suppose People are strange is my favorite at the moment, but others mentioned here are good as well.

I disagree about Morrison's lyrics being lame.  He was lame--deeply disturbed and deranged, haunted by many ghosts--but his poetry was not.  From his heroin- and alcohol-induced psychosis emerged some good writing.  Strange, for example, is haunting and memorable with its repetition and striking emphasis on the personal, yet rhetorically balanced.  Moreover, the way he sings it really emphases the strangeness.   

[Platypus]

Very good band, but loved to death. They're good, they're not messianic.

[Platypus]

Also, this is my favourite Doors song, and the lyrics are sh**thouse. It's all about the riff.

My eyes have seen you
My eyes have seen you
My eyes have seen you
Stand in your door
When we meet inside
Show me some more
Show me some more
Show me some more

My eyes have seen you
My eyes have seen you
My eyes have seen you
Turn and stare
Fix your hair
Move upstairs
Move upstairs
Move upstairs

My eyes have seen you
My eyes have seen you
My eyes have seen you
Free from disguise
Gazing on a city under
Television skies
Television skies
Television skies

My eyes have seen you
My eyes have seen you
Eyes have seen you
Let them photograph your soul
Memorize your alleys
On an endless roll
Endless roll [x 15]

[Velasco]

I hope you do realise the "Alabama Song" tune is not a Doors' composition, but a cover of a song written by Kurt Weill. Negative point for those guys who say it's a silly song

I don't think The Doors is among the best bands of all times. In my opinion the first album is good and the quality and interest of the following goes in descending order. I agree with the people saying that Jim Morrison wasn't a good writer. Another question is that he was an excellent and charismatic performer and the songs work insofar as he gives that pseudo-mystic wankery credibility on stage or in studio. I like some Manzarek and Krieger arrangements in certain songs.

[angus]

I don't think The Doors is among the best bands of all times.

Sure you're not a closet Yankee?  We always take situations in which a comparative is not only sufficient but also preferable, and turn them into excuses to use a superlative.  It's part of our culture, and not one of the better parts.

Well, as long as you bring it up, you're probably right.  I have also seen two high school marching bands and one philharmonic orchestra that were much better.  The John Coltrane Quartet must surely be among the best bands that ever existed.  I think the group the does strings covers of songs like "When I Come Around" is better.  Also, who can forget the festive dance tunes of The Jackson Five and, later, Michael Jackson?  

If you sort it by genre, however, The Doors do make the upper-echelon shortlists for "rock'n'roll" or "classic rock" or "70s rock."  For example, the Rolling Stones Magazine's 100 Greatest Artists issue ranked them at #41.  Not too shabby.

See, for example, this website:  

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231

[courts]

i loathe the '60s and 'classic rock' in general but people are strange is one of my favorite songs

[Velasco]

I don't think The Doors is among the best bands of all times.

Sure you're not a closet Yankee?  We always take situations in which a comparative is not only sufficient but also preferable, and turn them into excuses to use a superlative.  It's part of our culture, and not one of the better parts.

Fair point. Actually, what is proper to say is "The Doors is not amongst my favourite bands of all time". The emphasis is exaggerated and superlatives superfluous. I don't know why I have a certain tendency to make round statements when speaking about these subjects, maybe because music taste is very subjective and use to be associated with emotions and personal experiences. For example, I make an instant association between The Doors' music and the summer that followed my High School graduation examination. I spent a good part of those holidays in a countryside house with some friends; almost everyone was fan of the band and I used to like it too. Not bad memories, but perhaps I had an overexposure. A few years later my taste has evolved somewhat, but that's normal. The Doors are relevant in popular music, no doubt about it. Another question is how we measure "relevance", "talent", "quality", etc. My apologies for the superlatives.

That Rolling Stone Top 100 was interesting to watch (thanks for the link!), although it's rather shocking to me that Nine Inch Nails is in #94, some places above Curtis Mayfield, R.E.M and Talking Heads. I guess someone amongst that panel of "55 top musicians, writers and executives" must be a devoted fan, because I can't find an "objective" reason. I think The Doors  must be included in a list of "the most influential artists of the rock & roll era", regardless my subjective feeling, because they had a real impact in their time and many people adore them today. As for John Coltrane, someone borrowed me A Love Supreme a couple of years ago and words can't explain. Likely I wouldn't be able to appreciate that music when I was attending High School.

[angus]

I didn't investigate to see who those 55 were, but I had similar thoughts.  Where's RUSH and BB King?  Like you said, it is subjective.  I've always thought art in general is hard to judge.  Does it serve the purpose for which it was intended?  I watched the 1965 movie "The agony and the ecstasy" last night on TCM.  Charleton Heston plays Michelangelo Buonarroti who is hired by Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) to paint the ceiling of the sistine chapel after Julius becomes impatient with him for not being quicker with his marble tomb carving.  After Michelangelo's first attempt at painting the Apostles, he destroys his work and runs away to quarry marble.  Eventually he returns and convinces Julius to allow him to paint not just the panels of the ceiling, but the entire vault.  There were ups and downs, and some politics, sickness, sadness, and lots of inner struggle, with Michelangelo accused of blasphemy and heresy by portraying Pagan symbols and myths.  Raphael, a competitor, is asked to finish it at one point.  Michelangelo perseveres.  Even on his deathbed the Pope doesn't really seem satisfied with the painting.  He said that God and Adam seem too tranquil.  500 years later it is considered a masterpiece.

[freefair]

Enough great songs to fill a CD but still not THAT great. 6/10.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Neutral.  Although I think I know Cathcon's answer.

[Meursault]

Nine Inch Nails are better than Curtis Mayfield, and vastly better than some lame college rock band like R.E.M. YouTube "Just Like You Imagined" if you don't believe it.