How Do You Rate The Doors?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by A Saucerful of Scarlets, Aug 16, 2018.

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  1. HfxBob

    HfxBob Forum Resident

    His keyboards are very very prominent, there's no question about that.

    But I think their songs had a totality that was much bigger than that, and that in fact the strongest impressions of all were generated by Morrison's voice and personality and by the melody, lyrics and mood/feel/atmosphere of the song.
     
  2. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    It's just my opinion for me. Maybe others share it. Isn't that why we're here.
     
  3. uzn007

    uzn007 Pack Rat

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    Exactly. I, too, often measure a band's greatness by whether or not J_D was aware of them as a child.
     
  4. ZiggyZipgun

    ZiggyZipgun Camp Counselor

  5. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Your original statement, in response to someone who said "The Doors are the second best band from the US, behind Creedence," was "Two bands that didn't last five years. I'd have to go with Tom Petty and REM."

    I posed the question "What does how long a band lasted have to do with the quality of the music they produced during that time?"

    Your answer was "I just think length of a career is part of the equation. The longer the career, the bigger opportuntiy you have to reach a larger audience" — which doesn't really speak to any qualities of greatness at all, just how many people have been exposed to the artist.

    When someone pointed out that your comment doesn't make sense, you replied "Sure it makes sense. I was born in 1965. While the Beatles were on the radio I missed their break through in the mid-60s. Had they remained a group into the 70s, I would have been more aware of them."

    So now an artist's greatness not only doesn't depend upon any of that artist's actual qualities — or even on how long they were around. No, it depends upon your awareness of them.

    Forgive those of us who find this to be rather thin criteria for judging greatness.

    I understand that personal opinion figures into all of this. But an opinion still has to be based on something.

    Also, while opinions may vary from individual to individual, there is common agreement that certain artists are "great" amongst fairly large numbers of people. If asked to explain the reasons why they were great, I can't imagine the first reason any of them would state is "Because they were together for a long time" — any more than they would say that certain other artists can't be "great" because their careers only spanned a small number of years.
     
  6. ZiggyZipgun

    ZiggyZipgun Camp Counselor

    All of that aside, his comment was a ridiculous thing to say because everyone is very aware of The Beatles. It's like wondering who on this planet has yet to hear of Jesus. He didn't have a long career, and he didn't really have a wide audience at the time, but for better or worse, just about everyone has heard all about him. And despite getting a 1,924-year head start, The Beatles are bigger.
     
    HfxBob likes this.
  7. When In Rome

    When In Rome It's far from being all over...

    Location:
    UK
    How Do You Rate The Doors?
    If they open first time without squeaking or sticking they'll do for me...

    :D

    I went for 'Great, one of which I’m a big fan of'. I've got the core albums but I don't go for the Doors archival sets. However, that debut album is fantastic; though my actual favourite is probably 'Strange Days'...
     
  8. uzn007

    uzn007 Pack Rat

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    LOL.

    "They allow me to exit and enter my home."
     
  9. A Saucerful of Scarlets

    A Saucerful of Scarlets Commenter Turned Viewer Thread Starter

    Yeah, it's a Doors thread, but the title invites anyone, including people who might hate them. I don't think it's biased, especially when I'm giving people free reign to bash the band, an opportunity I doubt people will get anywhere else without being criticised for it.
     
  10. ZiggyZipgun

    ZiggyZipgun Camp Counselor

    This thread put me on a Doors kick for the past few days, and once I got around to the love albums, I realized I'd completely forgotten about "Celebration of the Lizard." A 14-minute-long song-cycle sequential-narrative with spoken-word poetry, jazz organ interludes, and more diminished chords than you'll likely find anywhere since the advent of rock and roll - if that's not Prog Rock, I don't know what is.

     
    Encuentro likes this.
  11. California Couple

    California Couple dislike us on facebook

    Location:
    Newport Beach
    Just a side note on popularity.

    Mary Had a Little Lamb has been around for 188 years. It will probably be around long after Doors songs are forgotten. And it will probably still be around when Bowie and Beatle songs are long forgotten.

    Unless you think mommies will sing to their babies "Come on baby light my fire".
    Or
    "Baby you can drive my car"
    Or
    "We're the goon squad and we're coming to town"
     
  12. HfxBob

    HfxBob Forum Resident

    I see no reason to assume that songs by the Beatles, Bowie and the Doors will be 'long forgotten' some day. I think it's much more likely that they live in perpetuity just as other art has and will continue to do.
     
  13. They were great. Chemistry to spare between the four of them. Some definitive songs of the era. Their oeuvre wasn't without some mis-steps.... and whose isn't? Six albums (was it six or five?) was enough. They may've embarrassed their legacy if they'd done more. Jim checked out at the right time!
     
    marklamb likes this.
  14. California Couple

    California Couple dislike us on facebook

    Location:
    Newport Beach
    Totally agree with that.

    The dead thing question is not so much if Jim is still alive TODAY. The guy would be 74. He could have died in his 50's for all we know.
    The question is IF he died in Paris. There is zero proof that he did. Either way he is not coming back and making music.
     
    marklamb likes this.
  15. California Couple

    California Couple dislike us on facebook

    Location:
    Newport Beach
    It is possible. We have Vivaldi music today that goes back to 1705.

    Yellow Submarine could become The Beatles most famous work, as like Mary's Lamb, mothers could sing it to their children a hundred years from now.
     
  16. Noonie

    Noonie Exploring music is a gift

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    When I want something...different, The Doors deliver. I don’t have a huge music collection, but it’s diverse (classic rock, prog, alt, 80’s synth, grunge, punk, jazz), but The Doors seem unique, like a separate genre.
     
  17. steviebee

    steviebee Always playing Ese and The Vooduu People

    Location:
    London, England
    Oh yes. When I first heard them on UK radio in 67 or early 68 (Light My Fire, album length) and in the following months, they were so different to what else I was listening to ( Airplane etc).

    More like theatre than rock. A sense of the dramatic, of bigger things just outside my experience. From that first hearing of LMF, I was intrigued and soon after, hooked. My favourite band ever since.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2019
  18. jeffd7030

    jeffd7030 I can't complain, but sometimes I still do.

    Location:
    Hampden, ME
  19. Leigh

    Leigh https://orf.media

    They're a band I loved in college and never, ever listen to anymore.
     
  20. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    I rate them fairly highly but not as much as Ray Manzarek.
     
  21. DavidP

    DavidP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edmonton, Alberta
    I used to like The Doors and had all their albums when I was in my teens and early 20s and listened to them regularly but some 30 years later I find their music unlistenable and Morrison's "poetry" laughable. Other than Light My Fire it is mostly dreadful stuff with little redeeming value.
     
    uzn007 likes this.
  22. happydeathman

    happydeathman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland, UK
    Great band. They captured the zeitgeist of the post surf-rock ,west-coast scene.

    Unfortunately the legend and myth of The Lizard King transcended the band, which was to their creative detriment.
     
  23. ZiggyZipgun

    ZiggyZipgun Camp Counselor

    The kind of people that can take the mythology of a band seriously don't deserve good music.
     
  24. steviebee

    steviebee Always playing Ese and The Vooduu People

    Location:
    London, England
    I would not describe Light My Fire as a Morrison poem....

    This is, however:

    "Fall down
    Strange gods arrive in fast enemy poses.
    Their shirts are soft marrying
    cloth and hair together.
    All along their arms ornaments
    conceal veins bluer than blood
    pretending welcome.
    Soft lizard eyes connect.
    Their soft drained insect cries erect
    new fear where fears reign.
    The rustling of sex against their skin.
    The wind withdraws all sound.
    Stamp your witness on the punished ground."

    Up there with McClure, even Ferlinghetti I reckon.

    Morrison was not a great poet imho. But some of his stuff is very fine and of its' times.
     
  25. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

    I like "Hello, I Love You" and that's about it.
     
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