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When You’re Strange

I just watched the Doors documentary “When You’re Strange”.

If you know nothing of the Doors you must see this movie. If you know a little about them but don’t get what the fuss is/was about, you must see this movie. If you like them, love them or hate them you must see this movie.

I was not even a twinkle in Mr. Morrison’s eye when the Doors were born, but I was a kid when they had their first resurgence of popularity spurned by the bestselling book “No One Here Gets Out Alive” and a reissue of their greatest hits. They were everywhere in the eighties. Jim Morrison had been dead for years but stoner kids talked about Jim being in hiding and waiting for the right time for his mojo to rise. “No One Here Gets Out Alive” was a must read for any good stoner and rock fan. The largely horrific music of the eighties (Police, U2 and a few others aside, of course) and god forsaken trends like break dancing caused lonely rock lovers to retreat to the past and yearn for a new musical/cultural explosion.

That explosion never happened –not in the 80’s anyway -but we felt it was about to when we tapped into the music of the Doors.  We was all ready to be Breakin’ on Through. Wasn’t long before Hollywood hopped on that bandwagon and made a movie about it.

But “When You’re Strange” doesn’t have a Val Kilmer trying to convince you of his Jim-ness; this has the real Jim Morrison. The whole time. (Except for this eerie opening sequence with a Morrison look-alike so realistic it’s downright creepy; you’d swear it’s real*).

And it doesn’t keep cutting away to present day interviews with the aging and creaky Doors and their managers/roommates/lovers all yakking about their take on what was and how it was all so ‘groovy’ man.  It just throws your trippin’ Alice right down that 60’s rabbit hole and never takes you out of it. The archival footage is stunning. The pacing is great and even narrator Johnny Depp doesn’t get in the way, he just tells you what happened while the footage and music actually takes you there in a way Oliver Stone couldn’t. Nothing like the real thing baby.

It is amazing how many songs these guys wrote that were just, well, good. I mean really, really good.  “Hello I Love You”, “Soul Kitchen”, “Love Me Two Times”, “Love Her Madly” to name a few. The biggest kicker is their epic hit ‘Light My Fire’ was written by then 22 year-old guitarist Robby Krieger and it was the first song he ever wrote.

Shut. Up.

Yep. Really. Yes, I’m creatively discouraged too. But that’s part of what this movie shows you; it wasn’t just about these guys being soooo talented or soooo creative, it’s that they were so much a part of that time which is a time that will doubt ever be repeated. It was cultural upheaval but also cultural explosion. And the Doors tapped into the darker side of it all. The side that pushed the boundaries, pushed them to the edge and pushed them right on over to that other side.  Or at least in the case of dead-at-27 Morrison anyway.

If the Beatles were like distant British gods raining heavenly music down on the masses, The Doors were like, “What if ‘the gods’ lived down the street and were just like you and me?” They were American, so instead of the quaint and fluffy “Penny Lane” you got “L.A. Woman”. Dirty, abused and uncomfortably familiar.

People often talk about the music of the 60’s and 70’s and ask why artists don’t write music like they did back then. It’s because they can’t; it’s impossible, the times were so much a part of the music and the music so much a part of the times. And you simply can’t repeat what happened at that point in western culture.

And the Doors found a unique voice to echo the spirit of that time as well as drive it.

There will never be another Doors because there never can be another Doors.  The 60’s were a time of such extreme musical and cultural innovation and exploration that even a novice musician like Krieger could tap in and come out with something that echoed the vibe of an entire sub-culture. Music and culture then were like waves; if you were in the right place at the right time, had just a bit of talent and made the effort to kick, you could end up on the ride of your life that people would talk about for decades.

Today, music and culture is more like a Jacuzzi; everything is everywhere coming from all directions and the mash-up is the norm. Jump in, get wet and see what happens. And then text me about it.

Careful though, you might drown. Like Jim. That much hasn’t changed.

*Update: Ah, no wonder it seemed so real. It was. It was from a short experimental film Morrison did in 1969. No wonder I was trippin’.

{ 10 comments… add one }
  • Julie Dworman August 12, 10:40 AM

    When I was in 9th grade, my English teacher always went on about how The Doors were his favorite band, and his stance was something like, “I think The Doors just made music better than everyone else and it can never be done again.” I didn’t get along that much with English teachers back then though, so I’ll take your recommendation into more serious account. Thanks Keith.

  • keith August 12, 11:11 AM

    No problem Julie. I think if you analyze their music strictly on a musical basis and compare it to other bands, past or present, (Beatles, Zep, Hendrix, Radiohead etc.) your teacher’s argument doesn’t stand up. BUT it’s not just the strict technical musical aspects, it’s the spirit of what they captured and the fact they were the first to do so. That coupled with the fact they did write great songs, have a completely unique sound and have quite the frontman. It was such a unique time in popular music and culture where music was such an integral part of reflecting the time as well as propelling it – that’s what I think your teacher my be saying can never be done again and with that I agree. I mean, are someone like the Kings of Leon going to go down in history as having this huge impact on music and culture? Doubtful.

    If you see the movie which I hope you do, you can see the how they laid the groundwork for what has now been done and done again – the unpredictable show and frontman (Cobain, Vedder), the ‘shock’ aspects (Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson), infusing poetry in the music (Henry Rollins, Adam Duritz), the list goes on…

  • jason August 12, 11:33 AM

    dont forget everyone’s favorite Polish keyboardist. no not chopin, Ray Manzarek! you hear all the vibey Vox Continental? that’s ray. hear all those bass lines? thats ray. search a bit farther to find the decent Golden Scarab solo album. but stop there, or else you’ll find the Carmina Burana remix. that one makes me sad =( kudos for throwing back to a classical piece, but Orff doesn’t belong on a disney parade.

    The only poster in my office is of The Doors. them’s good tunes. time to hunt down the documentary!

  • Jeff Shattuck August 12, 12:27 PM

    Cool post, and I will check out the movie.

    For me, I kind of knew about the Doors (we played Break on Through in my high school band) and then I saw Apocalypse Now and that opening scene set to The End made me look at the band all over again. Definitely original stuff, cool lyrics (mostly) and a killer image with the Lizard King out front. The only other band I’ve ever heard quite like them (in an imitative way) is Keane, whose album Hopes and Fears is pretty darn good.

    Strangest thing about the Doors, though, was how they walked a thin line between lounge schmatlz and rock, always being, at the very least, just on the rock side. To a casual listener, though, a lot of Doors tunes could sound like elevator music!

  • keith August 12, 7:00 PM

    Indeed. One could argue that Manzarek was the key to the door’s sound. Interesting that no one ever attempted to copy him. That opening riff to Light My Fire is still like…wow.

  • keith August 12, 7:10 PM

    Jeff- Touch Me and Love Her Madly indeed have a schmaltz vibe but with the Lizard king singing them they somehow pull it off. Maybe because even though they are loungey, they are still well written and catchy songs, not to mention back then anything would go. Plus they had ballsy tunes to counter the cheese like Soul Kitchen and Five to One. Soul Kitchen is like, “Hell Yeah”.

  • Bruce August 12, 9:38 PM

    Quite well done. It’s amazing that, even with a budget and all the hallucinatory hoo-ha of Stone’s film, he didn’t really get the actual drama of the band (Val Kilmer’s spot-on Morrison aside…)

  • Tim August 12, 9:56 PM

    I remember working in a grocery store in 81 as a bagger. I’m bagging groceries and here comes an issue of Rolling Stone with Morrison on the cover with the title “He’s Hot, He’s Sexy and He’s Dead”. That about says it all. Picture is here of the cover: http://i35.tinypic.com/2l7ynk.jpg. iTunes cranking some Doors now.

  • Chan August 14, 4:06 PM

    You’re freaking me out Keith! My wife and I just watched “When You’re Strange” August 12 from Netflix. Then I am reading my emails today and see the title of you post. For reasons I’ll never understand, my two older brothers gave me “LA Woman” as a birthday present in 1973. It wasnt’ really the type of music they were in to. I listened to it over and over and I nearly wore it out (that was back when you could actually wear out an album). Ray Manzarek’s keyboard talent is amazing. Many a night my wife and I fell asleep to “Riders on the Storm” back in our college days. I never really got the lyrics – they are strange.

  • keith August 14, 5:10 PM

    Such a vibe to “Riders…” that is a perfect song to zone out and sleep to. So…you liked the movie then? Took you right there eh?

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