Stronger Than Dirt

For some reason I cannot comprehend, today I had an unusual urge to listen to Strange Days by The Doors. Anyone who knows me knows I'm fairly fixated on music, especially the rock'n'roll of the 60s, so I guess that's not so odd on its face. However, while I loved them when I was 14, I've spent my adult life goofing on The Doors for being ponderous, pretentious, pompous and incredibly dated. What seemed poignant and significant and poetic during the days of LSD, Vietnam, LBJ and riots now tends to seem...well, bloated as all get-out.

Granted, a good chunk of that perception surely came from Oliver Stone's godawful film The Doors. Somehow Stone, who actually lived through Vietnam and the 60s, got the idea that The Doors were the cultural leaders of the era. Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and John Lennon probably got a hearty belly laugh over that one. Anyway, Stone's artistic crimes, while numerous, are not those of Messrs. Morrison, Densmore, Manzarek and Kreiger, so I should be fair. It is telling, though, that Morrison and Stone both share a lack of subtlety and grace.

Another knock I always had against The Doors was Morrison's image - the doomed genius poet. Okay, Jim Morrison was a published poet, there's no way around that, it's a fact. It's also a fact that he was a really, really BAD poet. Okay, maybe that's opinion and not fact, but jeez louise, his poetry reeks, and I've never met anyone beyond a teenager or stoned out ex-hippie who thinks otherwise. Hey, so Morrison's poetry was bad and his song lyrics occasionally suffered from the same pomposity and mystical mumbo-jumbo...but is that so awful for an acid-rock band? I mean, I love Traffic, and their lyrics are just as psychedelically silly (Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys? Sure thing, Steve.), although perhaps not as portentious.

Now that I've bashed Morrison for his James Dean-on-acid posing and crap poetry, I should give him his props for what he was really good at - singing in a rock'n'roll band. He was a fantastic front man: charismatic, handsome, great voice, slightly insane, danced around, exposed himself--what more could you want?

And this is what brings me back to the beginning of what I was saying...The Doors, divorced from all the added "meaning" applied to them by their times and their dopey cult following, remain a really interesting, influential rock'n'roll band. They cut some great singles and some terrific albums. When you get away from all that cultural baggage, they're a lot of fun. So I'm sitting here listening to Strange Days and The Soft Parade, after not having listened to a full Doors album since...jeez...college, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. No, I'm not going to confuse The Soft Parade with Beggar's Banquet or Highway 61 Revisited , but it's a fun listen. I've finally made peace with the goddamn Doors and that ridiculous Jim Morrison. Tell all the people.