from the LP The Doors, Elektra Records, 1967Fuck the naysayers, The Doors totally deserve their endless hype, in my humble opinion anyways; they might not have broken a ton of new ground musically speaking, but the combination of their minimal take on American blues matched with the Lizard King’s existential and debauched, bearded prose (not to mention his endearing, deep-bellied delivery) does something for me that no other band can, tapping into humanity’s animalistic nature with such efficacious success that one almost has to wonder if all the haters are just a bunch of uneasy prudes in bed… I know the surviving members are on record saying that Oliver Stone’s movie wasn’t very good / accurate, but they at least partially owe this never-ending second wave of fans to that film, in my estimation; I can clearly remember when it came out, in the spring of ’91, because over the course of a month’s time there were suddenly throngs of new, young hippies walking around the beach and mall. I was into them before that of course, and in fact, my mom is currently in possession of a very damning video-tape (VHS) where I’m lip-synching to “Light My Fire”, something which I should probably take back ownership of next time I visit the fam. Anyways, this track off the Doors’ debut album has never lost it’s appeal to me: upbeat, easy going music matched with sharp brilliant lyrics, “…the cars crawl past all stuffed with eyes, street lights share their hollow glow, your brain seems bruised with numb surprise; still one place to go, still one place to go…let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen, warm my mind near your gentle stove, turn me out and I'll wander baby, stumblin' in the neon groves…”
