People Are Strange, Even the Doors
Maybe it’s just me, but some pretty strange comments have come out of a couple of the remaining members of the Doors about Jim Morrison. Here’s the comments and who said them, with links to the actual interviews:
Keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, in answer to the question: “Do you think the Doors would have been nearly as big if you’d had an ugly lead singer?”
“Yes, because the music and the poetry are great. Don’t tell me you’ve been seduced by the physical presence and aura of Jim Morrison?”
My reaction: Get the hell outta here, Ray. Jim Morrison could have come on Ed Sullivan and sang the theme to the Micky Mouse Club for all the females in the audience cared. Sorry, Ray, but yes, we were seduced by the physical presence and aura and sexy voice of Jim Morrison. That boy was fine.
Ray Manzarek discusses new Doors documentary film
Robbie Krieger, partially in answer to the question “Why do you think the Doors have endured?”
“Besides the fact that the music is great….. we had high standards…. We sort of knew that Jim might not be around too long, so we had the feeling, ‘Hey, let’s keep recording. Let’s get as much as we can down before something happens.’ And it was true.”
My reaction: Let’s get as much out of Jim before he drops dead … wow! Not only is that incredibly messed up, Robbie, now it sounds like you all knew the music was not stand-alone great without Jim.
“Doors guitarist Robby Krieger recalls what it’s like “When You’re Strange”
Drummer, John Densmore, and director, Tom Decillo, also did an interview together with the director of the new documentary, Tom DeCillo. All of the Doors are pretty happy with the documentary, although John is the only one who was really happy with the Oliver Stone movie starring Val Kilmer. That’s only natural, since it was based on his book.
You gotta admit, if you play the “People Are Strange” video that Val Kilmer did a bang up job of getting Jim Morrison’s “physical presence and aura” down for the movie even though he’s not quite as fine as Jim was.
“When You’re Strange: A Film About the Doors,” runs 90 minutes and contains a lot of never before released footage and claims to show Jim Morrison as he really was, apart from all the hype. I want to see it just for that and, while it does have a strong emphasis on Morrison, it also illustrates the significance of the other band members. It is narrated by actor, Johnny Depp.
Well, as a male, I wasn’t “seduced by the physical presence and aura” of Morrison the way his female fans were, but he did have a certain charisma that made him stand out as a performer. It is unfortunate that no one in the band tried to get him to stop his self destructive lifestyle rather than take a “let’s milk it for all we can before he drops dead” approach. Maybe they (and we) could have had him around for much more music.
Sour sour grapes, right off the vine of success. C’mon you guys, get a different beverage already.
JIm was pretty, your group was a pretty damn good success story. Pretty people are in the media, you think that we would give a damn if Susan Boyle’s husband cheated on her? You guys are all old enough to know what makes the world go round. So I will remember the music and the pretty pretty boy who rocked on with all of you.