Post by tzinana on Aug 13, 2005 6:41:13 GMT
"L.A.'s Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band--Who Is It?"
By ROBERT HILBURN
Los Angeles Times
August 21, 1988
So what's Los Angeles' greatest rock band ever?
...
Calendar polled 34 pop industry insiders to come up with the answer--and the winner is… the Doors.
The reasons behind the Doors' finish varied considerably.
Some scholarly minded voters spoke about the haunting or innovative nature of the Doors' songs, while others gave more personal or--primal--views.
In voting for the Doors, Dayle Gloria, co-owner of the underground nightclub the Scream, suggested, "Jim Morrison was the ultimate frontman. . . . There's never been anybody cuter in rock or . . . who looked better in leather pants."
...
Morrison, That's All
Jim Morrison wasn't alone in the Doors, but the controversial lead singer dominates any discussion of the group. His fame was built by his charisma as a performer, his provocative lyrics and--for many—his role as a rock martyr.
Son of a Navy rear admiral, Morrison, attended film classes at UCLA briefly before joining the Doors and pursuing the extremes of the rock 'n' roll experience with a fury that caused him to be described as a "demonic vision out of a medieval Hellmouth."
Morrison wanted to test the "bounds of reality," as he put it, and he conducted those tests on stage—where he was once arrested for drunkenness and lewd conduct--and in his personal life, which was sometimes a fascinating, sometimes sad blend of innocence and
excess.
Though Morrison died of a heart attack--at age 27—in 1971, his image and his work with the Doors still intrigue rock fans. A 1980 Morrison biography was a best-seller and a film is in the works.
In a 1981 report on Morrison's continuing spell on the rock audience, Rolling Stone magazine came up with one of its most famous headlines. Next to Morrison's
picture on the cover were the words, "He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead."
Here are how some members of the Calendar panel see him:
Paul Atkinson, senior vice president of artists and repertoire for RCA Records and former member of the British rock group the Zombies, calls Morrison the "quintessential rock idol."
Ron Oberman, vice president of artists and repertoire for Columbia Records, believes that the Doors' music and Morrison, unlike so many figures from the '60s, remain relevant today. "Look at pictures or videos of Morrison . . . his look, his attitude. . . . It all stands up," he said. "He could easily be singing today, fronting someone like Guns N' Roses."
Agrees Tom Zutaut, who signed Guns N' Roses at Geffen Records: "Ever since I moved here in 1980, I keep hearing how some hot new band contains the 'new' Jim Morrison. That's always the (reference point). So, I have to figure that if he created that much of a
vibe--where people are still trying to find the next Jim Morrison after all these years, I've got to figure that the Doors and Jim Morrison must have been the most important thing ever to come out of Los Angeles."
Penelope Spheeris, the film director whose works include highly regarded documentaries on the L.A. punk and heavy-metal scenes, also stresses the Doors'relevance to much of today's young rock audience.
"But there was also something else that the Doors did in the beginning," she said. "I look at rock 'n' roll trends as reactions to society's moral mind set at a certain time and the Doors had something to offer that was missing in the flower-child movement of the '60s:
sexuality."
There was, however, more to the Doors than Morrison. His partners--keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore--built a sound
around a haunting update of the blues that mirrored with sometimes chilling detail the recklessness and experimental quest outlined in Morrison's often forbidding lyrics.
Like many judges, Bill Hein, co-owner of Enigma Records, spoke of the dark edges in the Doors' music. "I was still in junior high when I first heard 'Light My Fire,' but it was amazing . . . like nothing I had ever heard before. There was something sinister, yet intelligent . . . something not exactly evil, but very dark."
Added Jim Ladd, an 18-year veteran of rock radio in Los Angeles, "To me, the Doors have always represented the mystery and the magic of L.A. . . . kind of the madness of it as well. They had more influence on me than any band . . . save maybe the Beatles."
Not everyone on the panel, however, was enthralled with the Doors.
Bob Merlis, vice president of publicity at Warner Bros. Records, called them "too ponderous."
Ken Barnes, editor of Radio & Records magazine, agreed. "I just find them really overblown, overrated. To me, the music doesn't hold up well. There's a lot of pretension and not that much substance. But my feelings are partly a reaction to the way they have
ben canonized by so many people. I don't think they really deserve it."
The Greatest Vote
Total 1st-Place "Top-5"
Points* Votes Votes
1. Doors 113 15 26
2. Beach Boys 86 12 20
3. Eagles 58 3 17
4. Byrds 51 2 14
5. Buffalo Springfield 21 -- 9
Van Halen 21 -- 12
7. Little Feat 17 1 5
8. Tom Petty/
Heartbreakers 13 -- 5
9. Love 12 -- 6
10. X 10 -- 6
Captain Beefheart 10 -- 3
Fleetwood Mac 10 -- 3
Frank Zappa/Mothers 10 -- 3
14. Motley Crue 8 -- 3
15. Turtles 7 -- 2
16. Steely Dan 6 -- 3
17. Bangles 5 -- 3
18. Wall of Voodoo 5 -- 2
19. Doobie Brothers 5 1 1
20. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
By ROBERT HILBURN
Los Angeles Times
August 21, 1988
So what's Los Angeles' greatest rock band ever?
...
Calendar polled 34 pop industry insiders to come up with the answer--and the winner is… the Doors.
The reasons behind the Doors' finish varied considerably.
Some scholarly minded voters spoke about the haunting or innovative nature of the Doors' songs, while others gave more personal or--primal--views.
In voting for the Doors, Dayle Gloria, co-owner of the underground nightclub the Scream, suggested, "Jim Morrison was the ultimate frontman. . . . There's never been anybody cuter in rock or . . . who looked better in leather pants."
...
Morrison, That's All
Jim Morrison wasn't alone in the Doors, but the controversial lead singer dominates any discussion of the group. His fame was built by his charisma as a performer, his provocative lyrics and--for many—his role as a rock martyr.
Son of a Navy rear admiral, Morrison, attended film classes at UCLA briefly before joining the Doors and pursuing the extremes of the rock 'n' roll experience with a fury that caused him to be described as a "demonic vision out of a medieval Hellmouth."
Morrison wanted to test the "bounds of reality," as he put it, and he conducted those tests on stage—where he was once arrested for drunkenness and lewd conduct--and in his personal life, which was sometimes a fascinating, sometimes sad blend of innocence and
excess.
Though Morrison died of a heart attack--at age 27—in 1971, his image and his work with the Doors still intrigue rock fans. A 1980 Morrison biography was a best-seller and a film is in the works.
In a 1981 report on Morrison's continuing spell on the rock audience, Rolling Stone magazine came up with one of its most famous headlines. Next to Morrison's
picture on the cover were the words, "He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead."
Here are how some members of the Calendar panel see him:
Paul Atkinson, senior vice president of artists and repertoire for RCA Records and former member of the British rock group the Zombies, calls Morrison the "quintessential rock idol."
Ron Oberman, vice president of artists and repertoire for Columbia Records, believes that the Doors' music and Morrison, unlike so many figures from the '60s, remain relevant today. "Look at pictures or videos of Morrison . . . his look, his attitude. . . . It all stands up," he said. "He could easily be singing today, fronting someone like Guns N' Roses."
Agrees Tom Zutaut, who signed Guns N' Roses at Geffen Records: "Ever since I moved here in 1980, I keep hearing how some hot new band contains the 'new' Jim Morrison. That's always the (reference point). So, I have to figure that if he created that much of a
vibe--where people are still trying to find the next Jim Morrison after all these years, I've got to figure that the Doors and Jim Morrison must have been the most important thing ever to come out of Los Angeles."
Penelope Spheeris, the film director whose works include highly regarded documentaries on the L.A. punk and heavy-metal scenes, also stresses the Doors'relevance to much of today's young rock audience.
"But there was also something else that the Doors did in the beginning," she said. "I look at rock 'n' roll trends as reactions to society's moral mind set at a certain time and the Doors had something to offer that was missing in the flower-child movement of the '60s:
sexuality."
There was, however, more to the Doors than Morrison. His partners--keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore--built a sound
around a haunting update of the blues that mirrored with sometimes chilling detail the recklessness and experimental quest outlined in Morrison's often forbidding lyrics.
Like many judges, Bill Hein, co-owner of Enigma Records, spoke of the dark edges in the Doors' music. "I was still in junior high when I first heard 'Light My Fire,' but it was amazing . . . like nothing I had ever heard before. There was something sinister, yet intelligent . . . something not exactly evil, but very dark."
Added Jim Ladd, an 18-year veteran of rock radio in Los Angeles, "To me, the Doors have always represented the mystery and the magic of L.A. . . . kind of the madness of it as well. They had more influence on me than any band . . . save maybe the Beatles."
Not everyone on the panel, however, was enthralled with the Doors.
Bob Merlis, vice president of publicity at Warner Bros. Records, called them "too ponderous."
Ken Barnes, editor of Radio & Records magazine, agreed. "I just find them really overblown, overrated. To me, the music doesn't hold up well. There's a lot of pretension and not that much substance. But my feelings are partly a reaction to the way they have
ben canonized by so many people. I don't think they really deserve it."
The Greatest Vote
Total 1st-Place "Top-5"
Points* Votes Votes
1. Doors 113 15 26
2. Beach Boys 86 12 20
3. Eagles 58 3 17
4. Byrds 51 2 14
5. Buffalo Springfield 21 -- 9
Van Halen 21 -- 12
7. Little Feat 17 1 5
8. Tom Petty/
Heartbreakers 13 -- 5
9. Love 12 -- 6
10. X 10 -- 6
Captain Beefheart 10 -- 3
Fleetwood Mac 10 -- 3
Frank Zappa/Mothers 10 -- 3
14. Motley Crue 8 -- 3
15. Turtles 7 -- 2
16. Steely Dan 6 -- 3
17. Bangles 5 -- 3
18. Wall of Voodoo 5 -- 2
19. Doobie Brothers 5 1 1
20. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young