Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Dec 25, 2010 10:29:28 GMT
The Doors Legacy?, ....not the stupid album but rather the concept!
The Doors Legacy! What is it actually. Does it Exist and should we even care?
45 years on from the formation of The Doors we find ourselves perhaps at a crossroads as the 21st century begins to affect our view of what is and what is not acceptable with the history of that great art form….rock music.
A Legacy .....at it's most basic is an inheritance...... something left for the next generation.....passed on from generation to generation protected and nurtured for future ages to enjoy.
So what do we see as the Legacy of The Doors. What are we trying to leave behind for those 40 or 50 years in the future to marvel and wonder at?
For me I see it more as what we The Doors fans perceive our favourite bands legacy to be which is where it gets confusing and the definition goes out the window a tad.
The custodians of that legacy seem to see it differently and use it for short-term gain and a quick buck. Or at least that’s the way many of us perceive it.
Perception is always something that makes you a bit uncomfortable. Of course shoes and clothing tie ins along with endlessly regurgitating the music until it becomes meaningless in some quarters does not help that perception.
This is The Doors idea of Legacy. An overpriced Best Of with a rare track to ensure you buy.
For decades now I had perceived The Doors to be the most innovative unique band ever. One that put its art and integrity of that art above all the money grubbing that so many fall into. Epitomised by one James Douglas Morrison both Myth and Man! He is the yardstick by which I for one measure The Doors Legacy.
I have watched band after band I love sell themselves to the business world with TV adverts and reform endlessly under the lure of the nostalgia bandwagon, that makes so much money for everybody, until the sight of their aging carcasses taking the stage trying desperately to be what they were as young men becomes embarrassing and rock music (which I happen to take very very seriously by the way) becomes reduced to the level of parody rather than a serious art form which it is.
Take for example the classical set who have always sneered at our music yet are always ready to make a buck out of their pretentious interpretations of it which reduce the form to a level of amusement for these music snobs.
The earliest form of remixing rock music if you like and one that has always made me angry!
I always hoped The Doors would stay above that but I guess as they say nothing really is sacred! The unique way The Doors worked was for me part of that legacy and as long as one disagreed then it never happened. I liked that idea for a rock band and admired Morrison a lot for bringing it to the Doors.
But I guess the more you tend to get the more you tend to want......who can say that Jim Morrison would not have gone down the same road as many after him and sold his integrity for a Mansion On The Hill in his autumn years?
I don't agree with the argument that the remixing of The Doors brings the legacy to new generations as Crystal Method, BT and Paul Edge distort the music into what the X Box generation want it to be for their convenience rather than taking the trouble to discover the music for what it actually is. I think what they do is rather lazy as instead of discovering something new they alter it to become the same as everything else they listen to. So no real effort is taken in 'finding' that new music!
When I was young discovering new bands was sometimes rather challenging and did not always work out but when it did could be pretty damn satisfying as an achievement to get into a new band radically different from your faves.
Now they add a bass drum beat to it and it all sounds the same as all the other stuff. I don't say it's all bad..... as music is never a clear cut argument.
Oddly enough I happen to have liked Snoop Doggs 'Riders On The Storm' which I think is a fine tribute to Jim from a music genre I happen to have no love for.
That's the paradox of it all that reduces all our arguments to absurdity......at the end of the day some of us perceive the Doors to be something different to what others perceive The Doors to be.
We see labels like purist or hardcore bandied about, which are terms I for one hate , as if caring enough about what the legacy of your favourite rock band is seen as is akin to being some kind of insane fundamentalist.
When rich people sit around discussing Opera over a gin and tonic they are seen as urbane, elegant, highly cultured individuals but stick a bunch of people in a pub discussing Rock over a beer and we get looked at as a bunch of crude unrefined yobs to be very wary of.....a good example of perception....but I for one take my Rock music as seriously as any Opera fan and can engage in just as intelligent discussion of it as they can.....I take the Legacy of my favourite band (or what I perceive to be the legacy of my favourite band) as seriously as any aficionado of Götterdämmerung!
And there is the rub!
We use the word but we tend to have different views on what it means.....to me it's not about selling stuff via games or adverts or by some bloke interpreting what’s there to suit whatever he is flogging in a night club but about preserving the art for new people to discover or not at their own pace and at whatever level they choose to discover it. Some look no further than the enjoyment of the music......some get a bit more involved.....
The Doors to me were all about the music for many years as well as the lifestyles of the lead characters in that drama. I am a recent addition to the poetical side of the band. The jazz bit I got and the drama bit I got the blues bit I was always into but the poetry was something I was never that taken with.
So even an old fool like me can discover something new about the Doors given the time and putting in the effort.
I would equate the people I call Doors PLC akin to curators of a museum of natural history. Those guys don't alter the exhibits to make them more trendy or chic for the patrons .....they simply present them as what they are and let those patrons either gaze in wonder or move on to the next room.
They don't stick a skateboard under T Rex's arm or shove an I Pod on his head to attract the kids....the custodians of the Doors should not do that either.
The music has done rather well this last 40 years without remixes by DJs or rappers and hopefully will do so for the next 40.
The History of the band and the legacy that History left should be protected by these people as well as shared with those of us who care about that History.
It is indeed a rich Legacy consisting of an aural, written, oral and cinematic component as well as a human component which equates as us the fans.
A History that though short was fascinating and rather than just be forgotten except for a few amusing anecdotes that lose veracity as every decade passes by should be embraced and collected and protected.
Rock music suffers sometimes because it is seen as having little depth and substance but it is an art form that has survived and flourished for over 50 years and grows with every passing day. How much substance does it need to be taken seriously?
I'm not some old fashioned ex hippy who is stuck in the 60s time loop by any means ....I love plenty of music from the 21st century.....I am a rocker and I love the music but one band alone stands there as special to me above all others and it happens to be this one!
Don't make a joke out of my band for the sake of a few dollars...protect the Legacy...(whatevethehell that is) and spread the word with the music not the stylish quick fixes of the week that may make a few kids in a nightclub Doors fans for a few months.
So what do you feel about The Doors Legacy?
What do you think that Legacy actually is?
Do you feel it is being protected and looked after by its guardians or do you think it is being exploited and diluted for that very short term profit.
Do you think The Doors Legacy will even survive and make it to the next century?
When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see things as they truly are, infinite. .......which is what all this shit was about in the first place..
The Doors Legacy! What is it actually. Does it Exist and should we even care?
45 years on from the formation of The Doors we find ourselves perhaps at a crossroads as the 21st century begins to affect our view of what is and what is not acceptable with the history of that great art form….rock music.
A Legacy .....at it's most basic is an inheritance...... something left for the next generation.....passed on from generation to generation protected and nurtured for future ages to enjoy.
So what do we see as the Legacy of The Doors. What are we trying to leave behind for those 40 or 50 years in the future to marvel and wonder at?
For me I see it more as what we The Doors fans perceive our favourite bands legacy to be which is where it gets confusing and the definition goes out the window a tad.
The custodians of that legacy seem to see it differently and use it for short-term gain and a quick buck. Or at least that’s the way many of us perceive it.
Perception is always something that makes you a bit uncomfortable. Of course shoes and clothing tie ins along with endlessly regurgitating the music until it becomes meaningless in some quarters does not help that perception.
This is The Doors idea of Legacy. An overpriced Best Of with a rare track to ensure you buy.
For decades now I had perceived The Doors to be the most innovative unique band ever. One that put its art and integrity of that art above all the money grubbing that so many fall into. Epitomised by one James Douglas Morrison both Myth and Man! He is the yardstick by which I for one measure The Doors Legacy.
I have watched band after band I love sell themselves to the business world with TV adverts and reform endlessly under the lure of the nostalgia bandwagon, that makes so much money for everybody, until the sight of their aging carcasses taking the stage trying desperately to be what they were as young men becomes embarrassing and rock music (which I happen to take very very seriously by the way) becomes reduced to the level of parody rather than a serious art form which it is.
Take for example the classical set who have always sneered at our music yet are always ready to make a buck out of their pretentious interpretations of it which reduce the form to a level of amusement for these music snobs.
The earliest form of remixing rock music if you like and one that has always made me angry!
I always hoped The Doors would stay above that but I guess as they say nothing really is sacred! The unique way The Doors worked was for me part of that legacy and as long as one disagreed then it never happened. I liked that idea for a rock band and admired Morrison a lot for bringing it to the Doors.
But I guess the more you tend to get the more you tend to want......who can say that Jim Morrison would not have gone down the same road as many after him and sold his integrity for a Mansion On The Hill in his autumn years?
I don't agree with the argument that the remixing of The Doors brings the legacy to new generations as Crystal Method, BT and Paul Edge distort the music into what the X Box generation want it to be for their convenience rather than taking the trouble to discover the music for what it actually is. I think what they do is rather lazy as instead of discovering something new they alter it to become the same as everything else they listen to. So no real effort is taken in 'finding' that new music!
When I was young discovering new bands was sometimes rather challenging and did not always work out but when it did could be pretty damn satisfying as an achievement to get into a new band radically different from your faves.
Now they add a bass drum beat to it and it all sounds the same as all the other stuff. I don't say it's all bad..... as music is never a clear cut argument.
Oddly enough I happen to have liked Snoop Doggs 'Riders On The Storm' which I think is a fine tribute to Jim from a music genre I happen to have no love for.
That's the paradox of it all that reduces all our arguments to absurdity......at the end of the day some of us perceive the Doors to be something different to what others perceive The Doors to be.
We see labels like purist or hardcore bandied about, which are terms I for one hate , as if caring enough about what the legacy of your favourite rock band is seen as is akin to being some kind of insane fundamentalist.
When rich people sit around discussing Opera over a gin and tonic they are seen as urbane, elegant, highly cultured individuals but stick a bunch of people in a pub discussing Rock over a beer and we get looked at as a bunch of crude unrefined yobs to be very wary of.....a good example of perception....but I for one take my Rock music as seriously as any Opera fan and can engage in just as intelligent discussion of it as they can.....I take the Legacy of my favourite band (or what I perceive to be the legacy of my favourite band) as seriously as any aficionado of Götterdämmerung!
And there is the rub!
We use the word but we tend to have different views on what it means.....to me it's not about selling stuff via games or adverts or by some bloke interpreting what’s there to suit whatever he is flogging in a night club but about preserving the art for new people to discover or not at their own pace and at whatever level they choose to discover it. Some look no further than the enjoyment of the music......some get a bit more involved.....
The Doors to me were all about the music for many years as well as the lifestyles of the lead characters in that drama. I am a recent addition to the poetical side of the band. The jazz bit I got and the drama bit I got the blues bit I was always into but the poetry was something I was never that taken with.
So even an old fool like me can discover something new about the Doors given the time and putting in the effort.
I would equate the people I call Doors PLC akin to curators of a museum of natural history. Those guys don't alter the exhibits to make them more trendy or chic for the patrons .....they simply present them as what they are and let those patrons either gaze in wonder or move on to the next room.
They don't stick a skateboard under T Rex's arm or shove an I Pod on his head to attract the kids....the custodians of the Doors should not do that either.
The music has done rather well this last 40 years without remixes by DJs or rappers and hopefully will do so for the next 40.
The History of the band and the legacy that History left should be protected by these people as well as shared with those of us who care about that History.
It is indeed a rich Legacy consisting of an aural, written, oral and cinematic component as well as a human component which equates as us the fans.
A History that though short was fascinating and rather than just be forgotten except for a few amusing anecdotes that lose veracity as every decade passes by should be embraced and collected and protected.
Rock music suffers sometimes because it is seen as having little depth and substance but it is an art form that has survived and flourished for over 50 years and grows with every passing day. How much substance does it need to be taken seriously?
I'm not some old fashioned ex hippy who is stuck in the 60s time loop by any means ....I love plenty of music from the 21st century.....I am a rocker and I love the music but one band alone stands there as special to me above all others and it happens to be this one!
Don't make a joke out of my band for the sake of a few dollars...protect the Legacy...(whatevethehell that is) and spread the word with the music not the stylish quick fixes of the week that may make a few kids in a nightclub Doors fans for a few months.
So what do you feel about The Doors Legacy?
What do you think that Legacy actually is?
Do you feel it is being protected and looked after by its guardians or do you think it is being exploited and diluted for that very short term profit.
Do you think The Doors Legacy will even survive and make it to the next century?
When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see things as they truly are, infinite. .......which is what all this shit was about in the first place..