Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jan 5, 2007 11:00:47 GMT
List your favourite John Densmore moments from 1965 to the present day. To make it difficult try to restrict it to 5 events in John's career that have impressed you.
1. The Butts Band first album 1974.
Considering that JD was formerly a member of America's greatest rock outfit it was a brave move to follow that with a reggae based band who were light years away from The Doors.
The debut album was a superb effort and bringing in Jess Roden a masterstroke. The band failed because of the fact it was based on two different continents NOT because of the music.
Best Butts Band moments are the fun Baja Bus and sublime Sweet Danger.
"We were in Jamaica, before reggae came here. The rightful geniuses of reggae--Marley, Jimmy Cliff and a few others--were coming to the States just after us, and they made a big impact and they should have. But we were on it before Clapton did "I Shot the Sheriff" or the Police or any of that. I remember saying to Kenny Edwards, Linda Ronstadt's bass player, 'Hey man, reggae--reggae's comin'. ' He said, 'Reggie?'" John Densmore
NB the 2nd American based incarnation of The Butts Band was crap!
2 John's Nation article.
Densmore was always number 4 with me when it came to ranking Doors personnel which is not a reflection on him but simply that bands drummer nearly always tended to get overlooked because they were usually sitting at the back and the action generally revolved round the singer and the guitar player. But The Nation Article changed all that. The Doors were beginning to lose the integrity that they were noted (even among those that did not like them) for and then John nailed his colours to the mast for all to see.
John Densmore was opposed to Doors music being used for commercial gain. NOT used in movies or for TV shows but used to endorse products. He and his two mates sold Jim out in 1968 with thier Buick antics but Densmore actually learned from that and is now the only Door between what few shreds of integrity The Doors have left and a vomit fest of Doors music being used to advertise crap.
Jim Morrison would have been proud of the drummer of The Doors..........I know I was!
3 The Doors @ The Beat Club 1972.
Obviously there are countless great John/Doors moments in existence but watching the Beat Club performance from a Bremen TV studio with no audience and no expectations is a delight as the band seem to revel in thier environment and have a bit of fun and play some nice songs and we are treated to the only film evidence of a really cool John Densmore drum solo during Ships w/ Sails.
I always like the way Jim and John seemed to be telepathically connected during The Doors live days and how John seemed to anticipate Morrison and seamlessly make his drum comments fit into Jim's unpredictable vocal style and Densmore's superb percussion style fit Jim's words so well but the baggage that went with Jim tended to take our eye of the other three and took its toll on all four Doors ............. Beat Club is a nice reminder that the musical side of The Doors was indeed as awesome as the lyrical side.
4. His Henhouse collaberation with Mike C Ford on Drummin'.
Mike C Ford who was asked to become the bands bass player in 1965 but instead turned them down to persue poetry gives us the history of jazz drumming in verse whilst Densmore provides a masterclass on the art of the very same moving effortlessly from the earliest days of jazz through to modern fusion and techno drumming.
Anyone into the Doors drummer who wants to study his technique should check this uttely amazing ten minutes out.
5. John's poetry reading at Book Soup to commemorate the fake 40th anniversary of The Doors in LA in November 2006.
This is a truly impressive moment as JD actually shows he remembers what it was all about 40 years later.
Whilst his two ex band mates thought that the best way to celebrate The Doors was to do a parody of the band at the Whisky John preferred to remember the literary/poetic heart that the band had with a poetry reading in a book-filled room to a small feast of friends. A tiny sublime moment in a sea of selling frenzy that remembered WHY the band was there in the first place and a fitting memorial to the fallen singer who wanted to be remembered as a poet NOT as the guy who sang Light My Fire, got drunk and flashed his dick.
John Densmore's stock soared that day and his place as the only Door who remembers what it was about was secured forever in 40 minutes of pure joy.
1. The Butts Band first album 1974.
Considering that JD was formerly a member of America's greatest rock outfit it was a brave move to follow that with a reggae based band who were light years away from The Doors.
The debut album was a superb effort and bringing in Jess Roden a masterstroke. The band failed because of the fact it was based on two different continents NOT because of the music.
Best Butts Band moments are the fun Baja Bus and sublime Sweet Danger.
"We were in Jamaica, before reggae came here. The rightful geniuses of reggae--Marley, Jimmy Cliff and a few others--were coming to the States just after us, and they made a big impact and they should have. But we were on it before Clapton did "I Shot the Sheriff" or the Police or any of that. I remember saying to Kenny Edwards, Linda Ronstadt's bass player, 'Hey man, reggae--reggae's comin'. ' He said, 'Reggie?'" John Densmore
NB the 2nd American based incarnation of The Butts Band was crap!
2 John's Nation article.
Densmore was always number 4 with me when it came to ranking Doors personnel which is not a reflection on him but simply that bands drummer nearly always tended to get overlooked because they were usually sitting at the back and the action generally revolved round the singer and the guitar player. But The Nation Article changed all that. The Doors were beginning to lose the integrity that they were noted (even among those that did not like them) for and then John nailed his colours to the mast for all to see.
John Densmore was opposed to Doors music being used for commercial gain. NOT used in movies or for TV shows but used to endorse products. He and his two mates sold Jim out in 1968 with thier Buick antics but Densmore actually learned from that and is now the only Door between what few shreds of integrity The Doors have left and a vomit fest of Doors music being used to advertise crap.
Jim Morrison would have been proud of the drummer of The Doors..........I know I was!
3 The Doors @ The Beat Club 1972.
Obviously there are countless great John/Doors moments in existence but watching the Beat Club performance from a Bremen TV studio with no audience and no expectations is a delight as the band seem to revel in thier environment and have a bit of fun and play some nice songs and we are treated to the only film evidence of a really cool John Densmore drum solo during Ships w/ Sails.
I always like the way Jim and John seemed to be telepathically connected during The Doors live days and how John seemed to anticipate Morrison and seamlessly make his drum comments fit into Jim's unpredictable vocal style and Densmore's superb percussion style fit Jim's words so well but the baggage that went with Jim tended to take our eye of the other three and took its toll on all four Doors ............. Beat Club is a nice reminder that the musical side of The Doors was indeed as awesome as the lyrical side.
4. His Henhouse collaberation with Mike C Ford on Drummin'.
Mike C Ford who was asked to become the bands bass player in 1965 but instead turned them down to persue poetry gives us the history of jazz drumming in verse whilst Densmore provides a masterclass on the art of the very same moving effortlessly from the earliest days of jazz through to modern fusion and techno drumming.
Anyone into the Doors drummer who wants to study his technique should check this uttely amazing ten minutes out.
5. John's poetry reading at Book Soup to commemorate the fake 40th anniversary of The Doors in LA in November 2006.
This is a truly impressive moment as JD actually shows he remembers what it was all about 40 years later.
Whilst his two ex band mates thought that the best way to celebrate The Doors was to do a parody of the band at the Whisky John preferred to remember the literary/poetic heart that the band had with a poetry reading in a book-filled room to a small feast of friends. A tiny sublime moment in a sea of selling frenzy that remembered WHY the band was there in the first place and a fitting memorial to the fallen singer who wanted to be remembered as a poet NOT as the guy who sang Light My Fire, got drunk and flashed his dick.
John Densmore's stock soared that day and his place as the only Door who remembers what it was about was secured forever in 40 minutes of pure joy.