Grateful Dead

And the blonde says "No, but you're going to need one in a minute!" Or... And the blonde says "Oh I'm sorry. I thought it was Amateur Talent Show night." Or... And the blonde says "No. We're here to audition. The three of us are a Doors cover band."

I think it's funny that Thin is the person saying the sound is thin. Of all the Merry Pranksters!

JACKSON: we're doing an issue of bam magazine on the doors GARCIA: i never liked the doors. i found them terribly offensive...when we played with them. it was back when jim morrison was just a pure mick jagger copy. that was his whole shot, that he was a mick jagger imitation. not vocally, but his moves, his whole physical appearance were totally stolen from right around mick jagger's 1965 tour of the states. he used to move around alot, before he started to earn a reputation as a poet, which i thought was really undeserved. rimbaud was great at eighteen,nineteen, and verlaine. those guys were great. fuckin jim morrison was not great, i'm sorry. i could never see what it was about the doors. they had a very brittle sound live., a three piece band with no bass- the organ player (manzarek) used to do it. that and that kinda raga-rock guitar style was strange. it sounded very brittle and sharp -edged to me., not something i enjoyed listening to. i kind of apreciated some of the stuff they did later, and i appreciated a certain amount of morrison's sheer craziness, just because that's always a nice trait in rock n roll. no, i never knew him, but richard loren, who works for us, was his agent and had to babysit him through his most drunken scenes and all the times he got busted and all that crap. he's got lots of storeies to tell about morrison. i was never attracted to their music at all, so i couldn't find anything to like about them. when we played with them, i think i watched the first tune or two, then i went upstairs and fooled around with my guitar. there was nothing there that i wanted to know about. he was so patently an imitation of mick jagger that it was offensive. to me, when the doors played san francisco they typified los angeles coming to san francisco., which i equated with having the look right, but zero substance. this is way before that hit song, light my fire. probably at that time in their development it was too early for anyone to make a decent judgement of them, but i've always looked for something else in music, and whatever it was, they didn't have it. they didn't have anything of blues, for example , in their sound or feel. JACKSON: DID you sense the negativity? jerry: no, not really. all i sensed was sham. as far as i was concerned, it was surface and no substance. then we played with them after the light my fire thing, when they were headliners. we opened for them in santa barbara some years later, when they were a little more popwerful. their sound had gotten better- they'd gotten more effectively amplified, so manzarek's bass lines and stuff like that had a little more throb, but their sound was still thin. it wasn't a succesful version of a three piece band, like the who or jimi hendrix, or cream, or any other guitar power trio type three piece bands. it's an interesting concept, a three piece band that's keyboard, guitar, drums, but it was missing some element i thought was vital. i couldn't say exactly what it was, but it was not satisfying for me to listen to them. when they were the headliners, it was sort of embarrasing for us to open for them, cause we sort of blew them off the stand with just sheer power. what we had with double drums and phil's bass playing-it got somewhere, and when they played there was an anticlimax feeling to it, even with their hits. in the part of my life when i was impressionable along that androgynous input, for me the people that were happening were james dean and elvis. early rock and roll- i'm like first generation rock and roll influence. for me, james dean was a real important figure. he was the romantic fulfillment of that vision. it goes on about other things, but jerr really thrashes the doors here. and of course, he's right on. taken from conversations with the dead. 6/11/81.

Thank you Mustin for echoing my previous statement about only 3 guys having to make that music. They will never sound like a full fleshed out jam band. And for really illuminating how wonderfully explosive Densmore played live, as a counterpoint to Morrison's anything may happen on stage performance. (almost Elvin Jones-ish). I still stand by my assertion that these guys were not as Thin said "some douchey restaurant band"

A naked blonde walks into a bar, carrying a poodle under one arm and a 6 foot salami under the other. The Bardtender says, 'So, I don't suppose you'd be needing a drink?' The blonde says.... Oh shit my boss is coming, will finish the joke later.

You beat me to the punch, Seth. I was just about to chime in. Thin has clearly been baiting for bear on this topic, and the minute he heard the trap snap, he was all over his catch. There's nothing at all "unglued" about Reijo29's rebuttal. In fact, just the opposite. It's a cohesive, straightforward post (and even concedes to certain points made by Thin). And certainly nothing that warranted such a vitriolic response.

Ray Manzarek used a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass (Not a Hammond). My opinion is that it wasn't an ideal sound for a live bass...but the Doors knew that too, that's why they used an actual bass player on their albums. I know that Jerry once said that he didn't like the Doors because of their thin live sound...I don't disagree with many things Jerry said, but this is certainly one of them. Considering The Doors only had 3 people playing instruments on stage, I think the sound is quite full. Ray had 3 jobs (keys, bass, & singing), Densmore often sounded like two different drummers and had very explosive style that brought tons of excitement and energy to their shows and his ability to improvise with Jim's rants is about as unique as it gets. All that mixed with Krieger's weird finger-picking Flamenco guitar created a sound like no other in rock music. But it is what it is and no one has to like it...but I don't think it gets much better in terms of musicianship. Anyone still on the fence? Find a live version of "When the Music's Over" and remind yourself that only 3 people are making all those sounds...

....I've been known to enjoy a little Culture Club every now and then.

Wow - shots fired! Sorry if that offended, but frankly if you can't read an honest, unfiltered opinion on the internet without coming unglued, you 're in the wrong place. Let's take a breath here and review.... you wrote "broke some sort of rule that you must have a stringed bass player"? I was merely explaining why the Doors are often characterized as "thin" sounding, and using an example I gleaned from a recent live-music experience. Also.... "And speaking of the dime-store sandwich: Brent committed all types of fouls plinking away on that faux sounding keyboard rather than sticking to the B3 or an acoustic piano"... Well yeah, but that was a phase, and it didn't dictate the band's overall sound. Again, all I was doing was making an intelligent argument as to why the Doors sound is often characterized as "thin". Finally you sarcastically wrote: "I too appreciate more of a heroin laid back abuser on stage rather than a belligerent drunk" OK, 1) Yes, I WOULD much prefer to be in a room with a laid back heroin user than a belligerent drunk - I think most people would agree with me, but I may be wrong! And 2) I have been VERY vocal about my disappointment/disgust with Jerry's heroin addiction, self absorption, and the effects it had on him and the music (i.e.: my Highgate '94 experience) to the point where I have been heartily flamed on this board and in PM's for "attacking" and "ridiculing" Jerry, when all I was doing was bluntly stating unvarnished facts, just as I did in my previous comment. If you can find a single fact I stated that is untrue, please point it out to ALL of us and I will retract. And I mis-spelled "wimp"? I'll take your word for it! No offense intended. With all due respect, if all you want to hear is sunshine being blown up the Lizard King's hoo-ha, you're in the wrong place.

regarding this Doors talk:I have never thought they had a "thin" live sound , nor have I encountered any previous talk about such a problem. I am a huge Doors fan. Thin, the commenter: You have been stating and restating your Doors opinions for a few days now, each time increasing the vehemence of your statements. From a Doors fan perspective you have been trolling. You triggerred Reijo. You are the one who set up the wrestling ring. You are the one who called out for opponents. Don't be acting all defensive now. And just listen to "When The Music's Over" from Absolutely Live. Then apologize for the lackings in your musical education.