Music

The Doors

If any of you have read the beginning of Worlds Apart, you’ll know the argument that happened between the two main characters about British versus American bands, so I thought this time I’d do an American band from the sixties.

Growing up I’d heard The Doors and knew songs, but I never really listened, you know?

But in grade eleven I heard them for what felt like the first time.

I’d switched schools and was hanging out with new people, so I was changing a bit around that time. It wasn’t some cliché found the love of my life year long story or something; no I just started changing a bit.

 I was hanging out with this group of people and with them I started skipping class, they were the first people that got me to smoke cigarettes and introduced me to pot along with other things. It was a whole story like that. I actually don’t talk to any of them anymore even though it’s just four years later, everything got a bit screwed up. Don’t worry, there’s a reason I’m telling you this.

ANYWAYS, we started to go to whoever’s house where their parents weren’t home while we were skipping school.

We were having so much fun at this time; it was all just innocent teenage fun.

In particular I had a friend… let’s call him Mitch. His house was our favourite place to hang out, especially since his parents both worked nine to five jobs. The reason I loved it so much there was because his dad had a huge collection of records. I’d grown up with vinyl albums around me, but my dad’s turntable didn’t work, so this was the first time I’d really gotten to listen to it.

In this group of friends we were all super into music. We used to play his dad’s records and share joints in the basement. We’d have parties over at his place on the weekends and do almost the same thing, though then alcohol would be added in.

One thing I remember very well about skipping class and hanging out there were The Doors’ albums. Mitch’s dad loved The Doors, they were his favourite band. He had every album and all were in pristine condition, it was impeccable and we used to listen to those albums forever.

 There’s something about The Doors and being young, it just seems to go hand in hand. There’s just something so wonderful about lying on your back with a bunch of your friends and having Jim Morrison’s voice pour over you; it’s magical.

I became obsessed with The Doors and the Jim Morrison legacy over the summer, and even though I never talked to any of those people again that stuck with me.

The Lizard King was some sort of a cult hero to us back then. There’s a sort of romanticized thing about the twenty seven club, dying young and untarnished. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but there is something so idealistic about it, especially when it comes to artists. I’ve loved the story of dying young and free, and that’s something that might come straight from those times.

I think The Doors’ were the only band that could have had such a profound effect on me at that time. It was about the situation I was in and the people I was hanging out with. And there’s been a lasting effect on me that no other band could have done. Sure, we listened to The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Nirvana and so many other bands, but for some reason we always came back to The Doors and Mr Mojo Rising.

I’ve always adored the almost eeriness that comes with their music along with an almost bonding isolation, which is and sounds like a paradox, but it’s true. We were all at this odd time growing up and feeling out of place, but we bonded through that, it was like the music.

And like the best of Jim Morrison’s lyrics, there were two equal parts: the happy and the sad. Our relationships started out happy, but it couldn’t stay like that. We felt like the best of friends when the year was going on, like no one could come between us. But it did, and it always had to. No one talks to each other. We went separate paths and are doing our own things, if it wasn’t for those memories it would be like we were complete strangers.

My favourite song from The Doors had always been Light My Fire. It always felt like such an anti-anthem.  

You know that it would be untrue.

You know that I would be a liar.

If I was to say to you,

Girl, we couldn’t get much higher.

 

Come on baby, light my fire.

Come on baby, light my fire.

Try to set the night on fire.

 

The time to hesitate is through.

No time to wallow in the mire.

Try now we can only lose.

And our love become a funeral pyre.

It’s hard for me to put how I feel about this band into words, and I hope you somewhat understand what I’m trying to say. I love The Doors, there’s this kind of nostalgia about them that I’ll never be able to forget.

Jim Morrison gets a lot of the attention from the band for obvious reasons. He was the first almost anti-rock star. He had a wonderful voice though he didn’t have any training, it’s the kind of voice that sticks in your memories and sounds like it could be from a dream. He wasn’t a rock star; he wanted to be a poet. He was shy but outrageous on stage. He slept around to no end, but he loved Pam. He died young. He’s a symbol that is so easy for young people to relate to when they’re growing up.

But I do believe Ray Manzarek was brilliant. He used to play the keyboard with one hand, and since they didn’t have a bassist, he played the bass with the other. He was the musical genius of the group while Jim was the lyricist.

The Doors have just integrated into part of my life, and it’s hard to put into words how they make me feel. They became an obsession through an odd period of my life when I was going through things I’d never experienced and I couldn’t ask people about, because I was going through things that they didn’t know and couldn’t explain. It’s such an odd time to look back on and try to explain my love of this band, because it’s so tightly woven for that time and I honestly don’t want to talk about it.

“People fear death even more than pain. It’s strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah, I guess it is a friend.” – Jim Morrison.

Drugs are bad, don’t do drugs. And if you’re underage, don’t drink or smoke either. I’m trying my hand at a moment of good influence after that story.