Uploaded by WatchMojo on Jul 4, 2011

Don Heckman wrote in The New York Times in August 1971 that “The Doors presumably will fade into the vague anonymity that always drifted just below the surface of their music.” Greil Marcus scornfully said in 1979 that the first Doors album “was as far as they got.” Heckman and Marcus are among the many critics who have written off The Doors over the years, yet the music just won’t fade away.

Here are some amazing facts about a group that won’t go gentle into that good night.

• Jim Morrison’s gravesite is the most visited in France and is said to be the most visited in Europe. His resting place ranks as one of the top tourist destinations in Paris (#2, #4 and #5 have all been mentioned, the last by National Public Radio in 2004) and is said to be the third most visited celebrity gravesite in the world.
• Time and The New York Times have sent reporters to Pere Lachaise to delve into the continuing fascination with Morrison.
• In 2011, it was reported that The Doors have sold 90 million albums to date worldwide. Approximately 45 million albums have been sold since 1991, the year that Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” was released. (Figures are not officially confirmed.)
• “The Doors” by Oliver Stone was reviewed in The Guardian in February 2011.
• In Feb 2011, the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra performed all Doors music in concert.
• “When You’re Strange” won a Grammy in 2011. Executive Producer Dick Wolf (Law and Order) calls Doors music “hypnotic and complex.”
• Jim Morrison’s 2010 posthumous pardon for the Miami incident was mentioned on CNN, the NBC Nightly News, and hundreds of other media outlets.
• In 2002, Jim Morrison was ranked the #7 on the list of 100 Sexiest Artists in a VH-1 program hosted by Marg Helgenberger.
• In 1991, Mikal Gilmore wrote in Rolling Stone that “Jim Morrison seems more heroic to many pop fans then ever before.”
• In 2000, National Public Radio included Light My Fire on the NPR 100, a list of the most important American musical works of the 20th century.
• In 1999, Jim Morrison was selected by a live VH-1 studio audience as the #1 Frontman in rock and roll.
• In 1979, DJ Jim Ladd said the following in a 4-hour radio special: “Something in the combination of the lyrical and musical vibrations created by this band has yet to be explained. Given only 27 years on this planet, Jim Morrison became possibly the most mysterious and controversial rock and roll star in history.”

More to come…

Source: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine

Jim Morrison has been dead and gone for forty years, but the legacy of The Doors remains as controversial as ever. Last year’s pardon for Morrison’s conviction stemming from his 1969 drunken performance in Miami brought out hordes of detractors. Many people still view Morrison as the quintessential “bad boy” of rock, a drug-filled alcoholic whose contribution to music was marginal at best. Blender.com ranked The Doors at #37 on its list of The 50 Worst Artists in Music History, describing The End as “overblown screeds of nonsense.” Earlier this year, Alex von Tunzelmann, a reviewer for The Guardian, said this about Oliver Stone’s The Doors: “It’s a bloated, pompous, unbalanced film, which looks great but has nothing going on beneath the surface. This is the biopic Jim Morrison deserved.” On the other hand, Piero Scaruffi said, “Of all creative bands in the history of rock music, the Doors may have been the most creative. They are the closest thing rock music has produced to William Shakespeare.” (The title of a New York Times article on Scaruffi’s music site was called The Greatest Web Site of All Time.) 

Considering that we have had more than four decades to evaluate the music of The Doors, it is amazing that opinion is still so divided. Despite accolades such as Light My Fire’s selected by NPR as one of the most significant American musical works of the twentieth century, few 60’s artists remain so consistently controversial. No one doubts the genius of Dylan, The Beatles, and other top groups, but The Doors are a lightning rod for criticism. Morrison’s poetry is often belittled and marginalized by critics who hardly had a clue as to what Morrison was saying.

Nick Tosches tells us that “The Doors’ most ambitious work was often their worst. Trying to make of rock & roll something it could never, should never, be, Morrison seemed a pompous fool rather than the intrepid seer he fancied himself. With dark, messianic urgency, he delivered images and ideas that were embarrassing in their unoriginality.” Tosches is entitled to his opinion, of course, but it is clear that his understanding of Morrison’s lyrics is about as superficial as it gets. Morrison wanted to be known for his words, but Tosches and many of his colleagues were simply not up to the task. Telling us that “Jim Morrison’s obsessions were sex and death” is simplistic and barely scratches the surface of Morrison’s vision. Yes, sex and death are there, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Morrison was about the transformation of consciousness, rebirth, and self-discovery. His poetry aimed at helping each of us achieve the treasure that is at the end of the hero’s journey.

Our rock and cultural critics have done their best to explain The Doors, but as Twisted Sister sang in We’re Not Gonna Take It, “if that’s your best, your best won’t do.”

Check out my Celebration of the Lizard Webinar for a look at the lasting legacy and extraordinary meaning of Jim Morrison and The Doors.

Source: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine

Jim Morrison mug shot from September 28, 1963

It will be 40 years since the death of Jim Morrison from the Doors. We will be featuring various stories regarding the famous singer and songwriter for the Doors. The group's music is still popular today and on July 3, 2011 there will be special activities in Paris to honor one of the greatest performers in Rock and Roll history. He died in Paris and was laid to rest there too.

Some people may not know that Jim was in trouble with the law a few times and the very first time was when he was at FSU in Tallahassee, Florida. He was a spectator at a home football game at his school. He was drunk and got  rowdy and messed around with a police officer's hat and was arrested. He looked more conservative in the photo for the arrest. He lived in Florida for a few years to attend 2 different colleges; St Petersburgh Community College and in 1962 he transferred to FSU Florida State University in Tallahassee before transferring in 1964 to UCLA in California where he had majored in film.

Source: HollywoodOnlineTV