Hello Strange L.A. Woman: Love Me During the Break in the Roadhouse Fire

Album: The Doors, Greatest Hits, 1980

Acquired: Came to me through the universe, man.

Best Track: "L.A. Woman"

Lasting Memory: Boy, so many. That ride up to the tri meet at Collegiate of Richmond (pretentiousness at a nice price). When the Raven finally put this CD on its jukebox (R.I.P. Shoe and Gay Joseph). That morning in my maid's closet/bedroom at the house on Meredith Road when I finally got, dude really got, "People Are Strange."

The memory I'll go with, though, is from January 1987. That's when I went to the late, lamented Boathouse with Craig Allen and Karen Harris to see The Back Doors. Jim was him, indeed, and while I'll score double hit points on the 20-sided die of lameneness for saying so, the show was one of the best rock concerts I ever witnessed. While the tribute band is remembered fondly by exactly four commenters to seldom-frequented bolgs, those no-longer kids from Minnesota absolutely sold the universal oneness achieved through Jack Daniels rather than LSD. Plus, that show was the first night I ever got drunk off of MD 20/20. Mogen David, l'chaim! (My favorite line from the profile? "Family Friendly: No.")

Christ, was The Doors the soundtrack of every suburban white boy's early teen years or what? Sure there was plenty of other music mixed in, but what other four-to-the-bar bar blues band ever captured the awkardness of a kid's existence better than The Doors on "People Are Strange"? Or expressed that kid's I'll-be-cool-when-I'm-older shtick more drivingly than on "L.A. Woman"?

Nobody.

Except The Smiths. Or Rush, with "Subdivisions." Or just about every other four-to-the-bar bar blues band that's put out an album since 1970.

It's necessary to mention, though, that there would be no Smiths or Rush or Echo and the Bunnymen or et cetera if there had never been a The Doors. Nor would there have been a Back Doors, but maybe that goes without saying.

I typed dismissive things about The Doors in my last music post, and I stand by those comments. I'll even expand on them to opine that the band's appeal lays largely in it's adaptation of church organ to rock and/or roll. Seriously, listen to "Light My Fire" and tell me that the organ line isn't pure fugue. That riff is elemental.

You all know everything else about The Doors that I could tell you, so I'll just sign off with this link so you can feed your head. Come Monday or Tuesday, I'll have things to say about a band that at least one regular blog visitor may know personally. Let the flame wars begin.

Up Next: Dreams So Real, Rough Night in Jerhico, 1988