‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.
This month marks the 55th anniversary of the death of Jim Morrison, the front man for the Doors. His importance in rock history, then as now, is a matter of debate – and there has been a lot of debate. Just this spring, BBC Music Magazine named the Doors the most overrated band in history, calling them “the ‘starter’ band for teenagers that one is supposed to outgrow.” Journalist Jimmy Guterman claimed that “Jimbo was a stillborn doggereler and an overwrought singer [and] his cohorts sounded like a group on loan from the local Econ-o-Lodge cocktail room.” Another critic called them “…yet another example of why one should always avoid people with messianic delusions.” And comedian Moshe Kasher says that “part of the process of becoming an adult is admitting to yourself that the Doors were a shitty band.”
But for every basher who makes merry of Morrison’s pretentious-shaman-in-leather-pants pose and calls his bandmates’ competence into question, you’ll find two who’ll defend them, in even more full-throated form than Morrison himself. The Sunset Boulevard Records label made an excellent post soon after the BBC put the Doors at number one:
The Doors have long occupied a strange position in rock history—too theatrical for purists, too serious for casual fans, and too iconic to ignore…. If anything, the renewed debate proves a simple point: truly irrelevant bands don’t inspire arguments nearly six decades after their debut. The Doors remain a lightning rod because they sit at the intersection of music, myth, and culture. Strip away Morrison’s legend, and you still have a band that redefined how rock could sound and feel. Embrace the legend, and you have one of the most enduring icons in popular music history. Either way, “overrated” might say less about The Doors—and more about the impossible standard we set for bands that refuse to fade quietly into the past.
Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, and John Densmore have spent the last sixty years not fading away. They may be polarizing to the world, but the four of them were unifying to each other. They created a sound based in blues, jazz, and flamenco, and their songs continue to bring attention on their own merits. We’ve found forty covers that demonstrate the worthiness of what the Doors brought to the world. They won’t end any debates – in fact, we expect them to start a few more in the comments section – but they’ll prove that the Doors and their music continue to be not just relevant, but as vivid, compelling, and preternatural as when they first arrived.
— Patrick Robbins
Features Editor
The list is superb; I would only add the Apocalypse Now opening credits as an essential Doors cover. That aside, I’m bewildered and somewhat put off by why Cover Me editors would open with calling out derisive and insulting comments about the band, continue this thread through some of the accompanying song choices copy, yet go through the exercise of compiling 40 cover versions,. Why do that with this bias, editorializing them mostly with comments about the covers and not the power of the originals. Take a stand, Personally, I think the band deserves all the accolades: their music was revolutionary in the beginning, constantly captivating, composed and played by spectacularly competent musicians, and immaculately produced. As to Morrison’s shtick, it is no less outrageous and perhaps manufactured as what has been applied by countless others in every genre of music for the last 70 years; why single Morrison out as iconically shameless and shameful? (And why not give him the street credit for dying as a tortured artist in exile, assume it wasn’t all artificial?) Anybody can have an opinion about any music, whether they’re just a fan or a self-important critic. But to casually, cruelly, and completely dismiss the impact of this band, in its time and for all these years, seems to indicate these are indeed some curated salacious opinions, in the minority and undeserving of the slant of this article. If 40 artists have managed to find deep and enduring meaning in this band’s music and this man’s image — let’s go with that. Or don’t offer the playlist in the first place. Whatever, but don’t be agnostic or lopsidedly critical on a site all about the passionate love of music.
Stan –
It’s a fair cop, but society’s to blame.
Our readers and commenters are very often passionate about their subjects. More than once they’ve lit into us when their confirmation bias is not supported. When I chose the Doors for this month’s Best Covers Ever artist, quite frankly, I didn’t want to deal with that.
So I made a number of preemptive strikes. Like Eminem at the rap battle in 8 Mile, I acknowledged the bad things that could be said before the other guy could say them. After nuclear disarmament had been accomplished, I said that there were twice as many good things that could be said, and gave a good lengthy example.
Now, could I have given four “not only do the Doors not suck, they’re great” quotes? Yes, I could have. But I felt like we had forty good examples of their greatness and proceeded accordingly. If my accentuating the positive didn’t match my eliminating the negative, that’s on me.
In the end, I don’t feel like my quoting others sullies the band’s legacy, which is already intricate enough without my two cents. What matters is the music, which will last long after you and I are gone.
Thank you for commenting, and for your appreciation of what we selected.
Patrick, thanks for your thoughtful response. Looking at it this way–that you chose to feature Doors’ covers and that 40 artists were represented, some obscure and still worthy but many of them better known and respected–is a hefty counterweight to the argument that the Doors were all veneer, no depth. Passion about music inevitably leads to “your band sucks” arguments. Considering all the things that polarize the world today, it’s a pretty benign argument. But not a meaningless one. Music has meaning, possibly now more than in a long time. So thanks for all you and yours are doing to make this site happen.