Do you rate The Doors highly?

[mambo4]

I voted "unsure". I like some doors songs, But It's been a long time since I bothered "rating" any band.

I hear Doors fans aren't made: They are born...

 

[groovaholic]

I voted "unsure".
The Doors wrote some really fantastic, iconic songs that captured the zeitgeist as well as anything.
But a lot of the ideas that ended up on their albums seem ill-conceived, or partially-formed.

 

[J Wilson]

I always loved L A WOMAN, but for me, aside from a few other songs, it's very uneven as some 60's rock records could be.

 

[Brandon Shea]

I’ve been a fan of The Doors since I first discovered them. Jerry Scheff definitely lays down some catchy basslines on the LA Woman album, and his tone is just about perfect in my opinion. Check out Been Down So Long from that album and you’ll hear what I mean.

I got to see them performing as Riders on the Storm (no Densmore on drums, but Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger were there) and thought they sounded awesome.

 

[E2942]

Their hits are alright, but a large majority of their work is just Morrison being incredibly narcissistic.

 

[Nebadon2000]

A band I was playing with back in 2012-2016; one night we had a Gig that do to circumstances I couldn't get there by start of first set

I arrived and sat in audience for last 4 songs of set[would load my gear on stage during break]

The Female lead singer/rhythm player came up to me and said" Didn't we sound great even without Bass Player" [had keyboard player drone somewhat on songs]

Fortunately[to ease my insecurity] after 2nd set in which I played a patron came up to me and said " I m glad you showed up Band sounds a lot better with a Bass Player"

 

[mdogs]

Weather report didn't have a guitar player.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Jim Morrison was ahead of his time

 

[Discount Bassy]

They are much easier to use than entering rooms through windows.

 

[KidAmnesia]

The Doors is one of the most iconic American rock groups. But they are a band without a bassist and that's the unique thing about them.
Personally would you rate them highly or not? How much are they appealing to you musically?

Not having a bassist (live and as a permanent member of the band) is not what made them unique IMHO.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

With how terrible bass frequencies were reproduced in a live environment “back in the day” could anyone really hear the subtle differences between key bass and bass guitar.

On a record back then, through a good hifi, you could definitely hear the difference, but live in a big concrete box, I doubt there was much intelligibility on the lower end of the frequency spectrum.

 

[turf3]

The Doors, like many other groups, formed before the received wisdom had dictated the ONE TRUE instrumentation for a rock and roll band. They had three players and a singer, and they went with that. Today most rock and roll players would pull their fingernails out with red hot pincers before they'd consider having the keys player play keyboard bass. Back then, if it worked you went with it. The good old days before rock and roll locked itself into a little box.

 

[CryingBass]

Weather report didn't have a guitar player.

You are always right, but I thought I remembered this. I saw WR live since day 1, but not after a while, and this last-ditch era of them included this
( from Wikipedia ):

Still love Erskine, and his bass-playing Son.

 

[RGerhart]

Definitely not my thing, but I can appreciate the band, nonetheless.

 

[EricOnTheBass]

I don’t mind that they didn’t have a bass player. I love The End, probably because it was used to great effect in Apocalypse Now, which is one of my favorite films. What bothers me is that the electric organ sounds silly. Just makes me think of my Gram’s Wurlitzer. Great band, but I just never liked their sound.

 

[Passinwind]

Weather report didn't have a guitar player.

Look at the liner notes for the second album again.

 

[bassicmike]

Their hits are alright, but a large majority of their work is just Morrison being incredibly narcissistic.

Jim Morrison was ahead of his time

Both these statements are correct.

The Doors are an interesting discussion.

Incredibly important in any discussion of the 60s. Not so much when discussing longevity or overall impact on the art form of rock music.

I'm a fan, but I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I haven't pulled Doors music for a listen in a long long time.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Unique? The Young Rascals, whose first album came out almost a year before the first Doors album, had the same lineup: singer, guitar, keys, drums.

Edit: and, also like the Doors, they used session bass players on their records. They considered the great Chuck Rainey an unofficial fifth member of the band.

Don't forget Lee Michaels .... He was bassless, and guitarless.
A good enough keyboard player can kick almost everybody out of the band!!

 

[BaltBass5]

The Doors = Brilliant

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Never my Cup O' Tea, and most of the studio stuff had a session bassist on it. The live stuff was sorely lacking a real bass player, IMO. Only so much Manzarek could do with one hand. I remember when everyone thought that keyboard bass was going to eliminate real bass in the 90's.... and didn't.