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The Byrds vs The Doors


The Byrds vs The Doors  

84 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you prefer the Byrds or the Doors?

    • The Byrds
      53
    • The Doors
      31


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As I get older, I find that I underestimated The Byrds importance and have enjoyed revisiting their catalogue. I own the first few lps in mono and they are stellar!!! However, I'm drawn more to The Doors because my oldest brother was into them and I've grown up never tiring of their sound.

 

tough choice.............The Doors :thumbup

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I like the Doors. Overhyped for sure, but not overrated ... in fact most reasonable rock critics realize their strengths and weaknesses as a band. Here was a band that combined rock, jazz, blues, & pop with arty pretentions .... actually not too far off from what the Velvet Underground did.

 

The Byrds were awesome in their own way. This thread totally seems Apples and Oranges to me.

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Here was a band that combined rock, jazz, blues, & pop with arty pretentions .... actually not too far off from what the Velvet Underground did.

Preposterous statement, sorry.

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The Doors pretty much sounded just like the Animals, but not as good. I'm not really sure what they had in common with the VU other than touching on some darker subject matter (though not the same darker subject matter that Lou Reed wrote about).

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How is it preposterous? Let's see ... blues, pop, folk, jazz influence mixed with dark lyrical themes and *cough* poetry - mid sixties bands .... who could fit those bills?
Several hundreds of bands.....it was the 60s after all.

 

LouieB

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Several hundreds of bands.....it was the 60s after all.

 

LouieB

 

Maybe, but not too many *famous* ones. The Rolling Stones, VU, The Doors, ... hmmm... The Seeds? I don't really think the Seeds qualify. My point was only that the Doors were mining very similar artistic terrain as VU. Ooof .. and comparing them to the Byrds, well, where the heck is the comparison? Except that The Byrds very much influenced Love....and the Love was the band that The Doors aspired to be.

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Another connection: Bryan MacLean, who was a roadie for The Byrds, went on to join Love. Also, several of the bands just mentioned above, came out of The Sunset Strip scene.

 

On this forum, I'm legitimately surprised that the Doors have any votes at all.

 

I don't think I've desired to hear a Jim Morrison song since I was 15.

 

 

They are just mentioned so people can say how much they hate them - like Ryan Adams and Phish.

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I used to absolutely love the Doors, but that dreadful Oliver Stone movie and the ensuing onslaught of Doors music that came with it did them in for me for quite some time. That said, I went with them anyway. Too much of a high school/college staple to pass up. Plus I really haven't heard much Byrds other than the hits that get played on the radio. I'm not very proud of that.

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The Doors really seem to have fallen out of favor during the past 10 or so years. They seem to be one of the bands rock snobs love to hate. I can't really think of a singular reason for this, other than a lot of people think they're music sucks (not exactly an opinion I disagree with). Perhaps their music hasn't quite aged as well as some of the other bands of the era, part of their appeal in 1967 was that they were dangerous, dark, alternative. Yet compare the first Doors albums to something like The Velvet Underground and Nico and The Doors seem a little light. I did enjoy the Doors radio singles when I was younger, but then I discovered punk/indie, and they were rendered obsolete. Jim Morrison also seems like a total douche bag.

 

So needless to say this isn't much of a competition for me. I actually want to still listen to Byrds records, and do quite often.

 

--Mike

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The Doors really seem to have fallen out of favor during the past 10 or so years. They seem to be one of the bands rock snobs love to hate. I can't really think of a singular reason for this, ... Jim Morrison also seems like a total douche bag.

I think you just answered your own question.

 

I've always wondered what he'd be like today had he not died. Would he have sobered up and laughed at his former antics, maybe turning into some sort of Ted Nuggent-esque conservative? Or would he have descended further into his "Lizard King" persona, eschewing music in favor of enlightening us with his deeply spiritual poetic meanderings? The most likely answer is that, as it turned out, his surviving was not really an option.

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I'm also a little in awe about the hate the Doors get. Jim was a pretentious asshole? OK, that can't be said about too many other rock front men. Nope, can't think of any. They're not to my tastes, but there's musicianship and good songcraft working for them. They're not the best band of their time or all time, but their success doesn't seem ridiculously unfounded. I'll still tap my foot along to most songs, and occasionally I'll tell someone I love them then ask for their name.

 

I gave them my vote because the Byrds have been on my list of bands I need to check out more of for awhile now. Can't really say much about them.

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i voted for the Doors, but based only on Morrison Hotel and LA Woman. i love those to death, but dont think much of their earlier stuff

Now see, I think the exact opposite - the first two records are very good, the last ones are blues-oriented that, while ok enough, could be done better by any number of other American bands at the time.

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Now see, I think the exact opposite - the first two records are very good, the last ones are blues-oriented that, while ok enough, could be done better by any number of other American bands at the time.

 

Let's imagine other US bands of the time covering "Roadhouse Blues", "Peace Frog", "You Make Me Real", "Maggie M'Gill": The Stones would have made a Stones thing, Hendrix a Hendrix thing, Joplin a Joplin thing, the Stooges a Stooges thing, etc... This isn't really a matter of playing better than the other, but of giving sensations with a personal and distinctive sound. The Doors were as good as any to play blues-oriented rock. You find many different ways of playing the blues with the pioneers already. B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker... All of them are different.

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