The Doors drummer John Densmore: Music and culture in the 1960s

[@krzysztofcybulski5559]

"Everyone gets older, but not everyone gets elder" - that's definitely true for mr. Densmore - what a great guy! Thanks a lot for this interview!

[@jamesblack8173]

Densmore has always been a hero of mine. I played drums at school, and I have always been blown away by the way he was able to add something fresh and surprising to every rhythmic moment. Thank you Samuel, your channel is a refuge and a civilising force.

[@samuel_andreyev]

Thanks!

[@ili626]

I enjoy Sam’s open-minded eclecticism mixed with his compositional expertise. Ace channel

[@CentrifugalSatzClock]

A delightful interview! I remember being in Cokeville Wyoming when the Doors Record came out. The town was in the middle of nowhere and the house I was at was in the outskirts of the middle of nowhere. Late at night when no one was home Break on Through, I Looked at You and Back Door man blasted away at top volume. I wore the grooves out of that album and had to rebuy it! One of the keys to those powerful songs was the strong vocals. Jim would lay back and always put great force at the climactic moments. Nothing reminded you of this more than listening to a cover band play doors songs while a singer droned on, never delivering anything special. They were the kinds of singers that barbiturates listened to when they needed to sleep. Years later when the critics in the music magazines complained that the Doors had jumped the shark with poetry being read over a vamp, I preferred to focus on the wonderful gems like Love Street, with its delicious chord progressions, atmospheric harpsichord and jaunty drums. Thanks again for a great interview.

[@mikrophonie5633]

Jim Morrison said his favorite music was Stravinsky and Webern. I heard that on a Y.T. interview, and was surprised by his answer.

[@samuel_andreyev]

Source pleaae

[@mikrophonie5633]

@@samuel_andreyev Search Y.T. for "The Doors Jim Morrison Interview Howard Smith". It's about an hour long. The question starts at around 55 minutes. He asks who he likes the best, and Jim says he likes old blues singers, Stravinsky, and Webern.

[@soundtreks]

We definitely reached our artistic zenith in the 60s-70s. Glad I was around then even if I was just a little kid. Growing up with a rich foundation of music is something I continue to value.

[@robinjones6999]

Great interview Samuel. The 60s were a time when we could literally do anything that seemed creative

[@MicoAquinoComposer]

Wow, what a surprise! Thank you for interviewing the legendary John Densmore :)

[@ili626]

One of my favorite lyrics/quotes of Jim’s, “You cannot petition the Lord with prayer”

[@julian65886]

Densmore drumming is exquisite in the theatrical pieces as well as in the straight rock tunes. Very gifted all the way.

[@bartremmelzwaal5775]

It’s truly invaluable that you’re offering a music history introduction at Peterson Academy to such a broad audience. Introducing people who never had the chance to learn about the amazing richness and expressive power of art music is a blessing for the community.

[@juanfilipwinifred]

Wow this was unexpected. Truly a pleasant surprise!

[@ili626]

9:20 I agree, Jim would have changed. But as we know, Jim was into shamanism, which involves altered states of consciousness and other ways of “knowing” beyond the prepositional conceptual mind. Hence, the “doors of perception” band name inspired by Aldous Huxley. For this reason, I would argue that despite Jim’s literary influence, he was also deeply interested in experience beyond words.

[@reidwhitton6248]

Thanks, Sam! John came to my local record store several years back to talk to fans and sign his book. I missed it but a good friend of mine went and met John and bought me a copy of his book. He's going to love this so I sent him the link. He's 14 years older and was 19 when the Doors debut album was released. He also met and talked with Frank Zappa in 1968.

[@jonzaremba]

At 80 years old, he still thinks there's a difference between the two politicial parties. Jeepers creepers, man. But enjoyed the interview none the less. Good job keeping him focused.

[@markbrooks7157]

There IS a difference.

[@akidwithaclub]

@@markbrooks7157the differences between the two parties in the US are extremely minor, and focus is put on them by the media to keep us divided so we don’t come together to make change that actually matters and threatens the establishment’s power. It’s sad so many don’t understand this…

[@SuperStrik9]

Look into what the Republicans want to do with Project 2025 under Trump. It is fascism and that's no hyperbolic joke. There's a big difference between the Democrats and Republicans.

[@Emlizardo]

Thank you, Samuel for this wonderful interview with the great John Densmore. A lot of your posts lately seem to be circling around the issue of the relationship of today's artists to our larger culture. Since the audience seems to be atomized in a way it never was before, a lot of us are wondering if we may as well be speaking into the void. Who's listening? Does it make a difference? We're wondering to what extent our present moment has parallels in the past, versus being an unprecedented shift to which previous experience doesn't apply. As you and John remind us, the only way forward is to remain engaged in the process - we're building the bridge while we're crossing it.

[@billjones8503]

Thing about music in the 60's & 70's was that it was ubiquitous across the mass radio waves, & Doors were able to fit in to that universal milieu-of course first with Light My Fire(67). That was the beauty & the reach that inspired us then to seek out their more non-commercial music on their albums. John Densmore was part of that. - Great interview too! Thanks.

[@abanana2561]

I am very excited for this

[@greggcoppolo8430]

Always and will love the Doors.

[@samuel_andreyev]

Me too

[@Smudge4199]

Thanks for this Sam!

[@Smudge4199]

And also thank you John!

[@DukGef]

Hi Samuel, I really dig your channel. When it comes to the history of pop and rock music and the cultural impact and the ambiguities it had maybe you should talk to Richard Thompson. I would love to listen to him answering your questions because they are really good and he is a sharp guy who has stayed an outsider in his own way even though he wrote dozens of really great songs in the wider realm of folk music.

[@rockohale9858]

Bonus interview…Mayo Thompson?

[@JesseGomez-h6d]

Wow the first time I heard lite my fire I was around 6 or 7 years old I also grew up in venice ca from 1960 the year I was born until 1980 I will always be a doors fan thanks to jim morrison and the group the doors 🎶🤙

[@ili626]

The Doors albums after L.A Women were pretty good imo.. in case anyone wasn’t aware of them

[@listercat1]

Full Circle and Other Voices are certainly worth adding to any collection

[@samuel_andreyev]

@listercat1 I don’t care for Other Voices, I’ve never warmed to it. But the best parts of Full Circle are excellent.

[@brötzmannsax]

Amazingly nobody has commented on those drums of his in the background?

[@alejandrobaux8706]

Great conversation, thanks 🙏 🔥

[@zelbriggen-gd3mp]

Mr. Andreyev if you speak French please please try to interview Christian Vander. I think such an interview would provide an illuminating contrast with the above content.

[@SuperStrik9]

John's awesome. Great interview/conversation.

[@LtdNulty]

Not Owsley had his lab in Basel, but Albert Hofmann, i think ;-)

[@samuel_andreyev]

Absolutely correct, my mistake 😳

[@brötzmannsax]

I believe Owsley Stanley stayed in Cali all those years before moving to Australia in 1996 and died there in a car accident. That Purple Owsley acid stamped with the owl was some serious stuff, luckily I never lost my mind, ha.

[@danantoniumaestrodistortion]

This is amazing!

[@markwrede8878]

In the 1960s, the new rock music sounded like noise to music company execs, but the kids were creating the market as they received a lot of disposable income, so there was little discrimination in signing up LA nightclub acts at first, allowing even people like Frank Zappa to get a foothold.

[@brötzmannsax]

"Allowing people even like Frank Zappa to get a foothold" sounds a little insulting to such a brilliant mind and musician.

[@samuel_andreyev]

@brotzmannsax it’s not insulting, Zappa was highly uncommercial and idiosyncratic and yet still succeeded in a commercial environment.

[@brötzmannsax]

@@samuel_andreyev Should we mention Tom Wilson perhaps had the foresight and vision of what was to become by signing them to the Verve label.

[@samuel_andreyev]

Yeah. These scenarios are total science fiction today. Hard not to feel we’ve really lost something.

[@brötzmannsax]

@@markwrede8878 Great point, you think I would realize after over 60 years, ha.

[@pianostuff2731]

I don't know if you knew but the doors were actually named after the band!

[@diegodomingues5912]

Hello my future professor from Peterson Academy.

[@tribudeuno]

I saw the Doors when they were a trio, playing 2nd bill to Frank Zappa’s Grand Wahzoo - a 60 piece electronic orchestra - at the Hollywood Bowl. I saw John Densmore in person in Las Vegas, while I was working on Honey, I Blew Up The Baby. He was visiting the set where his wife had a role as a news reporter… .

[@samuel_andreyev]

What did you think of them as a trio? How were they perceived at the time? Did they seem like a viable act still, and was there a buzz surrounding their activities?

[@WaldoHiding]

I never died

[@mygicshow]

Great stuff!

[@georgeraftopoulos9878]

Legend❤❤❤

[@Tom-db7bm]

Samuel, I've an unsolicited suggestion: Erik Ulman might be an interesting person to interview. You both seem to me innovative composers with a regard for adjacent innovations in poetry. A responsiveness to the work of JHP, for example, is common. Warm regards.

[@samuel_andreyev]

Will look into it!

[@WaldoHiding]

Lets drink

[@greggcoppolo8430]

It would have been nice if you had done an interview with Wild Man Fisher. Unfortunately he passed away in 2011.

[@Warp75]

Culturally all our best stuff is well behind us.

[@robinjones6999]

and creatively??

[@Warp75]

@@robinjones6999 Last 10 years has been dire. We had the Age of Enlightenment now it’s the age of the imbecile.

[@Warp75]

@@robinjones6999 I am just watching the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics games & it pretty much sums up the state of the western world.

[@juliusseizure591]

Ehhh don't be a Spengler...

[@Dystopian84]

​@@Warp75to be fair we are seeing the results of a deconstruction that started in the 60's : post moderm with the whole art is subjective and it is all relative nonsense

[@julianslavin3896]

fuck yeah

[@WaldoHiding]

Break on thru 2 the oyherside

[@hafer88]

we dont have to forget that the vietnam war was a war against the authoritarian antiindividualistic communism (adorno wrote about it)

[@robertanderson350]

DoPE!

[@WaldoHiding]

hohn union orr John Jun6107

[@WaldoHiding]

JFK RR JR

[@JB-ti7bl]

Stopped listening at the point when Densmore chuckles that Donald Trump almost got assassinated. Interviewer gives no pushback. Yea, screw you both.

[@adude9882]

Laughing at attempted murder of a political cadidate. This is a good microcosm of the whole question of why the 60s was what it was. I doubt he expresses that as an outlier, risking anything, that nobody he knows would laugh at Trump almost having his head blown off on live TV. I used to be left myself and might have joked like tnis. When I was 20. This gentleman was inside the phenomenon. He did not create it. There were new commwrcial opportinities due to youth having disposable incime and a long economic boom leading people to think everything was safe. There was space for yoing artists to sell new sounding music on vinyl records. It hadn't been done before in tbe same way..

[@themroc8231]

People thought everything was safe in the 60's? You know that's when there were all the major political ass*ssin*tions, right? JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton?

[@dickiebobradio1304]

Thanks for the heads up. I won't be listening to an interview with this brainwashed boomer. Love the Doors, appreciate Samuel, but no thanks on this one.

[@briteness]

At 3:30, chuckling about how Trump was almost assassinated? I realize that this was not our host speaking, but I have unsubscribed anyway.

[@samuel_andreyev]

Interesting - you feel that I am responsible for all of my guests’ opinions as though they were my own?

[@briteness]

@@samuel_andreyev You are responsible for "platforming" hateful, pro-terrorist speech if you allow it to stand, as you did. If this were a livestream, which perhaps it started out as, it would not be your fault, but I watched it as a video which you chose to release. If it were ten years ago, I would not have held this position. Even five years ago, I would possibly have let it slide. But after all the years of ruthless cancel culture from the left, I and many others have decided that if we allow our enemies (which is basically what they have become at this point) to use effective strategies that we are afraid to use because of an excess of scruples, they will destroy us. They view platforming of viewpoints they dislike as wrong, and now we have followed suit. Particularly when it comes to the topic of the attempt on Trump's life, I have a zero tolerance policy. If it had been you who said that, I would have reported you. As it is, I just unsubscribed.

[@LesterBrunt]

@@britenessWeird.

[@Jungle6767]

@@briteness freedom no politics with the doors

[@themroc8231]

I never got the appeal of The Doors. The only thing worse than the dreary music is the "poetry" that screams "this 14 year old is not self conscious enough yet".