How is L.A. Woman your favorite Doors album?

While many people hold L.A. Woman as their favorite Doors album, I can’t understand how. I love the doors for many reasons, and much of what I love about them isn’t found on this album. When I look at L.A. Woman by itself, and not as a part of the entire Doors experience, I don’t receive the same intense signals of inspiration that I get from the early material. What draws me to the Doors is found in the first two albums where Morrison is unveiling spiritual meaning, and the power of that experience is blowing his mind. In the early material, there is still something very ordinary about Morrison, and it’s only recognized by the immense credibility he gives to his onsetting experience. This not only makes him relatable to the audience, but it’s exciting to witness.

 In L.A. Woman, Morrison’s voice does still carry a feeling of genuine madness, but his attitude toward the feeling seems less astonished and more confirmed. This shift in personality makes his erratic behavior bristle with less friction. Moments such as the random odd calls in “Cars Hiss by my Window”, don’t feel compulsive, instead the space for such vocal decoration seems too readily available.

 Then compare Morrison’s vocals In “The Doors” where his voice is so charged he can’t contain the energy, like in the beginning of “Break on Through”. Or take “Strange Days” the song, the same energy persists but Morrison attempts to restrain it, unintentionally letting the tension slip through his hands at that moment where his scream unleashes the bands manic frenzy.

There are a few things I really like about L.A. Woman. One is the style of the production. I am always a fan of sacrificing quality for vulnerability, and this album definitely has a more intimate feeling than other albums because of it. With less of a filter between the band’s music and the delivery, the experience becomes more tangible.  There is really something that gets at the heart of the rock with this approach.

Another reason it’s a great album is because of its artistic integrity. There isn’t a single track that feels like it is trying to cater to an audience. The overall texture of the album is stripped of polish and has a simplistic and unrestrained form which makes for a refreshing result.

I can appreciate the swaggering manner The Doors convey in L.A. Woman, which kind of flaunts to the audience their more casual and collected side. Not that this is a terribly new mode for the band, but there is a tendency to fall heavier into it at multiple points in the album. From a storytelling aspect, it illustrates to me that they’ve been through a lot as a band and as individuals. Still, looking at the mood of the album in this way depends on contrasting it to the early material. I know personally, this aspect wouldn’t have drawn me into the band on its own.

Also, sonically speaking, Morrison’s voice sounds technically great on L.A. Woman, but I’m not crazy about the gruff tone he frequently uses. He relies less on the duality of his gentle soft voice/wild screamer and often uses a guttural growl, like on the opening track “Changeling”, where he addresses this to the audience in his lyrics, stating how he can’t be pinned down.

Many people claim this tone was incidental due to his excessive drinking and smoking, but you can hear his soft voice and original strong crooning in songs like “L’America”, where Morrison sings over an intriguing eerie marching vibe. “L’America” presents an exciting moment on the album but fades back into a bluesy rock chorus; one that doesn’t swing with as much personality as their earlier blues rock songs.

I like L.A. Woman, and I don’t think The Doors ever put out a bad album. I really like The Soft Parade, which many people don’t give credit to. I just don’t understand how it is common for people to think L.A. Woman is their best. I can truly respect that this album isn’t an attempt at covering territory they already explored, and I think if they tried to create something along the lines of what they already did, it would have been dishonest and boring. I like L.A. Woman specifically because it has so much integrity, and in its approach it created classic canonical doors songs: “Riders on the Storm” and of course “L.A. Woman”. Neither of those songs could have been made had the band not continued to explore their own possibilities.

L.A. Woman is a great album but it is definitely not the album that defines the band for me, and I guess when I have a favorite album from a band, it is because it is the album that contains the rawest element of what drew me to the band to begin with. For this reason, I’d have to say that my favorite album from The Doors is “The Doors”… or maybe “Strange Days”.

My Top Ten Favorite Band Names

A band name can’t be judged very easily, and all the criteria needs to be taken in at once and felt out, while at the same time considering the context of the band’s name. One thing I care about is meaning. I appreciate when the message of the band name seems suited to the lyrical content and overall vibe of the band. Also, I really enjoy when a band’s name shows wit or uses language in some clever way, and a personal negative connotation I have with names is if the band’s name includes food or gross imagery. Also, a band name with a ring to it never hurts. Sometimes something just needs to sound good with a touch of relative imagery to work.

10. THE SMITHS

This band name is incredibly generic, but given the attitude and perspective of the band, I like it. Singer Morrissey said it was the most ordinary name he could think of, and that it was time for ordinary people to show their faces. I feel that such a plain name is suiting because Morrissey’s talks about his life so “plainly”. He makes no fuss to directly state in his lyrics what it is he is talking about, though he will do so with sarcasm. The name isn’t just a flat statement, it’s one that is done with Morrissey’s trademarked sarcasm.

9. THE CURE & 8. NIRVANA

I’m putting these bands in the same description because I like their names for the same reason. Both bands are referring to the idea that their music brings them from one state of discontent or illness into a state of enlightenment or wellbeing. I like Nirvana’s band name because the bliss of “Nirvana” is generally accompanied by their logo, a happy face with X’s for eyes, and it brings to mind the artificial ways people can find such bliss, almost demeaning the sanctified sort of bliss such as “Nirvana” as in the eastern form of enlightenment. Similarly, “The Cure” is a reference to something that can fix one’s self, as if people are inherently flawed, or rather, that there is a way to be well. Considering that the band’s name represents an emotional fix rather than a health fix, it represents the condition of the band (again, similar to Nirvana). Both point to the fact that their music leads to betterment, and also pokes fun at what “wellbeing” even consists of. I put Nirvana above The Cure because it required Kurt Cobain to cross over to another culture to come up with the name, and a little bit of digging is fun for creating or understanding band names. Of course nowadays I’m sure everyone is familiar with both definitions of nirvana.

7. THE SMASHING PUMPKINS

I’ve read that the word “smashing” in “The Smashing Pumpkins” is supposed to be an adjective (which makes sense when you remember the band’s name starts with the word “The”). Smashing as an adjective usually means attractive, as in, “You look downright smashing in that suit”, so you know there is some humor with the word association. More importantly, the association captures the image of smashing pumpkins after Halloween; a direct reference to American childhood. I believe the purpose of this imagery was to evoke childhood nostalgia, but not just general Halloween nostalgia, one with a hint of violence (“The smashing pumpkins” rather than “The glowing pumpkins”). It’s also a very common ritual of an era that wasn’t frequently commented on, which could represent obscurity in a general sense, or possibly the obscurity of that hint of violence.

6. PORNO FOR PYROS

The name came from lead singer “Perry Farrell” witnessing massive fires during the L.A. riots which inspired him to comment that the image was like “Porno for Pyros”. Not only does this contextualize the band geographically and historically as an L.A. band formed during the L.A. riots, but it twists a dangerous word like “fire” around with a touch of humor, resembling the mix of emotions that’s found throughout the music of Jane’s Addiction and Porno For Pyros, as well as the added imagery of playing with fire. It also includes a dichotomy which was also present in his band “Jane’s Addiction” which includes (according to Perry himself) a male and female association. He wanted Jane because it is a females name, and he wanted addiction because it had a trashy punk sort of masculine association. Porno for Pyros has another similar dichotomy which includes both sex (porno) and violence (pyros).

 Sex and Violence. Think of the lyrics in “Ted, Just admit it”.

5. MINOR THREAT

First of all, it just sounds cool. The name represents the adolescent minors that frequented the local D.C. Hardcore punk scene, and it also plays on the fact that the word “Minor” can also represent something that is of lesser importance. This comes into play with many of the lyrics that don’t address higher political systems like many punk rock groups, but instead targets issues that were occurring within the scene. They issues were of “minor” importance, but the lyrics spoke to the audience about solutions to problems that the listener could actually address themselves. Having started the “straight-edge” movement, this band has had as much far reaching political impact as any, and its name represents the seeds that were planted.

4. SWITCHBLADE SYMPHONY

This is another band that twists contrasting imagery to create their name. Switchblade Symphony actually came up with their name because of the way they create their music, by cutting parts of classical music and intertwining it with goth rock. The name makes one think of violence and elegance all at once, and it fits perfectly with the dark and dangerous yet ethereal and graceful sound. Also, the band name has a beautiful phonetic ring to it.

3. HOLE

For as much shit as Courtney Love catches for her conduct, I think the style and theme of her band is badass, and the perfect cherry on top is their band name “HOLE”. First off, it’s a double entendre, which wins a whole lot of points. One of the meanings is a crude reference to the female genitalia. She’s a woman in rock n’ roll, which isn’t standard, and part of the crudeness to the reference could be this perspective to how she feels men view her or women in general. The brash crudeness of this interpretation goes along with her whole punk rock aesthetic (which the 90’s alternative punk offspring became better known as “grunge”).

I don’t consider this a grotesque band name because the concrete imagery still makes me think of an actual hole in the ground, which is what most people think at first, and this first interpretation works just as well as the subtext. A Hole is a dark and unwelcoming place. This metaphor represents the bands lyrical content which often deals with frustration, anger, etc. from being an outcast, misunderstood, or looked down upon.

2. JOY DIVISION

 Although the title came from the prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp in the 1955 book “House of Dolls”, Ian Curtis’s lyrics resonate with a different take on looking at how one’s joy can be lessened or torn into parts (think of their hit song “Love will Tear us Apart”). Also, a “Division” fits the definition of a disagreement (again, love tearing one apart).

Last, it might not have been the intended meaning, but when you consider that “division” can also represent a place that is disconnected, it could represent the music itself, as in the music being the disconnected part of life where joy can be found.

1. SONIC YOUTH

Music and adolescence. There are so many bands whose name is a term that references music itself, like Radiohead, and others whose name represents being young, like Reagan Youth. Still, there is something about the intangibility of Sonic Youth’s name that I prefer over Radiohead or Reagan Youth because it can’t be contextualized to an era, such as when Reagan was president, or to be even more general, at a time when the radio existed. I like that the name is entirely abstract, and carries a very classic meaning which represents two factors which are present in musical movements.

Also, Some names just sound cool.