Project 2: Revision Draft

Notes from Office Hours:

- Edit transition sentences
- Edit citations
o In-text: format, format song ref.
o Works Cited: format, alphabetize, URL, specify source type

The Doors and Nihilism

by Lauren Whaley
Aside from hair getting longer and new fashions surfacing, a movement within the
American society was growing throughout the decade of the 1960s promoting a basic way of
living that flipped the previous generations world upside down. Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll
were consuming most of the youth which, in turn, put a spot light on those who took the stage.
Most of the counterculture bands of that time were influenced by the San Francisco Hippy
movement (Hazzard, 1). Many of those caught up in the movement were disenchanted with the
government and social norms. The majority of people who considered themselves to be Hippies
at the time were generally kids from middle class families and became part of the love and peace
generation (Kidari, 32). This majority divided themselves into different subcultures, some
pushing for sudden revolutionary change, others, the sexual revolution energized with the
introduction of the birth control pill. Large groups were involved with Civil Rights Movement,
the Anti War Movement and Womens Liberation Movement. Generally, these subcultures were
compressed into a larger counterculture by the end of the 1960s and they tended to gravitate
towards music that sang about love and peace and made a listener feel good- all of which were
found in the message of the Woodstock bands (Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, etc).
Much of this type of music promoted drug use, sexual freedom, and an abandonment of the
establishment, but lacked lyrics that were intellectual and reached the thinker with the issues of
the time (Kidari, Pg 23). Other subcultures favored bands whose genre were more psychedelic,

bands such as Jefferson Airplane, Cream, and such. The love and peace generation thought that a
quick revolution would change the world and be over. Amongst the positive and optimistic love
and peace generation, The Doors emerged, headed by lead vocalist, Jim Morrison, who shook up
the norms of the counterculture. The Doors offered more thought provoking lyrics and
fluctuating instrumentals that ranged between eerie and rowdy. This particular band seemed to
have embodied Nihilism and expressed the idea that a person had to be in a constant state of
revolution or die.

Before a distinction can be made of Woodstock crowd from The Doors and their
Nihilistic characteristics, I think its necessary to understand the basis of the counterculture of the
time to make their differences clear. So, before there were Hippies, there were Beats. The youth
of the 1950s were upset with the world around them after WW II, they felt societal values were
deteriorating and were surrounded by a superficial corrupt mess that would potentially get worse.
These people appear to have made up the beginnings of the Hippie 1960s counterculture. They
perceived the U.S. as a power hungry entity, ready to dominate any non-capitalist country that
stood in its way, and held the view that society was being depraved and falling into a more
decrepit culture; more focused on commercial and mercenary values (Molesworth, Beats). This
paved the way for the counterculture of the 1960s and gave rise to Hippies who focused on
getting in touch with warmer, more intimate elements of life rather than material goods. Thus,
this was a period when long held values and norms of behavior seemed to break down with
young people dropping out of mainstream culture. Physical appearances changed, men wore
longer hair and beards, both sexes wore jeans and a gypsy wardrobe. College age men and
women became increasingly vocal as political activists. Gender roles were challenged as women

no longer excepted the traditional rolls of housewife and mother, instead they began to view this
as confinement and an attack on their freedom. Attitudes towards sexuality changed, the Gay
Rights movements and the birth control pill created a platform for greater freedom of sexuality
(Kidari, 24-27). Despite many historians, including Robert D. Schulzinger, who made the
argument that much of the 1960s counterculture was the product of well off rebellious kids trying
to shake up the norms of their parents generation. There was substance and meaning behind
these transitions. Nonetheless, with all this enthusiasm pushing for an ideal loving nation/world;
The Doors hit the scene and served as a reality check, reinforcing a darker sense of reality and
what was actually taking place.

The Doors originating out of Los Angeles were unlike the rest of the bands that were
popping up all over the West Coast. They did not subscribe to the San Francisco model. Their
name came from Aldous Huxleys book The Doors of Perception which came from a line in
William Blakes The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: If the doors of perception were cleansed,
everything would appear to man as it is: infinite (Huxley, 18). The Doors often made a point to
tell their audiences they were disconnected from the political and social matters of the love
generation and they were not a part of the Northern California movement. The Doors made a
departure from the Woodstock/San Francisco bands by offering their audiences a different type
of rock-n-roll one that did not necessarily make you feel good but appealed to the intellectual and
made you think about the issues of the time. Jim Morrison was known to be one of the most
iconic singers of the counterculture movement because of his eccentricity and rebellious
behavior (The Famous People, Jim Morrison). Because of Morrisons good looks and bad
boy image, much of the complexity in his character was overlooked at the time.

Although it may appear possible to acknowledge the close ties the lead singer, Jim
Morison, had to Nihilism, Im here to push the envelope of previous evaluations to go further
and say the band as a whole has a Nihilistic orientation shown through the bands lyrics and
instrumental auditory tones. Each of said characteristics converge to develop the cynical
reputation that I find to match values and concepts of the philosophy described and shaped by
Fiedrich Nietzsche.

According to its literal definition, The historical doctrine in Nihilism comes from an
extreme Russian Revolutionary Party Circa 1900, a group who found no value in the established
social order (Grassfire, Nihilism and Americas Furture). The philosophy itself could be
defined as the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or
communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that
condemns existence. Thus, a person that would consider themselves a Nihilist would be
someone who believed the only purpose they could possibly have would lead to destruction, they
have no commitments and no deeper meaning to exist. (Pratt, Nihilism)

When analyzing his adolescence and the subjects he gravitated toward, Nihilism seemed to
be the root philosophy that Jim Morrison expressed. Morrison was a well-read individual during
his teen years, and the works in which he generally consumed were obscure or complex with
subjects ranging from demonology to shamanism to darker abstract collections songs (Riordan
and Prochnicky, 15). These types of interests radiated through his character, which in turn
rubbed off on band members in later years. Robby Krieger, the guitarist for The Doors, once

made the statement to an interviewer that he wished they could have had a normal lead
vocalist, but quickly retracted the statement as he realized without Jim Morrison there would
have been no Doors (McKay, Robby Krieger: The Doors Are Done Rocking). Although
members attempted to continue playing music after Morisons death in 1971, I think the band as
a whole died with Jim. Not only because they lost the infamous character that was there lead
singer, but the band died because they lost the foundation that built up the unique spirit of the
band: the Nihilistic mentality Morison brought to the sound booth.

Throughout Morisons life, he appeared to be absorbed in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche

(the man who conceptually develop Nihilism) while simultaneously viewing the world like
something of a French existentialist (Riordan and Prochnicky, 16). In other words, he valued the
freedom and the basics of human existence- finding importance in giving attention to what can
be taken in through the senses, as opposed to deeming logic in thinking to be the determining
aspect that defines a persons purpose/existence (Kadari, 29). I think this fueled his perception of
the state of constant rebellion people where in, which defined the distinction of his take5 on
existentialism as opposed to that which influenced the Beats. This slight alternative take
continues to push Morison, along with the band, away from the 1960s counterculture. Although
there wasnt just a single mission being perused by the hippies, they were pursuing some form of
an end goal-making some type of societal changes. However, there was no end goal in Morisons
eyes, as he felt there would always be something circulating through human existence worthy of
rebellion for the sake of pure individual though. I find the enthrallment he had for such
philosophies amplified and fed off each other, later playing a key role in marking The Doors to
be so unique nature. The domino effect of this exclusive take on 1960s music they created was

displayed through the cultivation of their own segment of the counterculture, some people of the
crowd gravitated towards their sobering, compounded messages in tune to nitty-gritty sounds.

Whether it be due to the fact that The Doors members, like Morrison who went to FSU and
UCLA, received a college level education unlike most other members of popular 1960-1970
bands, like The Beatles, lyrics found in The Doors songs had a heavier sophisticated presence
with multiple meanings, such as in Riders on the Storm (L.A. Woman, 1971) as opposed to the
typical feel good emotion embedded lyrics with simple interpretations found popular norm
songs (Riordan and Prochnicky, 26). According to a Washington Posts album review, the noted
reoccurring themes in such lyrics revolved around the lead singers fascination with evil, the
love - hate - sex equation, anarchy within a rigid social structure, a love of the surreal and
macabre. (Cowan, section C) Such lyrics include the ones found in Not to Touch the Earth
(Waiting on the Sun, 1968), the song itself centers around century-old religious myths. Even
though this counterculture was trying to make societal norms to be more liberal, such discussions
were still relatively sensitive, especially in the eyes of the older present generation of the time.
This makes me draw the connection to the crude reviews the band typically received (seeing as
most of the reviews made were by the generation before the Hippies, even the Beats), calling
them satanic, unsettling, grotesque, scary, or dangerous. This furthered the distance
of the band in relation to the eras typical bands, thus began the development of their own
segment of counterculture which I find to be shaped and centered around The Doors Nihilistic
character.

I think the true extent of The Doors complexity in expression and ramification of values
were over looked in the early stages of their publicity. Some of their early hits such as Light
My Fire initially threw them into the public eye with other common bands which appeared to
mask some of their somber demeanor. Alongside their particular choice in subject lyrically
expressed, The Doors usually carried out a unique style of sound that continued to speak to
listeners by non-verbal instrumental means. Overall, I see The Doors to have evolved the
psychedelic rock which the hippies were typically tuning into at the time, which continued
severing their music and fan base from that of the mainstream counterculture. The instrumentals
generally formed a sound that would fall somewhere in a Nihilistic spectrumeither creating a
creepy calm tone that would fluctuate with sharp transitions which I think incorporates the idea
of constant rebelling and emphasizes life being meaningless in accordance with the lifestyle of
the error. I think their idea of not incorporating a bassist into the band (leaving only an organist,
guitarist, and drummer) also played a role in this unorthodox sound, as the lack of constant/bass
reverberating in their music puts an edge on listeners (Greene, Ray Manzarek, Doors
Keyboardist, Dead at 74) . This in combination with the style of singing that Morrison executed,
which varied with every song, continued to build the cynical qualities of the music. At times his
tone had a soulful grit like in Rock is Dead (The Doors: Box Set, 1969) sometimes it was
sexually soft and slurred like in Five to One, (Waiting on the Sun, 1968) and other times it
sounded slow and disturbed like in Not to Touch the Earth (Waiting on the Sun, 1968). The
poetry blurbs Morrison intertwines in certain songs puts the Nihilistic cherry on top, as they
emphasize how complex their music was. Listeners experienced some kind of mental
awakening, gaining self-awareness, through the contrasting mild speech and unconventional
thoughts.

I find some form of these aspects to be present in nearly all of their songs. Five to One
contains empowering messages of power to the people, reminding the young masses they
outnumber the weaker generation in office (They got guns but we got the numbers), but its
continually counteracted with the sobering thoughts of the inevitability of death (no one here
gets out alive) (Waiting on the Sun, 1968). Break on Through carries compounded lyrics as it
has a multitude of interpretations. Amongst the arduous singing and blaring instruments,
Morrison used metaphors to portray aspects of human life; day and night resembling happiness
and sadness, the title itself resembles the effects of common psychedelic drugs on an individuals
mind, etc(The Doors: Box Set, 1967) The Celebration of the Lizard is one song in particular
that truly exemplifies the unique aspects of The Doors. The instruments play lingering
suspenseful cords as soothing whispers jump to screaming as Morrison narrates a story of a
group of young adults that decided to move into the desert to escape society. After the loud
rumbling, Morrison chimes in with a change of thought in the middle of the piece, stating -

Once I had a little game / I liked to crawl back into my brain / I think you know the
game I mean / I mean the game called go insane / Now you should try this little
game / Just close your eyes forget your name / Forget the world forget the people
And well erect a different steeple / This little game / fun to do / Just close your eyes no
way to lose / And Im right there Im going too / Release control were breaking
thru
(Waiting on the Sun, 1970)

These lyrics epitomize the form of Nihilism Im proposing is apparent in the band and its
message. Morrison tells about the power of retracting back into ones mind, as if going mentally
insane has true benefits. By going numb, and wiping ones mind blank, Morrison portrays the
meaninglessness of materialistic aspects of the world and the relief, satisfaction, and power it
gives someone once they realize this idea. This perspective even seems to relate back to the
origin of the bands name - once the the fixed / artificial values of society are seen for what little
meaning they really stand for, a persons potential is infinite with such knowledge. Even more
so, this type of knowledge is a threat to higher powers, like the government, as it can be a
destructive nuisance to society.

In conclusion, the distinct twist The Doors put on the sound of the 60s and 70s opened up
a new argument. Were The Doors a small but unique contributor to the counterculture of the era
or did they create a subculture during the period when subcultures were being compressed and
labeled as the counterculture? The Doors may have in fact developed their own version of the
counterculture. The concept of culture and counterculture changes as years pass, new issues
arise, people back new movements and so on. But at that point in time The Doors weighed a
heavy hand in tweaking the movement, especially through their incorporation of Nihilism in their
music despite never officially identifying themselves as Nihilists. They had a clear and clean
departure from music of the love generation and Woodstock (The Beatles, The Grateful Dead
and Jefferson Airplane). They had a distinctive sound and gave their audience some food for
thought, even if it meant taking away the happy go lucky feelings that Woodstock endorsed.
The music of Jim Morrison and The Doors continues to lead the revolution for many fans today.

Rock and Roll is the sound of Angels telling the truth.

Jim Morrison (BrainyQuote website, pg1)