The world needs another Jim Morrison.
This thought dawned on me as I was driving back to MSU on Sunday morning. I was jamming to a couple albums I purchased Friday, both by The Doors, and I realized that there really isn’t any artist, in my opinion, who has matched up to the greatness of Jim Morrison since his untimely death in 1971.
So many artists are afraid of the result of their actions that they limit themselves to what is expected, rather than their true capabilities.
With the exception of the intimidating stage antics of Marilyn Manson, the music industry really doesn’t have anyone as special or “far out” today as Morrison was.
Obviously I can’t say I had the pleasure of seeing Morrison perform with his band, but I’ve yet to see a concert that matches up to the energy that Val Kilmer put out in the Oliver Stone-directed movie rendition of Morrison’s life, “The Doors.”
Every time I watch that flick I feel like I got ripped off because I never got to see him perform live.
Take into consideration that I don’t promote or practice most of what Morrison preached, but the man was one of the greatest artists of music history.
He was recognized in a mainstream sense by all of the “Top 40” hits of his day, but the real magic of his art is portrayed in the songs that didn’t get played on the radio.
Songs like “The End,” “Celebration of the Lizard,” “Horse Latitudes” and “Can’t See Your Face in My Mind” were some of his best and scariest efforts.
Bands come and go, and many artists conform to what the music industry wants, but Morrison didn’t do that. He didn’t care whether his audience was booing him or cheering him on, and he didn’t care about the consequences of his actions.
He simply stood as an icon of American rock ’n’ roll by being a spokesperson of what rock ‘’n’ roll was (and should have been).
Would The Doors have agreed to perform “Whiskey Bar” at a Super Bowl with Britney Spears,’N Sync and Nelly like Aerosmith did during Super Bowl XXXV? Think about that for a minute.
I certainly don’t believe Morrison would have (he probably would have flashed the audience if he did).
During his performance on the Ed Sullivan show, he refused to change his lyric from “Baby we can’t get much higher” to “Baby we can’t get much better,” as requested by one of the show’s workers.
Authority didn’t intimidate him, and more artists need to learn from that.
That one word in that one song was important to Morrison and his artwork. To him, the editing of that word in his song would have completely changed the theme and ruined what the band stood for. In my book, that is why he was such a great man.
Danny Sugerman wrote about this in the introduction to Morrison’s biography, “No One Here Gets Out Alive.”
“Jim did what all good artists aim for and, when they are successful, accomplish: to arouse us from the lethargy of our set ways and routine lives, prick us into consciousness, provoke a reaction (whether positive or negative, it matters not) within us; and to make us think,” Sugerman wrote.
That in itself is a rare enough occurrence, so we should be grateful whenever we have the opportunity to experience an artist like Morrison.
Sure he had his rough spots with all the drugs and illegal substances, and maybe he cheated on his longtime girlfriend numerous times. But, we’re not talking about this man’s personal life, we’re talking about his music.
He was a genius and I have yet to find an artist who was so concise and so determined to not give in to what society wanted to hear about.
And when the music was over, Morrison gave us something to connect with. By showing us hell, The Doors brought us to heaven; by confirming our sense of hopelessness and sadness, they led us to freedom.
The music industry needs another icon to guide eager fans on a moonlight ride. Let’s just hope the next Jim Morrison doesn’t die at such a young age.
Dan Julian, State News music reporter, thinks he has the chops to be the drummer for the next Jim Morrison. He can be reached at julianda@msu.edu.
