"I Wanna Destroy You" (The Soft Boys) - Uncle Tupelo

I love this cover.

ION, I need to pimp Solex again. From eMusic:

Named after a small, Hungarian-made motor scooter, Solex is the project of Amsterdam-based record-shop owner and songwriter Elisabeth Esselink. Formerly a member of Dutch indie pop group Sonetic Vet, Esselink wanted to express her musical ideas more completely; after purchasing an 8-track recorder and a vintage sampler, Esselink began recording songs on her own. Combing the racks of her own store for kitschy records, Esselink took snippets of old records to make new ones, creating her own style of lo-fi techno-pop.

If ya wanna download a few tacks from eMusic or iTunes, I'd recommend "Comely Row," "Low Kick And Hard Bop,"Good Comrades Go To Heaven," "Chris the Birthday." etc etc...

I've been reading, and occasionally arguing with, a survey of goth media. I just got to the part where the author claims that The Doors are the "most-influential proto-Gothic performers" (of the 60s, as the punk scene of the 70s was where goth really started to gestate).

I am not a music critic, and I'm really weak in the Doors-era stuff, so I thought I'd turn the discussion over to you guys. Jim Morrison was self-destructive, but I don't think that makes him a goth...and the musical sound of The Doors doesn't seem to lead into the goth sound, to me.

Thoughts?

Maybe some of it. Or maybe it's Morrison's death romance thing that makes that critic think that.

I can see Morrison's droning vocal style on some of his songs as being proto-goth.

If "The End" isn't proto-Goth, I don't know what is.

OTOH, "L.A. Woman" is about as Goth as ZZ Top.

Every girl's crazy 'bout a goth-dressed man....

Love the covers mix that Tina posted.

Love the covers mix that Tina posted.

Yay. I will post it to buffistarawk when I'm done with it. Should finish it up in the next day or so.

Tommyrot, I downloaded that Solex on your rec but haven't had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet. What I've heard I like a lot.

I am not a music critic, and I'm really weak in the Doors-era stuff, so I thought I'd turn the discussion over to you guys. Jim Morrison was self-destructive, but I don't think that makes him a goth...and the musical sound of The Doors doesn't seem to lead into the goth sound, to me.

Thoughts?

Hmmm. Well, Morrison was a big influence on a whole portentious school of arty rock and roll, and I can see some influence on goth. Certainly Jim gets credit for bringing the black leather pants back to rock after they'd lain dormant after Gene Vincent's influence waned. Iggy claimed Jim Morrison as one of his major influences, and Iggy certainly influenced a number of Goths (like Siouxsie). Ian Astbury of the Cult is subbing in for Jim on their current tour. Certainly the Doors did a number of very moody songs.

On the whole I'd have to say that the Velvet Underground was a bigger influence. ("Black Angel's Death Song"? Is there a gothier title than that in the proto-goth era?) Both in subject matter (the whole Warhol demimonde) and sound (Bring the drone! "Shiny, shiny / shiny boots of leather...")

whole portentious school

Portentious? Or pretentious?

I agree about VU - when I first heard them in college, I immediately filed them under "goth" or proto-goth. And the same when I later heard Nico's solo albums.

The author's reasoning for The Doors being the biggest proto-goth influence seems to be:

• Morrison was nihilistic and self-destructive
• "People Are Strange" was covered by Echo and the Bunnymen for the
Lost Boys soundtrack
• There's a poster of Morrison in the vampires' lair in
Lost Boys

I could almost see an argument for "The End" (as Jon said), and for Morrison's poetry, but I'm just not sure that whatever goth's roots are in the 60s are much linked to The Doors. I mean, not every self-destructive musician is goth.