Jim Morrison’s favourite period of The Beatles: “They were authentic and very raw”
At the start of the ‘Summer of Love’, The Doors represented everything dark about what rock music had to offer. There may have been thousands of people willing to talk about how the world would be a much better place if we could all love each other, but Jim Morrison wasn’t looking to follow in the footsteps that acts like The Beatles had pioneered in their prime. That’s not to say that Morrison didn’t have a passing interest in the Fab Four, and when questioned about his favourite era of the group, Morrison said he preferred their older years as a scruffier rock and roll outfit.
Although many people know the cartoon image of the four lads from Liverpool in suits playing proper rock and roll music, there was a darker side of the band that didn’t see the light of day as often. Before they even hit the States, the material the group was playing in Hamburg and their native Liverpool could have been considered the punk rock of its day, complete with some of the most raucous playing ever heard on record.
Despite how many overdubs they would end up doing in the studio after the fact, The Beatles’ Please Please Me could justifiably be called their unofficial live album, taking the basics and their sound and putting a certain edge to it. ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ might just be considered a classic these days, but when you listen to the remastered version of the song, George Harrison’s guitar solo, in particular, is a lot more raw than people give it credit for.
It was that uninhibited side of the band that really lit up Morrison in the first part of his career. As he recalls in the book No One Here Gets Out Alive, “I really like The Beatles’ first few albums. They were authentic and very raw.” Those loveable lads weren’t long for this world, though, instead venturing down the studio rabbit hole every time they made a record.
Then again, is Morrison really being truthful when he said he only liked their early work? I mean, if you listen to the beginning of a song like ‘Strange Days’ taken from the album of the same name, it’s hard to think that Morrison got to that sonic conclusion without listening to an album like Sgt Pepper beforehand.
By the end of the 1960s, Morrison may have actually been glad to see The Beatles going down different sonic avenues. Since Morrison was an artist first and musician second, seeing someone like John Lennon wanting to make something that sounded messed up on ‘Revolution 9’ was wildly innovative for the time.
Once Lennon decided to break free from his fellow Fabs, Morrison saw a more ramshackle version of one of rock’s giants when he played at the Toronto Peace Festival. The Doors were headlining that same night, and hearing the man responsible for strange sonic detours like ‘I Am the Walrus’ suddenly make songs like ‘Cold Turkey’ onstage was the kind of avant-garde music that didn’t even have a name yet.
By then, even Morrison was starting to move onto something different, embracing the group’s bar-band roots on albums like Morrison Hotel. The Doors certainly took inspiration from The Beatles in bits and pieces, but as far as Morrison was concerned, it was about leaving the best impression onstage instead of hiding behind studio effects.