Showing posts with label The Doors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Doors. Show all posts

Thursday, January 4, 2018

THE DOORS MADE MUSIC FOR A FORD TRAINING FILM


As time goes on, we discover things we didn't know about. Thanks to Oliver Stone, we know about how three of the Doors allowed Buick to use "Light My Fire" in a commercial without the permission of the Lizard King, but before they released their first album they score part of a training film for Ford Motors.

This film is reminiscent of the Chevrolet training film Hired, which was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. This one focuses on Ford service department employees, rather than sales people. It features a nightmare sequence about different kinds of difficult customers.

I believe that one of the actors in this film is Bill Williams, the star of 50s TV shows The Adventures of Kit Carson and Date with the Angels, however I can't confirm this. I do know one of the main actors in this is Frank Coghlan Junior, who played Billy Batson in The Adventures of Captain Marvel and was the repairman in the Curtis Mathis television ads of the 70s.

In the nightmare sequence, the voice over belongs to Frank Nelson, best know for being the foil of Jack Benny, Lucille Ball and Redd Foxx, as well as the chauffeur in the commercials for McDonalds' Passport To Riches contest. Unfortunately, he doesn't say his famous "YYYYEEEEESSSSS" catchphrase.

Another thing missing is Jim Morrison's vocals. However, did perform some percussion and sound effects, possibly some of the "voices" of the customers.

Listen carefully, you can pick out early versions of such Doors songs as "I Looked At You," "Soft Parade" and "The End."



   


Sunday, May 29, 2016

SIX COMEBACKS FROM DEATH

Since it is Memorial Day weekend, lets look at some celebrities who died and then had comebacks several years after their death.


6.  JIM REEVES -  Reeves was a huge star in the 1950s and early 60s in both country and pop music. The crooner, dubbed Gentleman Jim, is best remembered for the song, "He'll Have To Go." What many people today don't realize is he hosted a radio show on the ABC Radio Network and was HUGE in Great Britain and South Africa. Then, he died in a plane crash in 1964. Interest in Reeves music dwindled as a new crop of country-pop performers came along. However, Chet Adkins convinced his widow to help him promote a compilation of hits sold via TV. It sold in huge numbers. Adkins also used technology to create "duets" with singer-songwriter Deborah Allen in the early 80s. All this brought Gentleman Jim's music back.


5. ERNIE KOVACS - Ernie Kovacs had was one of TV first stars. Kovacs used camera tricks to create elaborate sight gags. He hosted the weekend edition of The Tonight Show (which was quickly done away with) and was bounced on TV from network to network with little major success because his gags were expensive to produce. He appeared in some popular movies such as Bell, Book & Candle and North To Alaska. His longest gig was a game show called Take A Good Look. He was killed in a car accident in 1962. He seemed forgotten with the exception of mention in the first Joker episode of Batman. Then came a TV series called Laugh-In which revived many of his most famous gags and paid tribute to him during one of their early shows. In the late 70s, his last TV show, which aired on ABC, was rebroadcast on PBS. He was a star again after being forgotten. The alternative rock band The Loud Family's video for their song, "Don't Respond" was made to look like his show.


4. LON CHANEY - "Lon Chaney Must Not DIE!" is what the headline in Famous Monsters read. Chaney was sort of forgotten after his death in 1930, with the exception of his son using his name and a biopic starring James Cagney in the late 50s. Forry Akerman wrote several articles to get the monster kids reading his magazine interested in him. Chaney had suffered from being a silent star and the fact that many of his films were lost. Before long the face of the Phantom of the Opera and the vampire of London After Midnight were on posters and toys horded by monster kids of the 60s & 70s.




3. W. C. FIELD - Fields died in 1947. TV revived his old movies and the late 60s and early 70s nostalgia craze brought his radio appearances to LPs. A biography by his son and a film starring Rod Stieger helped bring him back. Firesign Theater frequently dropped his voice onto random characters and Fritos had a cartoon spokesman called W. C. Frito.



2. HUMPHREY BOGART - Bogart died in the mid 50s. French film historians began talking about his work and TV was showing his films. College students and hipsters began putting his face on posters and T-shirts. He was immortalized in songs by Roxy Music, Al Stewart and Bernie Higgins, as well as the Woody Allen film Play It Again, Sam. The Cult of Boggie was at its peak in the 70s.



1. JIM MORRISON -  The Rolling Stone cover sort of summed up this phenomenon. In the early 80s, Morrison and the Doors were suddenly big again. Many point to Elektras release of The Doors Greatest Hits LP and the book No One Here Gets Out Alive. Soon Jim Morrison posters were all over and radio stations were working in The Doors songs between Olivia Newton-John, Michael Jackson and REO Speedwagon. The Lizard King had risen from the flames to be a star again in the 80s.      

Monday, July 22, 2013

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

DESDINOVA'S FAVORITE SONGS BY THE DOORS

As promised, a list of my favorite songs by the Doors. I'm part of that second wave of Doors fans that discovered them in the early 80s. NOTE: While the Doors rank as one of my all time favorite bands, I'm not one of those annoying fans that pick their most obscure songs as my favorite songs.

1. "Light My Fire"
2. "Love Her Madly"
3. "Touch Me"
4. "Hello I Love You"
5. "Riders On the Storm"
6. "Love Me Two Times"
7. "Moonlight Drive"
8. "Five To One"
9. "Peace Frog"
10. "Break On Through (To The Other Side)"
11. "Strange Days"
12. "Soul Kitchen"
13. "The End"
14. "Wild Child"
15. "Unhappy Girl"
16. "My Eyes Have Seen You"
17. "L.A. Woman"
18. "When The Music's Over"
19. "Crystal Ship"
20. "Roadhouse Blues"




 

Friday, July 27, 2012

THE GREATEST NUMBER ONE HIT EVER - LIGHT MY FIRE

This is the anniversary of my all time favorite song reaching Number One on the Billboard chart as well as many Top 40 radio station surveys (WMCA New York survey above). It is "Light My Fire" by the Doors. Yes, it is true the song was a hit (exactly) two years before I was born, but it has always been a favorite of mine. Many people of my age group became interested in the Doors after a greatest hits LP starting selling strong in the early 80s and a book about Jim Morrison called No One Here Gets Out Alive became a best seller. Rolling Stone even ran a cover story on the reknewed interest in Jim Morrison entitled, "He's hot. He's sexy. He's dead." The song was around several months before it starting getting airplay on Top 40 around the country because of it's seven minute plus length. It was edited for radio down to about three minutes and thirty seconds. It became a radio favorite and one of the greatest summertime hits. Here is video of the Doors doing the short version live.
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