Revised FP 6: Strange Days by The Doors

In 1967 The Doors released their second album, Strange Days.  After tremendous success with their debut album, which was released earlier in the same year, the Doors didn’t disappoint with Strange Days.  When it was first released it was very successful and over time it eventually earned platinum certification. 

Strange Days was released in September of 1967, in the midst of war, violent events, and overall social changes of the 1960’s decade.  This era is a very popular time in history because the people experienced a tremendous amount of changes that would all go down in history as some of the most defining yet difficult times for the United States.  Among the Vietnam War, civil rights protests, war protests, Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the people of the 1960’s experienced some rough times.  With all the “conflicting cultures and demands” of the 1960’s it created a very chaotic time period in America (Chalmers 25).  It was very difficult for people to deal with all these issues and for them to get used to these changing times.  In the midst of all of this many people turned to drug use to try and escape reality and develop a more peaceful mindset than the world had.

The sixties are famous for being the decade of hippies and good vibes because psychedelic drugs a phenomena at this time.  The psychedelic drug, LSD, was originally introduced in the 1940’s for experimentation but after discovering there was no medical use for the drug it turned into a recreational activity for people. The popularity of LSD spread like wildfire, especially among the younger generation.  American students were encouraged to try LSD and “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” (“LSD: A Short History”).  This new phenomena detached people from what was going on in the world and allowed them to open up their minds to peace and creativity.  In the midst of such a violent world people were now starting to think about peace.  After opening up their minds to this new mentality some people believed that if a sufficient number of people changed their ways of life they would reform American society (Elcock 297).  This time period praised the transgressive righteousness of youth culture, to escaping the establishment through drugs and liberated morals (Horning 106).  As the 1960’s went on the violence in the world continued and the popularity of drug use increased. 

Almost everyone at this time had been exposed to LSD or took part in using LSD, especially the musicians of this time.  The psychedelic rock genre emerged during this time period and became the most dominant music genre of the 1960’s.  Psychedelic rock music is influenced by psychedelia and tries to replicate the experience of using mind-altering psychedelic drugs.  I believe there’s a strong connection as to why psychedelic rock was so popular during this decade; the people of the 1960’s relied on the use of psychedelic drugs to try and escape the change and hardship that the 1960’s presented to them.  All of the social or economic worries didn’t matter when you experienced this out-of-body experience, in fact nothing really mattered except what drug you were doing.  Since the use of psychedelic drugs were so common and popular, psychedelic music thrived and gained a massive fanbase. 

Since psychedelia and the psychedelic rock genre were so popular it in return caused an enormous amount of drug abuse problems.  It can be very difficult to be a musician and many artists developed problems from using so many drugs to try and escape their stress and worries.  Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, tried to cope with traumatic events, depression, and uncontrolled impulses through creative activities and his constant drug use helped him to be even more creative with his music (Holm-Hadulla 171).  During this time period The Doors had a massive fanbase and were one of the most popular psychedelic rock bands but that didn’t help improve Jim Morrison’s mental health.  Musicians were always pressured to make better and successful music which caused them to try and open up their minds in a way that only hallucinogenic drugs could produce.  This led to an extreme amount of musicians becoming addicted to drugs and as they continued this heavy drug use it only negatively affected their lives. 

This new phenomena of taking LSD to alter your mind created a very strange time period in history.  Although using psychedelic drugs helped free your mind and create this feeling of an out-of-body experience they couldn’t always help you escape the reality of the world, and that’s where music comes in.  The psychedelic rock genre was accepted by the people because it appealed to the drug aspect but it also discussed the state of the world in a way that was comfortable and in a way that people could understand.  Psychedelic rock musicians from the 1960’s helped people deal with the changing times by writing songs about it and expressing their opinions about these times.  In The Doors album Strange Days, even the title lets people know that this band recognizes the changes and thinks these times are full of “strange days.”  The first song on the album “Strange Days” immediately sets the theme of the album and explicitly states their opinions about these changing times.  The album opens with the lyrics “strange days have found us, strange days have tracked us down, they’re goin’ to destroy our casual joys, we shall go on playing or find a new town.”  The 1960’s were confusing times for a lot of people and they were full of many “strange days” for people.  The Doors put these emotions in “Strange Days” with their lyrics describing the approach of these days and unsettling instrumentation that makes the listener feel uncomfortable.  When listening to this song it’s just like experiencing the changing times of the 1960’s.

After “Strange Days” the next song on the album is “You’re Lost Little Girl.”  With questioning lyrics like “you’re lost little girl, you're lost, tell me who are you” it creates this sense of confusion while listening to the song.  Included with a mesmerizing guitar riff that continues throughout the piece, this song really draws listeners in and makes them listen to it.  This concept of a “lost little girl” can also relate to the 1960’s era.  There were many changes and reforms that people had never experienced before and many people were lost and didn’t know what to do.  It can be hard when you are presented with change and often times we are like the “lost little girl” that this song describes.  

Strange Days continues with the songs “Unhappy Girl.”  As you can assume from the title, it continues with the theme of a girl that is experiencing a confusing and tough time in her life.  The lyrics “girl, unhappy girl, fly fast away; don’t miss your chance” encourage this girl to run away from her problems and try and escape.  I’m sure when people in the 1960’s heard this song they were very tempted by this idea and many people did try and escape from their problems or from society’s problems with things like drugs or music or even both. 

Another song on the album and arguably the most famous song from this album is “People Are Strange.”  Some of its lyrics are “people are strange when you’re a stranger, faces look ugly when you’re alone, women seem wicked when you’re unwanted.”  The lyrics describe someone strange but the upbeat tempo and captivating piano melody allow the song to still feel happy.  The Doors are able to describe this experience of feeling like the odd-one-out and just plain strange into something that people can accept. 

Strange Days ends with the song “When The Music’s Over.”  This song contains lyrics like “for the music is your special friend//dance on fire as it intends//music is your only friend until the end, until the end.”  The song really brings the album to a close and even though the lyrics are kind of sad the upbeat tempo of the song doesn’t let the listener be upset about it.  The exuberant guitar in the background throughout the song and the crescendo of the vocals throughout the song make it into a positive-feeling song.  Although The Doors can make this song seem positive it still does have a sad feeling when only looking at the lyrics and applying them to the real-life of the 1960’s.  In this era of change and “strange days” many people turned to music as the only unchanging things in their lives.  The psychedelic music culture in the 1960’s was extremely popular and people needed something to turn to to help them get by.  With that in mind this song really hits home when it describes music as “your special friend” and “your only friend until the end.”  Although drugs were a popular escape during this time period they couldn’t properly fill the void that people felt, music was the only thing that could really do the job.  So with this song “When The Music’s Over" The Doors describe a very scary experience of not having music anymore because without music how would people get by? 

Works Cited

Chalmers, David. "The Struggle for Social Change in 1960s America: A 
          Bibliographic Essay." American Studies International 30.1 (1992): 24-41. 
          Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Elcock, Chris. "From Acid Revolution to Entheogenic Evolution: Psychedelic 
          Philosophy in the Sixties and Beyond : Winner of the William M. Jones Best
          Graduate Student Paper Award at the 2013 American Culture Association 
          Conference." The Journal of American Culture J Am Cult 36.4 (2013): 296-
          311. Web. 17 Nov. 2015

Holm-Hadulla, Rainer M., and Alina Bertolino. "Creativity, Alcohol and Drug
          Abuse: The Pop Icon Jim Morrison." Psychopathology 47.3 (2014): 167-73.
          Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Horning, Rob. "REVOLUTION BLUES." Art in America 103.10 (2015): 106-10. 
          Print. 17 Nov. 2015.

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