Blood in the streets…
Album, artist and year: The Doors, Morrison Hotel, 1970
Why is it a Classic? : How do you chose just one song from a band whose back catalogue is one of the strongest in rock ‘n roll history?
Break On Through almost created a template for the entire genre of psychedelic rock to follow, The End is nothing short of an ominous orchestral masterpiece while the sweeping brilliance of Light My Fire almost soundtracked an entire generation.
Peace Frog though is arguably some of The Doors’ best work because it represented the coming together of everything that made them so ground-breaking.
Just like The Rolling Stone’s ‘Street Fighting Man’, Morrison’s descriptive lyrics tap into a period of civil unrest around the world as student riots, mass violence and “blood in the streets” was the norm.
The heat was on, in a very literal and socio-political sense as tempers flared in the “bloody red sun of Phantastic L.A”.
The tune was clearly influenced by the band witnessing the riots in New Haven and Chicago but you can be forgiven for failing to dwell on the politically charged lyrics when the beat is so infectious.
Right from the off, guitarist Robby Krieger reels you in with that famous distorted G5 chord that’s played three times before the brief percussive ‘Wah-wah’ effect takes hold.
The first notes of keyboardist Ray Manzarek on 0:13 also add a whole different dimension to the song, as he so frequently did.
Any song that has enough confidence in itself to stop and start it’s beat is always a good sign while that rapidly escalating riff at 1:15 is one of the most danceable moments in rock history.
The song doesn’t stop there though as it continues to build and seamlessly flow into the next tune, Blue Sunday plays on like a calming wave that floats you along.
The Doors are masters of their craft and here’s why.
Did you know? : The song featured in Forrest Gump, The Waterboy, My Name is Earl, Entourage and Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland game.
The lyrical hook: “There’s blood in the streets, it’s up to my ankles”.
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