Behind Closed Doors by Jerry Hopkins

Author:Jerry Hopkins
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Hopkins Publishing
Published: 2013-05-20T04:00:00+00:00

It wouldn’t be until 1971, when Jim announced his departure for Paris that the concept was formalized. Years later, Densmore would reveal that this was done because he and the other two feared Jim might start a new band called The Doors in Europe. Thus the band’s business manager, Bob Greene, was given exclusive authority to enter into licensing agreements for The Doors music for radio and television commercials only after receiving the written approval of all four partners.

This was not changed after the singer’s death and it was renewed when his and Pamela’s parents became partners of the surviving Doors. So when Apple in 2000 offered $4 million to use “When the Music’s Over” in a commercial for a new computer called the Cube, John said no and that killed the deal. Densmore did it again in 2004 when General Motors, apparently forgetting the company’s Buick misadventure, offered $15 million for “Break On Through” to introduce the new Cadillac SUV. Again, John voted no.

When Manzarek and Krieger and others connected to the band reminded the drummer that he had approved the use of “Riders on the Storm” to sell Pirelli tires in the UK during the 1970s, he reminded them that he was so upset when he heard that commercial, he gave his portion to charity. And vowed to himself: never again.

“I’m pretty clear that we shouldn’t do it,” John wrote in The Nation. “We don’t need the money. But I get such pressure from one particular bandmate (the one who wears glasses and plays keyboards). ‘Commercials will give us more exposure,’ he says. I ask him, ‘So you’re not for it because of the money?’ He says ‘no,’ but his first question is always ‘how much?’ when we get one of these offers, and he always says he’s for it.

“I am reminded of the sound of greed, trying to talk me into not vetoing a Doors song for a cigarette ad in Japan. ‘It’s the only way to get a hit over there, John. They love commercials. It’s the new thing!’ ‘What about encouraging kids to smoke, Ray?’”

Tom Waits wrote a letter to The Nation in support. “Eventually, artists will be going onstage like race-car drivers covered in hundreds of logos,” he said. “John, stay pure. Your credibility, your integrity and your honor are things no company should be able to buy.”

John and the others also were fighting over the use of The Doors name when performing. This began after Densmore was diagnosed with tinnitus, an ear ailment that makes you hear things that aren’t heard externally by anyone else, and he okayed hiring Stewart Copeland (ex-drummer of the Police) and Ian Astbury (lead singer of the Cult) when Harley-Davidson asked the Doors” to play at a concert in Los Angeles in 2001 marking the company’s hundredth anniversary. When the motorcycle maker requested a repeat performance in Canada, Densmore withdrew his support and when the “new” Doors announced plans to go on tour, he rebelled. According to one insider, “John said, ‘Hey, wait a minute.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.