“A commanding performer”: David Bowie’s favourite song by The Doors
There is no such thing as a self-made man. Behind every iconic pop star is a vast swathe of irreplaceable influences that facilitated success. This is, of course, not to discredit heroes like Bob Dylan or Albert Camus. But what would they have done without the towering influences of Woody Guthrie and Fyodor Dostoyevsky? In the case of David Bowie, the late Brit’s influences were plentiful and particularly abundant in 1960s rock ‘n’ roll.
Bowie began his recording career in 1967 with the critically panned and commercially underwhelming eponymous debut album. It seemed the world wasn’t quite ready for his zany nursery rhyme lyricism, but like a Martian fallen to Earth, he adapted to popular trends on the artistic vanguard and began to establish a more resonant sonic vision.
A glimmer of stardom attained by the 1969 single ‘Space Oddity’, which soundtracked the BBC’s coverage of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, led to subsequent rungs of critical and commercial success in the early 1970s with Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
When Bowie emerged as Ziggy Stardust during the creation and promotion of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and its follow-up Aladdin Sane, between 1973 and ‘72, he became one of the most celebrated icons of the glam-rock wave alongside the likes of Marc Bolan and Elton John. From the lofty plateau of newfound success, Bowie never failed to honour his luminaries. Among them was the former Velvet Underground bandleader Lou Reed.
After acquainting Reed, Bowie and his Spiders from Mars guitarist Mick Ronson agreed to produce the New Yorker’s second solo album, Transformer. With the help of Bowie and Ronson, Reed managed to transform his solo career in 1972, achieving unprecedented levels of commercial success thanks to hits like ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ and ‘Perfect Day’. A year later, Bowie honoured another highly influential American proto-punk outfit when co-producing The Stooges’ third album, Raw Power, with Iggy Pop.
From these two monumental collaborations, it is clear to see where Bowie’s allegiances lay when it came to 1960s rock music. If a choice between the gritty realism of Andy Warhol and Lou Reed’s New York and the West Coast hippie scene as championed by The Beach Boys and The Mamas and the Papas presented itself to Bowie, he would have taken the former in a heartbeat. Still, he didn’t rule out the West Coast psychedelic scene by any means.
In March 1979, just before releasing his final Berlin Trilogy album, Lodger, Bowie was invited as a guest DJ to BBC Radio 1. Throughout the show, he played some of his favourite songs by some of his favourite artists. The brilliant setlist included The Stooges’ ‘TV Eye’, John Lennon’s ‘Remember’, The Velvet Underground’s ‘Sweet Jane’, King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ and Talking Heads’ recent More Songs About Buildings And Food cut ‘Warning Sign’.
Before all that fun, however, Bowie kicked off the feature with his favourite song by The Doors, a band from the West Coast psychedelic scene that he rarely mentioned in his interviews and articles. “It’s a big grey out today, but I’ve got some water, and I’ve got a bunch of records,” he said, greeting his listeners.
“So I think if I was walking outside at the moment I would like to be walking on this street. It’s ‘Love Street’ by The Doors. A commanding performer [Jim Morrison], I remember seeing him once at I think it was the Roundhouse when they came to London the first time.”
Morrison was and remains a divisive figure in pop culture. As a messianic performer, he became one of the most idolised musicians in the hippie era. However, his volatile behaviour amid a spiralling relationship with alcohol led many to criticise the worship of such an icon. In many ways, his tragic demise, aged just 27, signified the end of the hippie era and highlighted the movement’s weaknesses. As a man who could always see the best in others, Bowie praised Morrison’s unique onstage presence and his beautiful delivery of ‘Love Street’, a classic from The Doors’ third album, Waiting for the Sun.
