Sixties

I grew up in the sixties. It was an amazing decade. (I think the word "amazing" is overused these days, but it really does apply in this case.) The sixties were revolutionary, chaotic and scary. I am glad I lived through it because, in a way, it made me who I am today. I went from being a well-ordered, meek child to being a free thinker.

I just started reading the above book about Jim Morrison. I have always liked the music of the Doors. It takes me back to the sixties and my youth. Once I heard Terry Gross on her PBS show, interviewing the Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarec. He described the creative process by which they recorded the song "Light My Fire". That interview was fascinating. It opened my eyes to a truly creative process in music. If you are a music lover and you ever get a chance to hear a recording of that interview, do it.

Anyway, the reason I am writing about this book: I just finished the introduction, and is what inspired me to write here. The introduction to this book says so many things about the sixties that resonate with me. He has described the cultural upheavals that took place during that decade in a way I have always had in the back of my head but was unable to express. To quote from the book:
"Doors concerts.... were as close to the experience of shamanic ritual as the rock audience ever got. The Doors captured the unrest and the menace that hung in the air of the late sixties like tear gas, and they did it with hypnotic cool."

Don't get me wrong. Jim Morrison was never a personal hero of mine. I never did drugs or "dropped out". I remained pretty conventional in my lifestyle. But I was listening... and it affected me.