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Home | What is Hello Culture? | The grid | The interviews | Find out more | Credits
The Doors
In 1965, four film students from UCLA — Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison, John Densmore and Robby Krieger — formed a band called The Doors. The name was derived from the title of Aldous Huxley's 1954 book about mescaline, The Doors of Perception, and the William Blake quote: 'If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.' It was Morrison, an enthusiast of Blake's poetry and of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, who chose the name.
In 1967, The Doors released their debut album, the seminal Light My Fire, blending blues with classical and Eastern music, using sinister melodies, a bleak poetic vision and image-rich lyrics. Morrison's deep voice, physical beauty and outlandish performances enhanced The Doors experience. His behaviour became increasingly controversial, however: he exposed himself on stage, mimed sex, screamed profanities and was eventually convicted of lewd and lascivious behaviour.
The Doors' recordings after Light My Fire never quite lived up to the promise of the first album. In 1971, shortly after the release of LA Woman, Morrison and his wife, Pamela Coulson, left the United States for Paris where he was to relax and write poetry. He died soon afterwards — of a heart attack (or drug overdose) in the bath. His grave in Paris's Père Lachaise cemetery has become a shrine to fans.
Find out more …
The Doors
www.thedoors.com
Official website with music samples, photos, a map, and chat rooms.
The Doors: The complete lyrics by Daniel Sugarman (Abacus, December 2001) £8.99.
Contains a compilation of the band's legendary lyrics, plus more than 100 photos. A fitting tribute to a band that has grown more popular with the passing of time.
Patti Smith 1946-
American rock musician
Patti Smith described her 1975 debut album Horses as 'three-chord rock merged with the power of the word'. Horses, which mixed long bouts of poetry with punk rock, was to be her greatest achievement. Produced by the Velvet Undergound's John Cale and with a record sleeve carrying a photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, the album transformed Smith into an instant icon.
Born and brought up in New Jersey, Smith had been working as a poet and an actress in New York underground theatre for several years before her break into the music industry. After the release of Horses, she toured America and Europe, but in 1976 fell off a stage while performing 'Ain't It Strange?' and cracked two vertebrae in her neck.
Having taken time off to recover, her return to the music scene in the late 1970s was met with less acclaim. She married in 1980 and moved to the suburbs of Detroit, where she raised two children. In 1994, Smith's husband died of heart failure, and the following month, her brother also died of a heart attack. She has since given a handful of performances, mostly of her poetry.
Find out more …
Patti Smith
www.oceanstar.com/patti/
This website features news, lyrics, pictures and interviews.
Patti Smith Complete: Lyrics, reflections & notes for the future by Patti Smith (Bloomsbury, 2000) £12.99.
Pioneering punk diva opens this book with a quote from her mentor and friend, the late Allen Ginsberg. Smith has collected more than 150 photographs by the likes of Annie Liebovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Michael Stipe (of REM) and Linda McCartney.
Siouxsie Sioux (Susan Ballion) 1957-
British rock singer
Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees were at the forefront of the 1980s' Goth scene, but there is, according Siouxsie, more to them than that. In one interview, she said: 'If someone calls us "gloomy and dark" again, I'll throw up ... We are far more diverse than that. On every album, we're a brand new band.'
The band were formed in the 1970s, a punk outfit whose original drummer was none other than Sid Vicious. They mimicked the Velvet Underground because according to Steven Severin, a founder member of the Banshees: 'They wore black, wore shades. They were the coolest thing you can imagine to someone living in the suburbs of London.'
Although the reign of Goth music was relatively short lived, Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees recorded and performed for more than 20 years, finally breaking up in 1996. Siouxsie used her voice to channel her aggression and disenchantment and it showed: the band's music was dark and disturbing, exotic and refreshing. Yet The Banshees never drew a mass audience despite the originality and influence of their work.
Find out more …
Siouxsie and the Banshees
www.vamp.org/Siouxsie/
Excellent site with images, discography, lyrics, press releases and newspaper cuttings.
Siouxsie and the Banshees: Photo book by Ray Stevenson (Omnibus; out of print but may be available through libraries and online book shops).
Stevenson was the brother of the band’s manager, Nils, and followed the band with camera in tow. He captures the highs and lows and reveals what the members of one of the world's most enigmatic bands were really like.
Fuckhead
Fuckhead is a group of musicians and performers who first came together in Linz in Austria in 1988. A bold and wholly original project, their music has been described by critics variously as 'chaotic, ever-changed and purposefully unfocused deathmetal', 'adventurously complex' and a 'unique combination of psychotic ecstasy, aggressive rupturedness and intelligent concept art'.
Their name, as group member Josef Linschinger explains, 'is a fusion of two contradictive words. "Fuck" stands for potency, the mutant drive ... And "head" stands for the rational and the intellect.' According to Linschinger, Fuckhead was formed as an association for men with personal, physical or mental problems, such as 'obesity, exhibitionism, dwarfishness, latent or repressed homosexuality and Down's syndrome'.
Fuckhead's stage act is violent, disgusting and base, but humorous, a kind of theatre of disgust. But it is also about overcoming limits, as Linschinger explains: 'We are nihilists because we could, for example, never believe in someone like Jesus Christ because he wanted to heal all the disabled. Imagine, there would be no Handicap Olympics any more.'
Find out more …
Fuckhead Inc. Elevator Symphony
www.fuckhead.at/
Has links to other sites with photos and not much else.