Listen to the Robby Krieger interview

Singer Jim Morrison’s legend has swelled so dramatically since his death 20 years ago that the truth is nearly unobtainable.
Was the leader of the Doors a tragic hero? Misunderstood poet? Obsessive, drug- and alcohol-crazed lunatic? Lizard king?

Nice guy. says Robby Krieger. Maybe the best guy you’d ever know — when he wasn’t drunk.

Krieger knows because he spent five years at Morrison’s side as guitarist/ songwriter with the Doors.

“In a way,” he says by telephone from California, “Jim was way ahead of anybody else as being a human being. but in other ways. he was a retard. lie could be a real a . But that wasn’t Jim. That was the crazy guy that came out when Jim got drunk.

“Jim wasn’t drunk all the time. He could be the greatest guy you ever met in your life, which, even if that was only once a week, that was enough to get you through the other six days. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to last as long.”

Krieger, 45. has been a sought-after interview subject since Oliver  Stone’s film The Doors was released last month.

These days, he can be found performing with his own band, the Robby Krieger Band, which includes his son Waylon. and Berry Oakley Jr.. the son of the late Allman Brothers Band bassist.

Good for what it was

Krieger also served as a consultant on the movie.

“For what it is, I think it’s real good. I looked at it like a real good music video. To me, there wasn’t enough to make a meaningful Hollywood movie out of. But I think there was enough stuff there visually and musically to make an interesting movie.”

Interesting, he says, because it captured the feeling of a Doors concert and fairly represented the group’s music.

But flawed in the sense that it only told a part of the story.

Allow him to fill in some of the gaps. “When Jim was working, he was at his best,” Krieger recalls. “He never missed a show, even though it seemed like, in the movie, he was always late. Many times, we were worried that he might not make it, but he always did. The reason for that was because that was what he lived for.

“Playing was what he loved the best, and that’s when we were at our best. All the personal s- – – aside, when we were playing. we were great. At first, we got along great and Jim was great, but as the drinking wore on, he got harder and harder to live with. But when we were playing. it was always great.”

The Doors made eight albums in four years with Morrison and released two records after he died of an apparent drug overdose. They missed Morrison for more than his musical abilities.

“After Jim died, the three of us ended up totally not being able to get along,” Krieger says. “When Jim was alive, he’d balance the three of us perfectly. But when Jim was gone, that balance was gone, and we just couldn’t get along.”

The band members’ contributions were minimized In the movie in favor of Morri¬son’s wretched excesses. Krieger is credited with writing Light My Fire, but there’s no mention that Love Me Two Times, Touch Me and You’re Lost Little Girl were among his other compositions.

Similarly, the movie ignored Ray Manzar-ek’s ability to play bass on the keyboards while he played organ. Manzarek has blast¬ed the movie as being unrealistic.

Krieger says he knew the other Doors would be a small part of the movie.

“That’s what the major attraction of theHollywood movie is. It’s, ‘Hey, there’s this crazy guy we can portray.’ Whereas the Doors’ fans would love to see the other guys and how the songs were made and the studio and all that, (the moviemakers) figured, ‘Well, the people would love to see this crazy asshole.

“That’s why I never wanted to make the movie. But I figured if people could get some idea of what it was like to be at a Doors show and they can hear the songs and have some nice visuals put to them, it was better than nothing.

“Somebody was going to make this movie one way or another, without us or with us.”

The movie would be made because the Doors have transcended the ’60s. The songs and Morrison’s legend (and death in 1971 at 27) continue to sell.

Band ‘sort of different’

“People relate to us now because we were sort of different. We were more psychologi-cal, more universal in the way we wrote songs. Our sound was different . . . (but) it was mainly the words. They really came from deep within, rather than being about trivial subjects.”

Krieger used to get frustrated talking about the Doors. He’s come to terms with that and barely mentions his own projects before bringing up the Doors.

“I realized the Doors are bigger than any of us. That only happens once in a lifetime, and not to many people. I don’t mind it. It’s an honor to be one of the Doors. I don’t expect to achieve that again, and 1 don’t know if I would want to.”

As for Morrison’s memory, he says: “I’m afraid this movie will be the way he’s re¬membered, which might not be that bad. He could be a lot worse than in the movie, too. But then again, he could be a lot nicer.

“I wish everybody could know him the way I knew him before the drinking, when we were writing those first songs and in the early days. Maybe I’ll write a book someday that they’ll make a movie of.”