Really?? The Doors?

This is the end, my friend. Really?? The Doors? is produced by Noah Chernin, Jody Avirgan, and Ian Wheeler of Talkhouse. Production support from Jake Bowman and Keenan Kush. Special thanks to our sponsor, ⁠Bootleg⁠. Be sure to check out ⁠Naomi’s work⁠ at The New Yorker and their podcast ⁠Critics At Large⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're under the age of, say, 50, there's a good chance that your idea of The Doors is shaped as much by Oliver Stone's 1991 movie, and Val Kilmer's portrayal of Jim Morrison, as it is by the music of The Doors themselves. Today, a look at the movie, and other ways that pop culture has interpreted this great American rock band -- from The Simpsons to Wayne's World and more. Our guests are Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey of The Ringer -- check out their word on The Big Picture, The Watch, The Rewatchables, and more! Really?? The Doors? is produced by Noah Chernin, Jody Avirgan, and Ian Wheeler of Talkhouse. Production support from Jake Bowman and Keenan Kush. Special thanks to our sponsor, ⁠Bootleg⁠. Be sure to check out ⁠Naomi’s work⁠ at The New Yorker and their podcast ⁠Critics At Large⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom"—William Blake This week, a conversation about why we are so drawn to the debauched rock and roll lifestyle that Jim Morrison and The Doors exemplified with two guests who have lived it, and been seduced by it—punk rock legend and MTV icon Billy Idol, and Chris Black, columnist at GQ and cohost of the podcast How Long Gone. Really?? The Doors? is produced by Noah Chernin, Jody Avirgan, and Ian Wheeler of Talkhouse. Production support from Jake Bowman and Keenan Kush. Special thanks to our sponsor, ⁠Bootleg⁠. Be sure to check out ⁠Naomi’s work⁠ at The New Yorker and their podcast ⁠Critics At Large⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Morrison, sex, poetry, masculinity, and the modern rock frontman with guests Amanda Petrusich and Weyes Blood. Whether he intended it or not, over the course of the late '60s, Jim became THE prototypical male rock god. So in this episode, a look at the trope of the frontman… how sex and danger and poetry and art all became intertwined for Jim Morrison, and his many, many fans… Men wanted to be him, women wanted to be with him -- I think that’s usually said about James Bond, but the same applies to the Lizard King. Really?? The Doors? is produced by Noah Chernin, Jody Avirgan, and Ian Wheeler of Talkhouse. Production support from Jake Bowman and Keenan Kush. Special thanks to our sponsor, ⁠Bootleg⁠. Be sure to check out ⁠Naomi’s work⁠ at The New Yorker and their podcast ⁠Critics At Large⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Naomi Fry welcomes legendary singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams and Walter Martin from The Walkmen, Jonathan Fireeater, and host of the Walter Martin Radio Hour. In future episodes we’ll get into what Jim Morrison teaches us about masculinity and fame… we’ll talk about the appeal of the rock and roll lifestyle… we’ll share big thoughts about how cultural norms can shift…Look, There will be plenty of time to overthink this band. But for now… this episode… let’s remember… the music. Enjoy Walter Martin's 20 Greatest Doors playlist "The Monk Bought Lunch" Really?? The Doors? is produced by Noah Chernin, Jody Avirgan, and Ian Wheeler of Talkhouse. Production support from Jake Bowman and Keenan Kush. Special thanks to our sponsor, ⁠Bootleg⁠. Be sure to check out ⁠Naomi’s work⁠ at The New Yorker and their podcast ⁠Critics At Large⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What did The Doors mean for their time and what do they mean today? What’s the place of Los Angeles in The Doors’ oeuvre? What can the figure of Jim Morrison tell us about American masculinity? Are The Doors cool? And, has popular culture completely misunderstood The Doors? Naomi Fry welcomes you to the world of “Really??” and is then joined by writer Lili Anolik and musician John Doe of X to talk about the LA scene that gave birth to The Doors. Really?? The Doors? is produced by Noah Chernin, Jody Avirgan, and Ian Wheeler of Talkhouse. Production support from Jake Bowman and Keenan Kush. Special thanks to our sponsor, Bootleg. Be sure to check out Naomi’s work at The New Yorker and their podcast Critics At Large. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode one premieres November 19th, 2025. Really?? is a podcast about cultural memory — the icons and ideas we’ve mythologized and, in the process, might have misread or misunderstood. In the first season of this new series from Talkhouse (How Long Gone, Subway Takes, Alison Roman, Björk), the New Yorker's Naomi Fry convenes a multi-generational mix of musicians, writers, and cultural figures in conversation, to rediscover and reconsider the cultural legacy of the Doors in 2025, the band’s sixtieth anniversary. The show will use the Doors’ chaotic legend to ask what happens when myth overtakes meaning, and what that reveals about how we talk about American culture and about ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices