8 The Doors
YouTube Videos Musicales

The band, the Doors, began in July 1965, after a chance meeting between 
acquaintances and fellow UCLA film school alumni, Jim Morrison and Ray 
Manzarek, on Venice Beach in California. Morrison told Manzarek he had 
written songs in math class and with Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison 
sang "Moonlight Drive." Impressed by Morrison's lyrics, Manzarek suggested 
they form a band.

Manzarek, who played keyboards, and was then in a band called Rick & the 
Ravens with his brothers Rick & Jim, knew drummer John Densmore, who was 
playing with the Psychedelic Rangers. In August, Densmore, along with 
guitarist, Robby Krieger joined the Doors who took their name from the title 
of a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (1954). That title was 
inspired from a line in a poem by the 18th-century artist and poet, William 
Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear 
to man as it is: infinite."

The Doors were unusual among rock groups in that they did not have a bass 
guitar on stage when playing live. Instead, Manzarek played the bass lines 
with his left hand on the newly-invented Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, playing 
other keyboards with his right hand. On their studio albums (with the 
exception of their eponymous first LP), they did use various bass players, 
mostly studio musicians or friends.

Many of the Doors' original songs were group compositions, with Morrison or 
Krieger contributing the lyrics and an initial melody, and the others 
providing musical, harmonic and rhythmic suggestions.

By 1966, the group was playing the London Fog club, in Los Angeles and soon 
graduated to the prestigious Whisky a Go Go, also in Los Angels, where they 
were the house band, supporting acts such as Van Morrison's group, Them. It 
was there they were noticed by Elektra Records president, Jac without a k) 

Holzman and and producer Paul A. Rothchild. After two sets, Holzman signed 
the Doors to the Elektra label.

While working on their first album, entitled The Doors, (released on January 
4, 1967), Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single 
"Break On Through (to the Other Side)." Most music historians feel this 
promo film played a significant role in the development of the music video 
phenomenon. Towards the end of 1966 the band made their television debut on 
show, Boss City. Then, on New Year's Eve, 1967, they appeared on a show 
called, Shebang, where they lipsynched to "Break on Through (to the Other 
Side)." Although the film of the Shebang performance was never officially 
released it can be seen on YouTube.

Their second single, "Light My Fire," became a smash hit after its release 
in June 1967, selling 1 million copies and reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 
100. For AM radio airplay, the long middle organ and guitar solos from 
"Light My Fire" were cut from the song making it 2:52 instead of the 6:50 
original. Today, the song is played in its entirety on the radio.

In September 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" 
on the Ed Sullivan Show. Network executives asked that the word "higher" be 
removed in favor of "better," citing the rigid censorship common to the era 
as the reason for the request. The group initially agreed to this, but 
nonetheless performed the song in its original form, either because they had 
never intended to comply with the request, or Jim Morrison was nervous and 
forgot to make the change. Manzarek has given conflicting accounts, but 
either way, "higher" was sung on national TV, and a furious Ed Sullivan 
cancelled other shows with the Doors that had been planned.

In May 1967, the Doors made their international television debut by 
recording a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 
(CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. Other than the CBC airing, it remained 
unreleased except in bootleg form since its initial broadcast until the 
release of the Doors DVD, Soundstage Performances, in 2002.

On September 25, 1967, the Doors released their second LP, Strange Days, 
which continued to explore the genre of acid rock. The album was very 
successful and featured two, now-classic songs, "People Are Strange" and 
"Love Me Two Times."

Despite their success, or perhaps because of it, Jim Morrison had begun 
abusing alcohol and drugs. This behavior, combined with his combative 
personality led to several infamous and unpleasant episodes.

On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed at the New Haven Arena in 
Connecticut, which ended with Morrison's on-stage arrest by local police. 
The incidents leading up to Morrison's arrest are still somewhat unclear, 
though it is widely rumored (and dramatized in a scene in Oliver Stone's 
film, The Doors) that Morrison was having a "conversation" with a female 
companion in a backstage, bathroom stall when a police officer appeared, 
allegedly harassing the pair. Morrison became belligerent and wound up with 
mace in his eyes.

Back on stage, Morrison launched into an obscenity-laced tirade, telling the 
audience what had just happened backstage and lambasting the New Haven 
Police. It was at this time that Morrison was apprehended and dragged 
offstage by the police. A riot ensued which spilled out of the venue into 
the streets. Morrison was booked on charges of indecency and public 
obscenity. Later Morrison referred to this event in the song "Peace Frog," 
which contains the lyric, "Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven."

On December 24, 1967, the Doors taped "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" 
live for the Jonathan Winters Show. The show was to air on December 27th, 
but that night the group was to make their 3rd appearance at the Winterland 
Ballroom in San Francisco. According to Stephen Davis in his book on Jim 
Morrison, a TV set was wheeled onstage during the Doors set so the band 
could see themselves on the show. When their portion of the show came on, 
they just stopped playing "Back Door Man," and watched the TV performance 
instead. The audience got to watch the Doors watching themselves on TV. They 
did, however, finish "Back Door Man" when their bit on TV was over, at which 
time Manzarek walked over and turned the TV off. The next night was their 
last ever in Winterland.

On their third LP, Waiting for the Sun (released July 11, 1968), the band 
began to branch out musically, experimenting with a brass section and a more 
pop-oriented sound. After the album was released much of the rock 
underground accused the Doors of being pop sellouts. However, the album 
reached #1 on Billboard's Top 200 Pop Albums, and "Hello, I Love You," was 
their second, albeit the last, #1 single in the U.S. Also, controversy arose 
over "Hello, I Love You" when the rock press pointed out the song's musical 
resemblance to The Kinks' 1965 hit, "All Day and All of the Night," to which 
the Kinks concurred. Kinks guitarist, Dave Davies, has been known to add 
snippets of "Hello, I Love You" during live solo performances of "All Day 
and All of the Night" as a sarcastic commentary on the subject. In concert, 
Morrison became dismissive of the song, and often left the vocal chores to Manzarek.

In early November of 1968, the group returned to the studio to work on their 
fourth LP, The Soft Parade (released in July of 1969). The album seemed to 
further distance the group from their core fan base, containing more cuts 
with pop-oriented arrangements, horns and a softer sound. And while the band 
was trying to maintain their previous momentum, the critics attacked their 
musical integrity. Also, Morrison's drinking and drugging escalated and made 
him extremely difficult to deal with and increasingly more unreliable. 
Because of Morrisons erratic behavior, the recording sessions dragged on for 
weeks, studio costs piled up, and the Doors came very close to disintegration. 
However, by the end of the year they issued a new single, "Touch Me," which 
hit #3 on Billboard's Hot 100. 

In January of 1969, the group started the year with a sold-out show at 
Madison Square Garden, the first stop in the promotional tour for The Soft 
Parade, and things began to look up. However, on March 1st, at the Dinner 
Key Auditorium in Miami, Florida, Morrison gave a highly controversial 
performance. The crowd was subjected to Morrison's lack of interest in singing, 
as well as to his emotional outbursts, inflamatory challenges to the audience, 
and irreverent social statements, the result of which led to Morrison exposing 
himself, which put an abrupt end to the show after only one hour.

At first, the music community saw the spectacle as simply Morrison being 
drunk and suffering from the frustrations over the trappings of rock stardom 
and his personal demons. But once the reviews of the show came out in the 
local press, Morrison's exhibitionism took on a snowball effect in the form 
of a media and legal firestorm. On March 5th, a warrant was issued for 
Morrison's arrest on charges of indecency and obscenity, and one after 
another the subsequent shows for this tour were canceled.

During the lull created by the scrubbing of the tour, Morrison recorded some 
of his poetry and began shooting HWY, an experimental film about a 
hitchhiker, played by Morrison himself. The Doors would eventually set the 
poetry sessions to music for the 1978 album, An American Prayer. HWY 
contains virtually no dialog and circulates privately amongst collectors. 

By June of 1969, however, the Doors were able to resume touring and 
performed once at in Chicago, and twice in Hollywood. At all three of these 
events, Morrison uncharacteristically performed without his signature 
animation, seated on a stool, sporting not his usual black leather pants, 
but a beard, casual hippie-like attire and tinted aviator glasses.

Once the Doors completed their fifth album, Morrison Hotel (released in 
February of 1970), on which they returned to their previous hard-rock sound, 
they planned a tour to promote it. Unfortunately, Morrison and the band 
found their time consumed by the Miami trial causing numerous cancellations 
and further alienating their fans. On October 30, 1970, Morrison was found 
guilty of profanity, indecent exposure and lewd behavior. (He was acquitted 
of the charge of drunkenness.) He contested the verdict.

In April of 1971, the Doors were, once again, poised to reclaim their status 
as a premier act with the release of their sixth album, L.A. Woman (released 
in April of 1971). It would contain two Top 20 hits and go on to be their 
second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut 
album. L.A. Woman, continued the return to the band's R&B roots, and 
provided fans with the rock sounds of thier early albums. Things were 
improving again, until the Doors had a falling-out with their producer, Paul 
Rothchild, who denounced "Riders on the Storm" as cocktail music. 
Ultimately, Rothchild quit and Bruce Botnick, their engineer, took over the 
production duties with the help of Joey Levins and Adam McCabe. Despite the 
loss of Rothchild, the result is considered a classic Doors album. The 
singles "L.A. Woman," "Love Her Madly," and "Riders on the Storm" remain 
mainstays of rock radio programming. 

However, instead of regaining their former distinctions, their tour to 
promote L.A. Woman, would last for only two performances. The first was held 
in Dallas, Texas on December 11, 1970, and it went well. But during the 
second performance at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 
12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the 
set he slammed the microphone into the stage floor until it was destroyed, 
then he sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. 

In his biography, Riders on the Storm, John Densmore recalls that after the 
show he met with bandmates Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger and the three of 
them decided to end their live act, agreeing that Morrison was ready to 
retire from performing. Shortly thereafter, while finishing the recording of 
L.A. Woman, Morrison decided to move to Paris, with his girlfriend Pamela 
Courson. In Paris, while awaiting his appeals trial contesting the guilty 
verdicts from his arrest in Connecticut, Morrison overdosed on drugs and 
died on July 3, 1971. He had been under treatment by a Paris physician who 
mercifully stated the cause of death was heart failure, thus avoiding an 
autopsy. During a recording session of L.A. Woman, while performing 
"Crawling Snake," a short clip of the band was filmed and so far as known, 
this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. 

The surviving Doors continued for some time, initially considering replacing 
Morrison with a new singer. Instead, Krieger and Manzarek took over on 
vocals and the Doors released two more albums, Other Voices (released August 
1971) and Full Circle (released August 1972). Both albums undersold the 
Morrison-era releases, and the Doors stopped performing and recording at the 
end of 1972, effectively dissolving in March 1973.

A third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It 
consisted of the band adding a musical track to the spoken-word recordings 
of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, and 
garnered a platinum certificate.

LEGACY:
* In 1979 Francis Ford Coppola, who attended the UCLA with Morrison, 
released his film Apocalypse Now, with the Doors song "The End" used 
prominently in the sound track.

* In 1980, the Jim Morrison biography, No One Here Gets Out Alive, by Jerry 
Hopkins and Danny Sugerman resulted in a revival of Doors music, and the 
book became a bestseller.

* In 1983, the remaining Doors released, a collection of live performances 
entitled Alive, She Cried. One of the songs on the compilation album was the 
rock anthem "Gloria," recorded, with Morrison, at a rehearsal at the 
Aquarius Theatre on July 22, 1969.

* In 1991, director Oliver Stone released his film, The Doors, starring Val 
Kilmer as Morrison, with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. British vocalist 
Ian Astbury of the group the Cult was Stone's preferred choice to play 
Morrison, but Astbury declined. Kilmer's impersonation of Morrison and the 
film itself were praised by critics, despite its inaccuracies. Members of 
the Doors criticized Stone's portrayal of Morrison as an out-of-control 
sociopath. Singer Billy Idol had a cameo in the film and later recorded a 
cover of "L.A. Woman." 

* In 1993, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Robby Krieger reunited for 
their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Eddie Vedder, lead 
singer of Pearl Jam, fronted for the remaining Doors. The group performed 
three songs that nigh, "Roadhouse Blues," "Break on Through (to the Other 
side)," and "Light my Fire. "

* In 1994, the soundtrack from the Tom Hanks's movie, Forrest Gump, featured 
"Break on Through (to the Other Side)m" while the movie itself included four 
other Doors songs. Another Hanks film, Cast Away, featured the main 
character singing "Light My Fire."

* In 2001, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger reunited again to 
perform several Doors' hits as part of the VH1 Storytellers series. Singing 
with the band were guest lead vocalists including the Cult's, Ian Astbury 
from the Cult, Scott Stapp from Creed, Scott Weiland from Stone Temple 
Pilots, Perry Farrell from Jane's Addiction and Travis Meeks from Days of 
the New. The show was later released on DVD as, The Doors (A Celebration). 

* In 2000, Fatboy Slim's album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, 
featured a sampling of the the Doors song, "Sunset (Bird of Prey)." Later in 
the same year, rap-producer Kanye West produced a song called "Takeover," 
for Jay-Z's critically acclaimed album, The Blueprint, which heavily sampled 
The Doors's song, "Five to One."

* In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore formed a new band called "The 
Doors of the 21st Century." The lineup was fronted by Ian Astbury, with 
Angelo Barbera on bass. At their first concert, it was announced that 
Densmore, would not be performing, and it was later reported that he was 
unable to play because he suffered from tinnitus. Densmore was initially 
replaced by Stewart Copeland of the Police, but after Copeland broke his arm 
falling off a bicycle, the arrangement ended in mutual lawsuits, and 
Copeland was replaced by Ty Dennis. Densmore subsequently claimed that he 
had in fact not been invited to join the new band, and in February 2003, he 
filed an injunction against his former bandmates, hoping to prevent them 
from using the name "The Doors of the 21st Century." Ray Manzarek stated 
publicly that the invitation for Densmore to join the group still stood. It 
was also reported that both Morrison's and Pamela Courson's family had 
joined Densmore in seeking to prevent Manzarek and Krieger from using the 
Doors' name in any form. 

* In July 2005, Densmore and the Morrison estate won a permanent injunction, 
against Manzarek and Krieger's use of the name the Doors in the title of 
their band. The new band then switched the name to D21C. They were, however, 
allowed to use such phrases as "former Doors" and "one-time members of the 
Doors." They now play under the name, Riders on the Storm.

* In July 2007, Densmore said that he would not join the D21C unless it was 
fronted by Eddie Vedder. Densmore has been steadfast in refusing to license 
the Doors' music for use in television commercials, including an offer of 
$15 million by Cadillac to lease the song "Break on Through (to the Other 
Side)," feeling that that would be in violation of the spirit in which the 
music was created. Densmore wrote about this subject for the magazine, The 
Nation and later gave an interview to LA Times, stating, "People lost their 
virginity to this music, got high for the first time to this music. I've had 
people say kids died in Vietnam listening to this music, other people say 
they know someone who didn't commit suicide because of this music.... On 
stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That's 
not for rent."

* On April 20, 2008, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, Ty Dennis (drums) and 
Phil Chen (bass), got together in the Ecuadorian capital city of, Quito to 
celebrate the band's 40 years of existence with a "reunion" concert.

* In August 2008, the California Supreme Court decided not to hear a 
counter-suit by Manzarek & Krieger seeking to overturn the lower court's 
ruling against the use of the name The Doors in performances, so the 
judgment against Krieger and Manzarek stands.

* In February 2009, Mazarek and Kreiger went back on tour using the 
sobriquet, Riders on the Storm with Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger formerly 
of the Doors.

AWARDS:
* In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

* In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under 
the category, Rock (Track).

* In 2000, VH1 ranked the Doors #32 on their 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists 
list and ranked "Light My Fire" #7 on their Greatest Rock Songs list.

* In 2002, The Doors (their debut album) was inducted into the Grammy Hall 
of Fame under the category, Rock (Album).

* In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the Doors #41 on their list of the 
100 Greatest Artists of All Time; ranked The Doors (their debut album) at 
#42, L.A Woman at #362 and Strange Days at #407 on their list of the 500 
Greatest Albums of All Time; and ranked "Light My Fire" at #35 and "The End" 
at #328 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

* In 2007, the Doors received a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy 
Awards.

* As of November 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) 
has certified 4 albums as Gold, 9 albums as Platinum, 4 albums as 
Multi-Platinum and 1 album as Diamond. It also certified 3 singles as Gold, 
2 videos as Gold and 4 videos as Platinum.

BAND LINEUP:
1965–1971:
* Jim Morrison-(lead vocals)
* Robby Krieger (guitar, vocals)
* Ray Manzarek (keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals)
* John Densmore (drums, percussion)
 
1971–1973:
* Robby Krieger (guitar, vocals)
* Ray Manzarek (keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals)
* John Densmore (drums, percussion)
 
2002:
* Robby Krieger (guitar, vocals)
* Ray Manzarek (keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals)
* Angelo Barbera (bass guitar)
* Stuart Copeland (drums, percussion)
 
2002-2007:
* Robby Krieger (guitar, vocals)
* Ray Manzarek (keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals)
* Ian Astbury (lead vocals)
* Angelo Barbera (bass guitar)
* Ty Dennis (drums, percussion)
 
2007-2009:
* Robby Krieger (guitar, vocals)
* Ray Manzarek (keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals)
* Brett Scallions (lead vocals)
* Phil Chen (bass guitar)
* Ty Dennis (drums, percussion)