The Doors

This article is about the band. For the Oliver Stone film about the band, see The Doors (film). For Doors in computing, see Doors (computing). For the architectural feature, see Door. For the band's first album, see The Doors (album).

The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. The band took its name from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, the title of which was a reference to a William Blake quote: "When the doors of perception are cleansed, things will appear to man as they truly are...infinite." They were among the most controversial rock acts of the 1960s, due mostly to Morrison's wild, poetic lyrics and charismatic but unpredictable stage persona. After Morrison's death in 1971, the remaining members continued as a trio until finally disbanding in 1973.

Although The Doors' active career ended in 1973, their popularity has persisted. According to the RIAA, they have sold over 32.5 million albums in the US alone. Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger still occasionally tour together with additional musicians as Manzarek-Krieger, performing Doors songs exclusively.

History

1965–68

Origins and formation

The origins of The Doors lie in a chance meeting between acquaintances and fellow UCLA film school alumni Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California in July 1965. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs (Morrison said "I was taking notes at a fantastic rock-n-roll concert going on in my head") and, with Manzarek's encouragement, sang "Moonlight Drive". Impressed by Morrison's lyrics, Manzarek suggested they form a band.

Keyboardist Manzarek was in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim Manzarek, while drummer John Densmore was playing with The Psychedelic Rangers, and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. In August, Densmore joined the group and, along with members of The Ravens and bass player Pat Sullivan (later credited using her married name Patricia Hansen in the 1997 box CD release), recorded a six-song demo in September 1965. This has since then circulated widely as a bootleg recording. That month the group recruited guitarist Robby Krieger, and the final lineup — Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore — was complete. The band took their name from a line in William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, ('If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite'), according to the currently festival-touring documentary on The Doors, When You're Strange.

Whisky a Go Go

By 1966, the group was playing the LA club London Fog and soon graduated to the prestigious Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band, supporting acts including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of Them's "Gloria". Prior to graduating to Whisky a Go Go Morrison went to many record labels trying to land a deal. He did score one but it did not pan out. On August 10, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was on Elektra. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18—the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and engineer Bruce Botnick. Later that month, the club fired the band after a profanity-filled performance of "The End". In an incident that foreshadowed the controversy that later followed the group, an acid-tripping Morrison raucously recited his own version of the Greek drama Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and has sex with his mother.

Debut album

The band recorded their first album from August 24 to 31, 1966 at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. 'The Doors' self-titled debut LP was released in the first week of January 1967. It featured most of the major songs from their set, including the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End".

In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". To promote the single, the Doors made their television debut on a Los Angeles TV show called Boss City, circa 1966, possibly early 1967 and then on a Los Angeles TV show called Shebang, miming to "Break On Through," on New Year's Day 1967. This clip has never been officially released by the Doors.

The band's second single, "Light My Fire", became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over a million copies. "Light My Fire" was the first song ever written by Robbie Krieger and was the beginning of the band's success.

Early live recordings at The Matrix

From March 7 to March 11, 1967, The Doors performed at The Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of The Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, The Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label.

Early television performances

The Doors appeared on American television on August 25, 1967, guest-starring on the variety TV series, Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire". They did not, however, appear live. The band is seen on a beach and are performing the song in play back. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance was more or less forgotten. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television.

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

On September 17, 1967, The Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Ray Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed in favor of "better", as you couldn't say "high" on national television. 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). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national TV, and a furious Ed Sullivan canceled another six shows that had been planned, to which Jim Morrison reportedly said to a show producer: "Hey man. We just did The Ed Sullivan Show."

On December 24, The Doors taped "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. From December 26 to December 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. An excerpt taken from Stephen Davis' book on Jim Morrison (p. 219–220):

The next night at Winterland, a TV set was wheeled onstage during The Doors set so the band could see themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show. They stopped playing "Back Door Man" when their song came on. The audience watched the Doors watching themselves on TV. They finished the song when their bit was done, and Ray walked over and turned the TV off. The next night was their last ever in Winterland.

They played two more dates in Denver on December 30 and December 31, 1967, capping off a year of almost constant touring.

Strange Days

The Doors spent several weeks in Los Angeles' Sunset Studios recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2010 documentary of The Doors, When You're Strange.

New Haven incident

Morrison's booking photo in New Haven

On December 9, 1967, The Doors performed a now infamous concert in New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist ever to be arrested onstage during a concert performance.

Morrison had been "making out" with a fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the girl to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance.", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the girl ran and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Jim and the fan were sprayed and that the concert was delayed for an hour while Jim recovered.

On stage, Morrison proceeded to go on an obscenity-laced tirade to the audience, explaining what had happened backstage and belittling New Haven police. Then Morrison was arrested and dragged offstage, resulting in a riot which spilled from the gates of the New Haven Arena into the streets. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as charges against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later due to lack of evidence.

Waiting for the Sun

Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and drugs, and the rejection of his new epic, "Celebration of the Lizard", by band producer Paul Rothchild, who deemed the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, The Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10.

The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP. Because they had exhausted their original repertoire, they began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first #1 LP, and the single "Hello, I Love You" was their second and last US #1 single. Controversy arose with the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You" as a single when the rock press pointed out the song's resemblance to The Kinks' 1964 hit, "All Day and All of the Night". Members of the Kinks have concurred with the critics; 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 was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocal chores to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors are Open.

A month after riotous scenes took place at the Singer Bowl in New York, the group flew to Britain for their first venue outside of North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at The Roundhouse Theatre. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge.

The group flew back to the US and played nine more US dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me", (released in December 1968), which hit US #3. They started 1969 with a sold-out show on January 24 at Madison Square Garden.

1969–71

The Soft Parade

The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, contained pop-oriented arrangements and horn sections. The lead single "Touch Me" featured saxophonist Curtis Amy.

While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to John Densmore in his biography Riders On The Storm individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Robbie Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and The Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album.

Miami incident

File:Jim In Miami w-Hat.jpg

From the March 1, 1969 Miami concert

On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Florida, The Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group, The Living Theatre, and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter in order to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami, and by the time he eventually arrived the concert was over an hour late in starting, and he was, according to Manzarek, "overly fortified with alcohol". The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to Morrison's lack of interest in singing shortly into "Break On Through". Morrsison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. At one point, Morrison removed and threw the hat of a police officer who was onstage into the crowd, and the officer removed Jim's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen". Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off."

A few days later, on March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest claiming Morrison deliberately exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on guitarist Robby Krieger and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required The Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was later convicted, sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay a $500 fine. However, Morrison appealed this conviction and died in Paris before serving his sentence.

More legal problems

During the recording of their next album, in November 1969, Morrison once again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see The Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". He was acquitted the following April after an airline steward testified to mistakenly identifying Morrison as Baker.

Aquarius Theatre performances

The Doors gave two concerts at the Earl Carroll Theatre (then called the "Aquarius" theatre) on Sunset Blvd, Hollywood. The two shows were performed on July 21, 1969. A "backstage" performance, a so-called "private rehearsal" without an audience occurred on July 22, 1969. This was only a few months after the "Miami incident" in March of that year. Of the songs performed with an audience, "Universal Mind" and the "Celebration of the Lizard" suite were released on The Doors' 1970 Absolutely Live album, whereas "You Make Me Real" was released on Alive, She Cried in 1983. Further, the Van Morrison track, "Gloria", which was performed and recorded during the audience-less rehearsal, was also released on Alive, She Cried. Both the first and second shows along with the rehearsal the following day were released in 2001. It was at these shows that Morrison issued his poem, "Ode to L.A." while thinking of Brian Jones, the deceased former Rolling Stones guitarist. Morrison would die exactly two years after Jones.

Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live

The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent, hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached US #4 and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "Good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks.

July 1970 saw the release of The Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on a bluesy harmonica).

The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love.

Jim Morrison on the day of his conviction in Miami for profanity and indecent exposure.

Last public performance

On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently under the possession of the Courson family.

The Doors' tour to promote their upcoming album L.A. Woman would comprise only two dates. The first was held in Dallas, Texas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, 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 numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. Drummer John Densmore recalls the incident in his biography Riders On the Storm, where after the show he met with Ray and Robbie; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing.

L.A. Woman

The Doors set to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The session included guitar work by Marc Benno, and bass by Jerry Scheff. The album contained two top-20 hits and has gone on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Rothchild. Denouncing "Riders on the Storm" as 'cocktail jazz', he quit and handed the production to Botnick. The singles "L.A. Woman", "Love Her Madly" (the Doors' last top-ten hit), and "Riders On The Storm" remain mainstays of rock radio programming, and the latter, as of November 25, 2009, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman" Jim Morrison scrambles the letters of his own name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. So far as known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison.

On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson. He had visited the city the previous summer and was interested in moving there to become a writer in exile.

While in Paris, he was again drinking heavily and using other drugs. On June 16, the last known recording of Morrison was made when he befriended two street musicians at a bar and invited them to a studio. This recording was finally released in 1994 on a bootleg CD entitled The Lost Paris Tapes.

Morrison's death

Jim Morrison's grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Morrison died on July 3, 1971. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy and the death certificate not having a reason of death besides heart failure has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death. Herve Muller speculates that Jim died of a heroin overdose at the Rock n' Roll Circus. This is corroborated by the manager of the club, Sam Bernett, in a 2007 interview and subsequent book. Morrison was buried in the "Poets Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. The epitaph on his headstone bears the Greek inscription "ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ", literally meaning "According to his own daimōn" and usually interpreted as "True to his own spirit".

Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars, including Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Alan Wilson of Canned Heat, and Gary Thain of Uriah Heep. Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela Courson, also died at the age of 27.

1971–73

Other Voices and Full Circle

The surviving Doors continued for some time, initially considering replacing Morrison with a new singer. Iggy Pop was under consideration. Instead, Krieger and Manzarek took over on vocals and The Doors released two more albums before disbanding. The recording of Other Voices took place from July to August 1971, and the album was released in October 1971. The LP featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some airplay. The recordings for Full Circle took place during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. The Doors went on tour after the releases in support of the albums. The last album expanded into jazz territory. In 1973 the group disbanded; Krieger, Manzarek and Densmore reunited in 1978, 1993 and 2000.

While neither album has been reissued on CD in the United States, they have been released on 2-on-1 CDs in Germany and Russia.

1978

An American Prayer

The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical tracks to spoken-word recordings of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995.

After The Doors

Solo work (1974–present)

Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974–83 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums from 1977-78. Krieger and Densmore formed The Butts Band in 1973, but disbanded after two albums. Krieger released six solo albums from 1977-2010. All of the ex-Doors solo albums have met with mixed reviews. In recent years Densmore formed a jazz band called Tribaljazz and they released a self titled album in 2006.

Manzarek–Krieger (2002–present)

Main article: Manzarek-Krieger

In 2002 Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger formed a new version of The Doors which they called The Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles over use of The Doors name with drummer John Densmore, they changed their name several times and now tour under the names Manzarek-Krieger and Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors. The group is dedicated to performing the music of The Doors and has been met with mixed reactions from fans.

New material

In 1997, the first archive material was included on the release of The Doors: Box Set, a four-CD set, one of which was a "greatest hits" type CD. Some of the material had been previously available on bootlegs. A notable inclusion on the compilation was a CD of highlights from the 1970 Felt Forum concert and a cleaned-up recording of the (edited) 1969 "Rock Is Dead" session. The surviving members again re-united to add new musical backing to the solo Morrison song "Orange County Suite".

The 1999 Complete Studio Recordings box set only included the first six studio albums (omitting An American Prayer, Other Voices and Full Circle), and the Perception box set, released on November 21, 2006, continued the same trend omitting the three post-Morrison studio albums. The 2006 box set contained about two hours of mostly unheard studio outtakes from the first six albums. Each album was represented by two discs: a CD of the album and the bonus tracks, and a DVD-Audio with both stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes (produced and mixed by Bruce Botnick) in 96 kHz/24-bit LPCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS, as well as mostly previously released video footage. The discs were accompanied by new liner notes by Botnick and articles from several music critics and historians for each album.

In November 2000, The Doors announced the creation of Bright Midnight Records, a label through which 36 albums and 90 hours of previously unreleased Morrison-era Doors material would be made available on CD. This was launched with a sampler of forthcoming material, mostly from live concerts. The first full release was a two-CD set of the May 1970 show at Detroit's Cobo Center, notable for being, according to Doors manager Danny Sugerman in its liner notes, "easily... the longest Doors set ever performed." It was followed by two CDs of interviews, mostly with Morrison, and the two 1969 Aquarius shows and one of the rehearsals. A four-CD set Boot Yer Butt included bootleg quality material but sold out nevertheless. It was notable for the inclusion of the only known performances of songs from L.A. Woman including the title track and "The Changeling" from The Doors' final recorded show in December 1970, Dallas, Texas. In 2005, a two-CD concert from Philadelphia in 1970 was released.

Many bootleg recordings are available of the group. Among them are a wealth of shows from March 1967 at the Matrix Club in San Francisco. Many shows are available from 1968 when the band reached the height of its popularity, notably two shows in Stockholm, Sweden. The infamous Miami show has become widely available while many 1970 shows, notably a radio broadcast of the June 5 Seattle and June 6 Vancouver show, make the rounds. The complete 1969 Rock Is Dead studio jam was discovered in the mid 1990s.

The long awaited Dick Wolf-produced Doors documentary, When You're Strange, hit theaters in April 2010. It is, as Ray Manzarek says, the true story of The Doors, told through use of new interviews and previously unreleased video footage. The film is narrated by Johnny Depp, and directed by Tom DiCillo. Rhino Entertainment released a soundtrack to the movie in March 2010, containing both live and studio recordings.

Musical style

The Doors were unusual among rock groups because they rarely used a bass guitar when playing live. Instead, Manzarek played the bass lines with his left hand on the newly invented Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, an offshoot of the Fender Rhodes electric piano, playing other keyboards with his right hand. On their studio albums The Doors did sometimes use bass players, such as Douglass Lubahn, Jerry Scheff, Harvey Brooks, Lonnie Mack, Larry Knechtel, Leroy Vinnegar, Kal Edmondson and Ray Neopolitan.

Many of The Doors' original songs were group compositions, with Morrison or Krieger contributing the lyrics and an initial melody, and the others providing harmonic and rhythmic suggestions, or even entire sections of songs, such as Manzarek's organ introduction to "Light My Fire".

Awards, accolades & critical appraisal

• 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, The Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs.
• In 2002, The Doors was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album).
• In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Doors number 41 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
• In 2007, The Doors received a lifetime achievement award at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
• In 2007, The Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• In 2009, "Riders On The Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track).
• The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine includes three studio albums by The Doors; The Doors at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362 and Strange Days at number 407.
• The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine includes two songs by The Doors: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328.
• The Doors were ranked number 20 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll.
• They would become the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold and platinum LPs.
• The Recording Academy announced the 2010 Grammy Hall Of Fame Inductees, including The Doors' Riders On The Storm.

Band members

• Original members are in bold.

Discography

Main article: The Doors discography

• 1967 – The Doors
• 1967 – Strange Days
• 1968 – Waiting for the Sun
• 1969 – The Soft Parade
• 1970 – Morrison Hotel
• 1971 – L.A. Woman
• 1971 – Other Voices
• 1972 – Full Circle
• 1978 – An American Prayer

Videography

• 1983 – No One Here Gets Out Alive
• 1985 – Dance on Fire
• 1987 – Live at the Hollywood Bowl
• 1989 – Live in Europe 1968
• 1991 – The Doors are Open
• 1997 – The Best of Doors
• 2001 – VH1 Storytellers
• 2001 – The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition
• 2002 – Soundstage Performances
• 2008 – Classic Albums: The Doors
• 2010 – When You're Strange

Further reading

• Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrsion. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. ISBN 978-0-340-68498-6
• Densmore, John. Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors. Delacorte Press, 1990-8-1. ISBN 978-0-385-30033-9
• Doors, The and Fong-Torres, Ben. The Doors. Hyperion, 2006-10-25. ISBN 978-1-4013-0303-7
• Hopkins, Jerry and Sugerman, Danny. No One Here Gets Out Alive. Warner Books, 1980. ISBN 978-0-446-97133-1
• Manzarek, Ray. Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors. Putnam, 1998. ISBN 978-0-399-14399-1
• Riordan, James and Prochnicky, Jerry. Break On Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison. Quill, 1991. ISBN 978-0-688-11915-7
• Shaw, Greg. The Doors On The Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-7119-6546-1
• Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, 1992-10-10. ISBN 978-0-385-30840-3

External links

• Official website

The Doors and related lineups

Rick & the Ravens (July 1965 – September 1965)	Jim Morrison – lead vocals Rick Manzarek – guitar Ray Manzarek – keyboards, vocals Pat Sullivan – bass guitar John Densmore – drums Jim Manzarek – harmonica
The Doors (October 1965 – July 1971)	Jim Morrison – lead vocals Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals John Densmore – drums, percussion
The Doors (1971–1973)	Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals John Densmore – drums, percussion
(1973–2002)	Group disbanded; Krieger, Manzarek and Densmore reunited in 1978, 1993 and 2000.
The Doors of the 21st Century (2002–2003)	Ian Astbury – lead vocals Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards, vocals Angelo Barbera – bass guitar Stewart Copeland – drums, percussion
D21C / Riders on the Storm (2003–2004)	Ian Astbury – lead vocals Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards, vocals Angelo Barbera – bass guitar Ty Dennis – drums, percussion
Riders on the Storm (2004–2007)	Ian Astbury – lead vocals Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards, vocals Phil Chen – bass guitar Ty Dennis – drums, percussion
Riders on the Storm (2007–2008)	Brett Scallions – lead vocals Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards vocals Phil Chen – bass guitar Ty Dennis – drums, percussion
Manzarek–Krieger (2008–2010)	Brett Scallions – lead vocals Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards, vocals Phil Chen – bass guitar Ty Dennis – drums, percussion
Manzarek–Krieger (2010)	Miljenko Matijevic – lead vocals Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards, vocals Phil Chen – bass guitar Ty Dennis – drums, percussion