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The Doors
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The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. The Doors' music was a fusion of garage rock, blues, and acid rock. They were considered a controversial band, due mostly to Morrison's cryptic lyrics and unpredictable stage persona. After Morrison's death on July 3, 1971, the remaining members continued as a threesome until disbanding in 1973.
Despite a career that barely totaled eight years, The Doors still enjoy a huge cult following as well as status in the mainstream music industry as being hugely influential and original.
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Encyclopedia
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. The Doors' music was a fusion of garage rock, blues, and acid rock. They were considered a controversial band, due mostly to Morrison's cryptic lyrics and unpredictable stage persona. After Morrison's death on July 3, 1971, the remaining members continued as a threesome until disbanding in 1973.
Despite a career that barely totaled eight years, The Doors still enjoy a huge cult following as well as status in the mainstream music industry as being hugely influential and original. According to the RIAA, they have sold over 32 million albums in the US alone.
History
Origins and formation
The origins of The Doors lay in a chance meeting between acquaintances and fellow UCLA film school alumni Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach 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 & Jim Manczarek, 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 circulated widely as a bootleg recording and appeared in full on the 1997 Doors box set.
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 the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (1954). That title was in turn taken 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 because they did not use 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 (with the notable exception of their eponymous first record), The Doors did, however, use bass players, such as Jerry Scheff, Doug Lubahn (who also played with Clear Light), Harvey Brooks, Kerry Magness, Lonnie Mack, Larry Knechtel, Leroy Vinnegar, and Ray Neapolitan.
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".
By 1966, the group was playing the London Fog club 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". 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.
The timing was fortunate, because on August 21 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 kills his father and has sex with his mother.
Debut album
'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 11-minute musical drama "The End". The band recorded the album in a few days in late August and early September 1966, almost entirely live in the studio, with several of the songs being captured in a single take.
Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)." In hindsight this has been seen as a significant advance toward the development of the music video phenomenon.
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 Years 1967. This clip has never been officially released by the Doors but can be seen on YouTube.
The 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 Charts on July 29th, keeping the top spot for three weeks. It established the group — in the vein of The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane — as one of America's counterculture bands. For AM radio airplay, the long middle organ and guitar solos were cut from the song making it 2:52 instead of the 7:10 original . Today, the song is played in its entirety on the radio.
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 TV performances
In September 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 TV. 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 cancelled another six shows that had been planned. To which Jim Morrison reportedly said: "Hey man, so what? We just DID the Ed Sullivan Show".
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 . It remained unreleased except in bootleg form since its initial broadcasts until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002.
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, capping off a year of almost constant touring.
Strange Days
The second Doors LP, Strange Days, continued to explore the genre of acid rock. The closing track, "When the Music's Over," evoked the length and drama of "The End." The album was also commercially successful and featured now-classic Doors songs such as "People Are Strange" and "Love Me Two Times."
Waiting for the Sun
In April, the recording of the third album was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol. 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 their 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. In 1968, controversy arose with the release of the "Hello, I Love You" single when the rock press pointed out the song's musical resemblance to The Kinks' 1965 hit, "All Day and All of the Night." Members of the Kinks have concurred with music 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. However, the two songs are distinctively different in arrangement, scope, and overall execution. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, and left 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 its 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, which was later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage from 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. In 1969, they started the year with a sold out show at Madison Square Garden on January 24.
New Haven Incident
On December 9, 1967, The Doors performed at an infamous concert in New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut which ended abruptly with Morrison's on-stage arrest by local police.
The incidents leading up to Morrison's arrest in New Haven are still somewhat unclear, though it is widely rumored (most notably dramatized in a scene in Oliver Stone's film, The Doors) that Morrison was having a conversation backstage in a bathroom stall with a female companion when a police officer appeared, allegedly harassed the pair—causing Morrison to become belligerent—and subsequently sprayed mace in Morrison's eyes.
On stage, Morrison proceeded to go on an obscenity-laced tirade to the audience, explaining what had happened backstage, and belittling New Haven police. It was at this time that Morrison was apprehended and dragged offstage by the police. A riot ensued which spilled from the gates of the New Haven Arena into the streets of New Haven. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of indecency and public obscenity.
Morrison later referred to this event in the song "Peace Frog" on the 1970 album Morrison Hotel, which contains the lyric, "Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven."
Miami Incident
The Miami incident refers to a Doors concert on March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Florida where Morrison gave a controversial performance. The restless crowd was subjected to Morrison's lack of interest in singing songs that night, as well as to his unconventional emotional outbursts, screaming challenges to the audience, and making irreverent social statements. The confusion and taunts led to some out-of-control situations, such as Morrison allegedly exposing his penis, which resulted in an abrupt end to the show after only one hour.
At first the performance was simply seen as Morrison drunk beyond any saving grace, combined with his frustration over the trappings of rock stardom and his personal demons finally reaching a climax. But once a review of the show was reported in the local press on March 3, Morrison's exhibitionism took on a snowball effect in the form of a media and legal firestorm. On March 5, a warrant was issued for Morrison's arrest on charges of indecency and obscenity, and one after another all the subsequent shows were canceled.
Between the time Morrison returned from his post-Miami trip to Jamaica with The Doors, he 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 session to music for the 1978 album An American Prayer. HWY contains virtually no dialog and circulates privately among collectors.
The group's only public appearance was on a PBS television special recorded late in April and broadcast the following month. The group performed songs from their upcoming Soft Parade album.
The Doors resumed touring with their appearance at the Chicago Auditorium Theater on June 14. They played at two dates in Hollywood on July 21 and July 22. Morrison appeared bearded; wearing casual hippie attire and tinted aviator glasses, and sitting on a stool.
Once The Doors completed their fifth album, Morrison Hotel, with a tour to support it, Morrison and the band found their career consumed by the Miami trial. On October 30, 1970, Morrison was found guilty of two charges: profanity and indecent exposure. He was acquitted of the charge of drunkenness but found guilty of lewd behavior, a felony. The verdict was contested and Morrison died in July 1971 while his case was still on appeal.
The Soft Parade
Their fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in June, further distanced the group from their core fan base, containing 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. Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for weeks. 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 and producing their last top ten single.
During the recording of their next album, in November 1969, Morrison found himself in trouble with the law after harassing an airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see The Rolling Stones in concert. He was acquitted the following April after a steward mistakenly identified Morrison as his traveling companion, American actor Tom Baker .
The group started 1970 in New York with two well-received nights at The Felt Forum, just prior to the release of Morrison Hotel.
Aquarius Theatre performances
The Doors gave two concerts at the Earl Carroll Theatre (then called the "Aquarius" theatre) on Sunset Bvd, Hollywood.
The two shows were performed on 21 July 1969. A "backstage" performance, a so-called "private rehearsal" without an audience occurred on 22 July 1969. This was only a few months after the "Miami incident" in March of that year. The shows featured a more laid back, bluesy style of Doors music. Morrison appeared not as his trademark, "young lion" in black leather pants. Instead, he wore a beard and sported loose fitting carpenter-like pants.
The performances included Morrison singing sitting on a stool. His usual theatrics were more sober and subdued as compared to previous performances; the proverbial convulsing and writhing were not seen. Morrison focused on his vocals and expressed himself more musically--even shaking maracas during many of the songs.
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. The entire performance was released in 2001.
Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live
The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel. 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 (as opposed to the poppier The Soft Parade, for which Robbie Krieger contributed a large number of songs.
The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Absolutely Live 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 & The Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message To Love.
In July 1970, The Doors released Absolutely Live.
Back in Miami for his trial, Morrison took the stand on September 16, but the jury returned a guilty verdict for profanity and indecent exposure on September 20. Morrison was sentenced to eight months' custody but was allowed to go free pending an appeal.
Last public performance
On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. This would end up on An American Prayer: Jim Morrison in 1978 with music, and is currently in 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 and reportedly went well. During the Doors' last public 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 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. Shortly thereafter while finishing the recording of their album, Morrison decided to move to Paris with his girlfriend Pamela.
L. A. Woman
The Doors set to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. It 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 music,' he quit and handed the production to Botnick. 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. 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.
Post-Morrison years
Before and after Morrison's death
In April, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison decided to take some time off and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson. He had visited the city the previous summer and seemed interested in moving there to become a writer in exile.
While in Paris, he was again drinking heavily. 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
Morrison died under mysterious circumstances on July 3, 1971. The most accepted version, according to witnesses, is as follows: After watching a film together, Jim and Pam went to their favorite night club, the "Rock 'n' Roll Circus." Pamela had ordered heroin—a particularly pure form from Vietnam via Marseille (French Connection)—from her friend, Jean De Breteuil, a well known drug dealer among social elites. The drug was brought to the club, and nobody except Morrison was to receive it. Pamela helped Morrison sample the drug. A witness noticed a commotion and was later told that "Morrison felt really bad, it's an overdose." The witness saw Morrison collapsing. Then the night club owner, Bernett, had Morrison taken to the Alcalzar restaurant—which was connected to the Rock 'n' Roll Circus by a corridor—where Morrison was left in the bathroom with some friends. Other witnesses confirmed this. Bernett was trying to avoid any entanglement with the French police. This took place at about 3-4am. Other witnesses claimed Morrison was already dead at that time. Finally Morrison was taken to his own apartment, 17 rue Beautreillis. A bath was immediately prepared in hope of waking Morrison up; a common technique for reviving overdose victims. Pamela finally called the emergency services. The firemen arrived around 9:30am. The water was still hot, and Morrison's nose was slightly bleeding. They brought the body into the bedroom but they could not save him; he was already dead for at least four hours, according to the coroner.
Earlier, around 6am, the Rock'n'Roll Circus Deejay—who was not aware of the situation—was met by two unknown persons who announced that "Morrison is dead." A Luxemburg Radio reporter, who was there, called his radio station and revealed the news. Jean de Breteuil and Marianne Faithfull escaped the same morning to Morocco from fear of becoming accessories to Morrison's death. In the final report, however, Morrison died of a heart attack, although it was later revealed that no autopsy had been performed. Jim Morrison was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7.
There is a persistent rumor that Morrison faked his death to escape the spotlight. However, in the book Wonderland Avenue, Morrison's former associate Danny Sugerman stated that during his last meeting with Courson—which took place shortly before her own death from a heroin overdose—she confessed that she had introduced Morrison to Heroin that night. Because Morrison had a fear of needles, it was believed that Pam injected him with the dose that killed him. But the coroner found no needle marks. He did find blood in Morrison's nose, possibly caused by a hemorrhage due to snorting heroin, which in turn cause Morrison to have a heart attack. It was also noted that he had signs of tuberculosis: Morrison had been coughing heavily for two months. The afternoon before he died, his friend, Alain Ronay, noticed he was coughing blood.
Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars. Some notable members of the 27 club include Jimi Hendrix of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Janis Joplin of Big Brother and the Holding Company and solo career, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan of The Grateful Dead and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. It is also the age that his life-time girlfriend, Pamela Courson, died.
Other Voices and Full Circle
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 before disbanding. The recording of Other Voices took place from June to August 1971, and the album was released in October, 1971. 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.
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. The legality of the re-issues is debatable.
Both albums sold less than the Morrison era releases, and The Doors stopped performing and recording at the end of 1972, effectively dissolving in March 1973, during a stay in London while looking for a vocalist.
An American Prayer
The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding a musical track to spoken-word recordings of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a fair commercial success, aquiring a platinum certificate.
Legacy
- In 1983, The surviving Doors released Alive, She Cried, a collection of live performances which also has the rock anthem "Gloria", recorded 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 and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. British vocalist Ian Astbury of The Cult was Stone's preferred choice to play Morrison, but Astbury chose not to appear in the film. Kilmer's impersonation and the film itself were praised by critics, despite its inaccuracies. Members of the group criticized Stone's portrayal of Morrison as an out-of-control sociopath. Singer Billy Idol had a cameo in the film and recorded a cover of "L.A. Woman."
- Later in the same year, rap producer Kanye West produced a song called Takeover for Jay-Z for the latter's 2001 critically acclaimed album The Blueprint. The song heavily sampled The Doors's song "Five To One", including the background music and Jim Morrison's vocals.
Riders on the Storm/Manzarek-Krieger(2002–present)
In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger reunited and created a new version of The Doors, called "The Doors of the 21st Century." The lineup was fronted by Astbury, with Angelo Barbera from Krieger's band on bass. At their first concert, the group announced that drummer John Densmore would not perform, 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 he was replaced by Ty Dennis, drummer with Krieger's band. Densmore subsequently claimed that he had in fact not been invited to take part in the reunion. In February 2003, he filed an injunction against his former band mates, hoping to prevent them from using the name "The Doors of the 21st Century." His motion was denied in court and Ray Manzarek publicly stated that the invitation for Densmore to return to the group still stood. It was also reported that both Morrison's family and that of Pamela Courson had joined Densmore in seeking to prevent Manzarek and Krieger from using The Doors' name. In July 2005, Densmore and the Morrison estate won a permanent injunction, causing the new band to switch to the name "D21C." It now plays under the name Riders on the Storm, a song by The Doors released in 1971 as the last track on the final Morrison-Era album, L.A. Woman. They are allowed to play under names such as "former Doors" and "members of The Doors." Later in July 2007 Densmore said that he would not rejoin The Doors unless it was fronted by Eddie Vedder. Densmore says, "I play with Jim. If there's someone of that level, OK. I'm not gonna join them with Ian. That's not to diss Ian, he's a good singer - but he's no Jim Morrison. Eddie Vedder? My God, there's a singer."
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 Nation. He later gave an interview about this to LA Times:
- 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.
Ray Manzarek was quoted as saying, "We're all getting older. We should, the three of us, be playing these songs because, hey, the end is always near. Morrison was a poet, and above all, a poet wants his words heard." When Morrison was asked what he would most like to be remembered for, he responded, "My words, man, my words."
On February 16, 2007 Ian Astbury quit Riders on the Storm, and relaunched his old band The Cult. On March 14, 2007 Brett Scallions, former lead singer of the band Fuel, was announced as the new lead singer of Riders on the Storm.
On July 24, 2007, The Doors released a live 3-Disc album, recorded at Boston Arena on April 10, 1970. On March 8, 2008, The Doors released another live album, recorded at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena on May 2, 1970, and to top it off, at the near end of 2007, The Doors released a 2-Disc collection named The Very Best of The Doors, this was the second version, the first version was released in 2001, this collection highlights 34 great songs from the Morrison Era.
In 2007, Manzarek described the band's sound as "Bauhaus" music. "It's clean, it's pure. There is a keyboard on one side, a guitar on the other, drums in the middle, a bass line underneath that and the singer up front and you can hear the words. That's one of the reasons why The Doors' sound is still important today. It's perfectly modern. That's what we wanted." Strange Days, Morrison Hotel, and L.A Woman incorporate different styles, including psychedelic pop, hard rock, and blues.
Three non-album tracks have been released, the b-sides "Who Scared You," "Tree Trunk," and a cover of Willie Dixon's "(You Need Meat) Don't Go Further" sung by Ray. "Who Scared You" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go Further" appeared on the 1972 compilation Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine. "Who Scared You" was also released on CD in edited form on the 1997 box set and "You Need Meat" was included on the new "Perception" box set. "Tree Trunk" has seen no other official release. Additional songs have been only performed live.
On April 20, 2008 members of The Doors Manzarek and Krieger got together in the Ecuadorian capital city of Quito to celebrate the band's 40 years of existence with a reunion concert. The two are performing with the name "Riders On The Storm" with Ty Dennis in the drums and Phil Chen (who played with Robby and John Densmore in The Butts Band) playing the bass.
On August, 2008, the California Supreme Court decided not to hear the case involving Krieger and Manzarek's use of the name "The Doors" in performances over the objections of Densmore and the Morrison estate, so the judgment against Krieger and Manzarek stands.
In Febuary 2009 Ray and Robby went back on tour using the name "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors", while the rest of the band are Riders On The Storm.
New material
In 1997 the first archive material was included on the release of The Doors box set, a 4-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".
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 2-CD set of the May 1970 show at Detroit's Cobo Arena, 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 4-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 2-CD concert from Philadelphia in 1970 was released.
Many bootleg recordings are available of the group. Most impressive is a wealth of shows from March 1967 at the legendary 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 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.
Awards and Accolades
- In 1993, The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- In 1998, Light My Fire was inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track)
- In 2002, The Doors (their debut album) was inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album)
- 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 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked #41 on their list of the .
- The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine includes 3 studio albums by The Doors. The Doors at #42, L.A Woman at #362 and Strange Days at #407
- The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine includes 2 songs by The Doors. Light My Fire at #35 and The End at #328
- In 2000 The Doors are ranked #32 on 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists
- The Doors' "Light My Fire" is ranked #7 on Greatest Rock Songs, in 2000
- The Doors were the first American Rock-n-Roll band to sell 8 consecutive Gold records
- The RIAA, as of November 2008, certifies the following albums as Gold
- Absolutely Live
- Alive, She Cried
- Legacy: The Absolute Best
- Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine
- The RIAA, as of November 2008, certifies the following albums as Platinum
- An American Prayer
- In Concert
- Morrison Hotel
- Strange Days
- The Doors - 13
- The Doors (Movie Soundtrack)
- The Doors Box Set
- The Soft Parade
- Waiting For The Sun
- The RIAA, as of November 2008, certifies the following albums as Multi-Platinum
- Greatest Hits (1996 Reissue) (2.0x Platinum)
- L.A. Woman (2.0x Platinum)
- Greatest Hits (LP) (3.0x Platinum)
- The Doors (4.0x Platinum)
- The RIAA, as of November 2008, certifies the following albums as Diamond
- The RIAA, as of November 2008, certifies the following singles as Gold
- Hello, I Love You
- Light My Fire
- Touch Me
- The RIAA, as of November 2008, certifies the following videos as Gold
- No One Here Gets Out Alive
- Soundstage
- The RIAA, as of November 2008, certifies the following videos as Platinum
- A Tribute to Jim Morrison
- Dance on Fire
- Live In Europe
- The Doors Live at The Hollywood Bowl
Band members
| (1965–1971) |
- Jim Morrison - lead vocals
- Robby Krieger - guitar, vocals
- Ray Manzarek - keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals
- John Densmore - drums, percussion
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| (1971–1973) | Robby Krieger - guitar, vocals Ray Manzarek - keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals John Densmore - drums, percussion |
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Discography
See also
Further reading
- Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors, by Ray Manzarek, Berkeley Publishing Group, ISBN 0-425-17045-4
- No One Here Gets Out Alive, by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, Warner Books, ISBN 0-446-60228-0
- Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors, by John Densmore, Delta Books, ISBN 0-385-30447-1
- "The Doors" by Danny Sugerman
- "Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison", by Linda Ashcroft, Avalon Publishing Group, ISBN 1-56025-249-9
External links
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