The Doors

The Doors were an American rock ^{rock music} band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California. Through the majority of its existence, the group consisted of vocalist ^Singer Jim Morrison, keyboardist ^{keyboard instrument} Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. They were among the 1960s most controversial rock acts, 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 for good in 1973.

Though the Doors' active career ended in 1973, their popularity has never really waned. According to the RIAA ^{Recording Industry Association of America} , they have sold over 32.5 million albums in the US alone. The band has sold over 75 million albums worldwide.

 
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 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 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 ^{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.


By 1966, the group was playing the London Fog ^{London Fog (nightclub)} 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 ^{Them (band)} . 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 ^{Gloria (Them song)} ". It was not until they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television.

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 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. A riot ensued which spilled from the gates of the New Haven Arena and into the streets. 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."


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 ^{Alcoholic beverage} and drugs ^{drug abuse} , and the rejection of his new epic "The Celebration of the Lizard" by the 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 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 ^{Single (music)} 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. 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 ^{Institute of Contemporary Arts} 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 ^{Touch Me (The Doors song)} ," (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.


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




During a Doors concert on March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium ^{Coconut Grove Convention Center} in Miami, Florida, 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. Unknown to the audience was Morrison's exposure to The Living Theater the week before, which influenced his performance. The confusion and taunts led to some out-of-control situations, such as Morrison allegedly exposing his anger at the security guard nearest to him, which resulted in an abrupt end to the show after only one hour.

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 travelling companion, American actor Tom Baker ^{Tom Baker (American actor)} .

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 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. 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 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 ^{Absolutely Live (The Doors album)} album, whereas "You Make Me Real" was released on Alive, She Cried in 1983. Further, the Van Morrison track "Gloria ^{Gloria (Them song)} ", 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 LA" 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". An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995.
Solo work (1974-2001)



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 ^{The butts band} in 1973, but disbanded after two albums. |
Krieger released six solo albums from 1977-2000. All of the ex-Doors solo albums have met with mixed reviews.


Riders on the Storm/Manzarek-Krieger (2002–present)


In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger reunited and produced a new version of The Doors, called "The Doors of the 21st Century." The lineup was fronted by Ian 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 ^{The Police (band)} , 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 then played 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 ^{The Nation (U.S. periodical)} :

: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 ^{Fuel (band)} , was announced as the new lead singer of Riders on the Storm.

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 No Further", sung by Manzarek. Both songs had previously 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 with later unedited appearances on Essential Rarities, the Perception ^{Perception (The Doors album)} box set and the 40th Anniversary reissue of Soft Parade, 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.

In 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 February 2009, Manzarek and Krieger went back on tour using the name "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors."

The long awaited Dick Wolf-produced Doors documentary, When You're Strange, is set to 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 DiCello. Rhino Entertainment plans to release a soundtrack to the movie in March 2010, containing both live and studio recordings. The surviving members of The Doors were not not fans of the Oliver Stone movie that was released in 1991, twenty years after Morrison's death. Oliver Stone used much "creative license" in his film, with some gross factual errors. So one year shy of the 40th anniversary of Jim Morrison's death, The Doors will be opened.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 ^{The Complete Studio Recordings (The Doors album)} box set only included the first six studio albums (omitting An American Prayer, Other Voices and Full Circle), and the Perception ^{Perception (The Doors album)} 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 ^{DTS Coherent Acoustics} , 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 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 four-CD set Boot Yer Butt ^{Boot Yer Butt: The Doors Bootlegs} 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 ^{Dallas, Texas} , Texas. In 2005, a two-CD concert from Philadelphia ^{Philadelphia, Pennsylvania} 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 ^{The Matrix (club)} in San Francisco ^{San Francisco, California} . 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 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 ^{Fender Musical Instruments Corporation} Rhodes ^{Rhodes piano} 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 Douglas Lubahn, Jerry Scheff, Harvey Brooks, Lonnie Mack, Larry Knechtel, Leroy Vinnegar 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".*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 ^{The Doors (album)} 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 .
*In 2007, The Doors received a lifetime achievement award ^{Grammy 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 ^{The End (The Doors song)} " at number 328.
*The Doors were ranked number 20 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll.
*The Recording Academy announced the 2010 Grammy Hall Of Fame Inductees, including The Doors' Riders On The Storm.*Original members are in 'bold'.*1967 - The Doors ^{The Doors (album)}
*1967 - Strange Days ^{Strange Days (album)}
*1968 - Waiting for the Sun
*1969 - The Soft Parade
*1970 - Morrison Hotel
*1971 - L.A. Woman
*1971 - Other Voices ^{Other Voices (The Doors album)}
*1972 - Full Circle ^{Full Circle (The Doors album)}
*1978 - An American Prayer*1983 - No One Here Gets Out Alive
*1985 - Dance on Fire
*1987 - Live at the Hollywood Bowl ^{Live at the Hollywood Bowl (The Doors album)}
*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