Do you wish you could step back in time to the era of the 1960-1970s? If so, then you’d probably love to experience the hits of The Doors. If you weren’t born then, you certainly missed out on this legendary American rock group. Don’t worry though, thanks to the Internet, a large amount of tv footage, and recordings, this epic band’s compilation still survives today.
Trust me; it’s a compilation that you won’t want to miss out on. I can guarantee you’ll want to listen more often once you hear them. But, before you truly digest each lyric and riff from The Doors, it’s important you learn about them first.
Who Are The Doors?
The Doors are an American rock band founded in the 1960s that were the first to achieve eight consecutive gold LPs. They sold over 100 million records worldwide and 35 million in the USA alone between the band. The Doors consisted of Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore.
Member Profiles
Jim Morrison
James Douglas Morrison was the lead vocalist, poet, and songwriter of the band who triggered a lot of influence and contributed to the band’s success. He was born on 12/08/1943 and died on 07/03/1971 from a drug overdose.
Ray Manzarek
Another vocalist of The Doors and keyboardist was Ray Manzarek, born on 02/12/39; he was an active member from 1965-1973. He sadly passed away from cancer on 05/13/2013.
Robby Krieger
Robert Alan Krieger, born on 01/08/1946, was the guitarist of the rock band and helped contribute to the songwriting process.
John Densmore
The drummer of The Doors was John Densmore, born on 12/01/1944, who appeared in pretty much every recording the band made. The rock and jazz genre inspired his drumming talent.
Where Did The Doors Get Their Inspiration From?
If you’re unfamiliar with this band’s music or contribution to the industry, you might be confused why they have such a random name. The truth is, their name isn’t that random; their name came about due to Jim Morrison finding inspiration from Aldous Huxley’s book Mescaline relating to psychedelic drugs, in particular LSD.
While all band members contributed a lot to their fame, the main inspiration came from the band’s lead vocalist Morrison and supporting vocalist and keyboardist Manzarek. Ever since they first met on Venice Beach in 1965, they recognized each other from attending the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.
After a shared connection, Morrison shared personal songs he’d written with Manzarek, who was equally inspired thinking about how he could play in accordance with the lyrics and encouraged him to write more.
How Did The Doors Become Famous?
Before The Doors was listed in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, they began gaining a significant amount of popularity in the USA in the 1970s. The reason behind this was that in LA, the most common types of genre were surf music or folk music. The Doors music was mainly jazz inspired, with a rock influence, and had organ riffs.
With the fusion of music from other genres, people got talking and interested, straying away from the common genres at the time. Many people thought that the music The Doors created was far beyond the head of their time, inspiring audiences with their creative lyrics.
Alongside this, The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison unintentionally got the band a lot of media attention. He became later known for certain stunts he would pull on stage, like getting arrested for exposing himself while performing in Miami.
The Doors Hits
For many fans, The Door’s music can be difficult to categorize in terms of the best album or single for them. After all, The Doors had 9 studio albums, 6 Live albums, 21 compilation albums, and 23 archived albums released. However, out of them all, the five most popular Doors songs are:
- Light My Fire, Album: The Doors (1967)
- The End: The Doors (1967)
- Break on through to the other side: The Doors (1967)
- L.A Woman: LA.Women (1971)
- People Are Strange: Strange days (1967)
This song comes from their debut album and is 7 minutes long. The majority of this song was written by Krieger, who wanted to write a piece about fire, earth, air, and water.
The End became so well known because the song goes on for a disturbing almost 12 minutes. Part of the reason it’s disturbing is the song lyrics reflect a haunting nightmare filled with paranoia related to the apocalypse.
One of the main reasons this song became popular is that it repeatedly referenced drug use using the lines “She gets me high.” As it became popular, this line got censored and started causing a lot of controversy due to the lyrics.
There are many reasons why this song became well known; one of the main ones was that the song’s name was an anagram for a woman called Linda Ashcroft, with whom Jim Morisson had an affair.
In comparison to their self-titled debut, People Are Strange gained attraction due to incorporating hippie idealism and nostalgia from the pre-war.
Conclusion
Overall, The Doors in their time were a highly influential band around the world and still are today. In addition to getting a lot of radio play, this band gained popularity for their songs that weren’t played on the radio.
Their lyrics, music, and long songs made them a band that is timeless and unique to listen to. This rock band will take you to another dimension in your mind with their music; their songs are like no other.