Strange Days: A Deep Dive Retrospective of The Doors
Click below on the streaming service of your choice to listen to the playlist as your read along.
In the late 1980s, as I was finishing high school, I went through a classic rock phase. After years of my brother, ten years my senior, fruitlessly trying to get me to listen to the music of his youth, I suddenly awakened to the many great artists and songs of the ‘60s and ‘70s and dove in deeply. I was especially entranced by the psychedelic era and its experimental music, mystical vibes, and the brilliantly colourful sounds, images, and people that populated its rise. It took awhile for me to realize it, but there were direct correlations to the modern rock I’d embraced to that point in my life, made clear when I started making mixed tapes that combined old and new music.
Although I didn’t deface Morrison’s grave as so many others did (as well as surrounding graves), it was because of people like me taking pictures like this that later led to the grave being fenced off from the public and monitored by CCTV. My visit in 1992 was too late to see the bust of Morrison that used to sit on top, which was stolen in 1988.
The Doors were a band I particularly embraced during that time. I read John Densmore’s 1990 autobiography, Riders on the Storm, as well as the Danny Sugerman books, No Here Gets Out Alive (co-authored by Jerry Hopkins in 1983) and Wonderland Avenue (1989). In 1991, Oliver Stone’s biopic, The Doors, came out with much fanfare, putting the band into the popular consciousness once again. In 1992, I was travelling in Paris and took the opportunity to visit Père-Lachaise cemetery to see Jim Morrison’s grave. Yup, of the many bands of the classic rock era, The Doors were a foremost fascination for me.
It was the mythology, tragedy, and distinct sound of The Doors that separated them from their peers and invited such repeated scrutiny. And as we know their many hits and classic tracks, let’s take the deep dive approach for this playlist and highlight the deeper album tracks to reveal this band’s enigmatic and wonderful musical career.
“Soul Kitchen”; “End of the Night”; “Take It as It Comes” \ The Doors (1967)
In the mid 1960s, California was starting to assert itself as the locus of American rock and pop music. Thanks to the likes of The Beach Boys, surf music, and the hotbeds of creativity from places like Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles and the emerging hippy scene in San Francisco, the west coast was becoming the place to be for the heroes of American rock and folk music.
Ray Manzarek was born and raised in Chicago. After obtaining an economics degree at DePaul University he went to Los Angeles in 1961 to study at UCLA but dropped out soon after. Following a brief stint in the Army, he returned to UCLA and obtained a masters in cinematography in 1965. It was in that program that he met fellow student, James Morrison. Manzarak had played piano in jazz bands while at school in Chicago. In LA, he was in a band, Rick and the Ravens, with his brothers, Rick and Jim.
An L.A. native, drummer John Densmore had switched from piano while in his school marching band. He studied ethnic music and jazz at Cal State university which, in 1965, was influencing his playing in a band called The Psychedelic Rangers. The band’s guitarist was Robert ‘Robby’ Krieger, another L.A. native who had also developed a varied playing style influenced by flamenco, classical, blues, and jazz. Densmore and Krieger met Manzarak while attending Transcendental Meditation classes together. John changed bands when Ray invited him to join Rick and the Ravens.
The Playlist
Soul Kitchen
End of the Night
Take It as It Comes
You’re Lost Little Girl
Unhappy Girl
My Eyes Have Seen You
Wintertime Love
Yes, the River Knows
Five to One
Shaman’s Blues
Wild Child
Waiting for the Sun
Peace Frog/Blue Sunday
Maggie M’Gill
L’America
Hyacinth House
The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)
Down on the Farm
4 Billion Souls
Famously, Manzarak and Morrison came upon each other on Venice Beach one day. The two hadn’t seen each other since finishing school earlier in the year. Jim shared that he’d been writing songs, so Ray invited him to sing a few with his band. That visit led to Jim joining The Ravens, making them a quintet along with the three Manzarak brothers and Densmore. They renamed themselves The Doors, taken from the Aldous Huxley book about a mescaline trip, The Doors of Perception (which I also read during my Doors fascination period). Accompanied by bassist Patty Sullivan, they recorded demos in L.A. in September 1965 which included songs, “My Eyes Have Seen You,” “End of the Night,” “Hello, I Love You,” and “Moonlight Drive,” which was one of the songs Morrison had used for his informal audition.
Shortly after, Ray’s brothers left the band and Robby Krieger was brought on board, settling The Doors into its famous quartet of Morrison (vocals), Manzarak (keyboards), Densmore (drums), and Krieger (guitar). Without a bass player, Manzarak used the keyboards to provide bass lines on live performances while the band employed various bass players over their career for studio recordings. The emphasis on keyboards was a differentiating component to the band’s emerging sound which was developed during a residency in the spring of ’66 at the London Fog club on the Sunset strip. Like The Beatles in Hamburg, the band shared the venue with an exotic dancer.
Album cover of the later release of the band’s first demos, featuring Morrison, Densmore, and Manzarak on the cover, before Krieger joined.
A few months later The Doors graduated to the more esteemed venue a few doors down, the Whiskey a Go Go. As the house band they got to work with several of the famous acts coming through during the summer of ‘66. They signed with Columbia Records, but before releasing anything were slated to be dropped by the label, so they requested their release. This led to them signing with Elektra Records when Jac Holzman came to see them on the advice of Arthur Lee, of the band, Love.
The Doors self-titled, debut LP was recorded in August 1966 and released in January ’67. Larry Knechtel, a member of the famous Wrecking Crew, played bass on several tracks. The album was produced by Paul Rothchild, a New Yorker transplanted from its folk scene to Laurel Canyon and who had become Elektra’s house producer. He would go on to produce five Doors albums along with hundreds of other classics over the ‘60s and ‘70s. The eleven songs on the album had been developed over the band’s performances over the previous year and have all become classics, making the album one of the best debuts of all time. Their organ heavy sound, the varied guitar styles, the sharp percussion, and of course the resonant, charismatic vocals, gave The Doors a unique and appealing personality. Each song came at you with something different to offer, mixing catchy melodies, tight rhythms, and diverse pacing to provide a complete listening experience start to finish. The album contained a multitude of riffs that remain some of rock’s most famous.
Listeners were first exposed to the band via the first single and the LP’s opening track, “Break on Through.” Its now iconic opening introduced each band member sequentially, starting with Densmore’s jazzy drum beat flowing into Manzarak’s keyboards, followed by Krieger’s edgy guitar and then Morrison’s resonant vocal. It was an impressive introduction. Dwelling in the garage rock sound of the mid-‘60s, the song’s energy and distinct elements made it known The Doors were an exciting new presence. Perhaps it was too different for the time, as the song failed to crack the top 100 in the US singles chart, though over time it has gained esteem as one of rock’s top tunes.
The Doors, now with Krieger on guitar, performing at the Whiskey A Go Go in 1966
“Light My Fire” was the next single and clocked in at a much briefer three minutes than the seven-minute version on the album, where it closed side one. Its instantly classic organ sound, memorable melody, and mix of jazzy interludes and echoey choruses gave the song an expansive feel. This time it didn’t take time for people to click with it as its psychedelic vibe melded with the zeitgeist of the times and the song made its way to #1 in the US. Success in the UK would be delayed, where the single was unable to crack the top forty.
The Doors’ experimental, moodier, mystical side was also established through tracks like “The Crystal Ship,” “The End of the Night,” and the epic, controversial, almost twelve-minute closing track, “The End.” Its Oedipal themes were the source of the controversy when, during a spoken-word interlude Morrison offered the lyrics, “Father / Yes son? / I want to kill you / Mother, I want to fuck you.” Though the profanity was delivered in an unintelligible scream, the intended word and the spirit of the lyric were unmistakable. The Doors were not family-friendly fare and this brough them controversy, starting with a performance of “The End” getting them fired from the Whiskey, and then getting them banned from the Ed Sullivan Show after failing to change the lyric, “Girl we couldn’t get much higher,” during their performance on the show of “Light My Fire.” The poetic style of “The End” also revealed the dark, temperamental, hallucinogenic, and spiritual side of Morrison, all of which, when combined with his good looks, set him on his way to troubled, rock star status.
The Doors peaked at #2 in the US album chart and would go on to multi-platinum sales as the band went on to high-ranking status in the annals of rock. The LP ranks highly on any listing of all-time great rock recordings. It was the first of several ground-breaking albums to be released in 1967 that included Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow in February, and in May, Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, making the year a watershed in the development of rock music into a more evolved art form.
“You’re Lost Little Girl,” “Unhappy Girl”; “My Eyes Have Seen You” \ Strange Days (1967)
The Doors weren’t yet finished with 1967 after the release of their celebrated debut. They issued their second LP, Strange Days, in September. Featuring a top twenty single with “People Are Strange” and a top forty entry with “Love Me Two Times,” the album delivered their second top ten release in the US. Internationally the album fared less well, partly because popular focus was still concentrated on the first LP. But like its predecessor, over time the LP would become a top seller and another entry onto lists of greatest rock albums.
The album included tracks that are also among the band’s most popular, such as the title track, “Moonlight Drive,” and another long, journey-like closer, “When the Music’s Over.” Their continued mix of psychedelic rock, catchy melodies, and distinctive mix of organ and complex guitar and drum sequences further established The Doors as one of rock’s most inventive acts during one of it’s most creatively explosive periods. The variety and quality of the deep tracks selected for this playlist are evidence of how consistent the album was over its ten tracks and thirty-five-minute run time.
The band’s – or at least Morrison’s – outlaw reputation also grew when the singer was arrested in December at a show in New Haven. It started before the show when Jim got into an altercation with a policeman, who sprayed him with mace and led to the performance being delayed while the singer recovered. Morrison then went on a profanity-laced rant against the police during the show, prompting the cops to come on stage and drag him off. The audience, after the delay and abrupt end to the show, created a bit of a fuss. Jim was charged with inciting a riot, indecency, and public obscenity, and his mug shot that night has become part of the visual lore of The Doors.
“Wintertime Love”; “Yes, the River Knows”; “Five to One” \ Waiting for the Sun (1968)
The band recorded its third LP, Waiting for the Sun, in April 1968 before continuing to tour to increasingly larger and often unruly audiences, making for several more incidents with local law enforcement. The album was released in July and the band made its first foray to the UK and mainland Europe to tour. The LP made it to #1 in the US, their only one to do so, and finally got them success overseas with a top twenty placing in the UK. After a muted response to the album’s first single, “The Unknown Soldier,” the LP’s success was driven by the second single, “Hello, I Love You,” which brought them their second #1 single in the US and a top twenty peak in the UK.
“Hello, I Love You” was one of the original demos they’d recorded in 1965 and among the last of the songs Morrison and the band had in their stable. Therefore, Waiting for the Sun was the first LP to be mostly written in the studio. Perhaps that was cause for the album only having one song run over four minutes. However, it didn’t stop them from continuing to explore their psych-rock feel in tunes such as, “Not to Touch the Earth,” “Summer’s Almost Gone,” “Spanish Caravan” (which employed Krieger’s Flamenco training), and “Yes, the River Knows,” tunes that also expanded the band’s sonic range and style influences. The LP also showed The Doors in prime form with tight, catchy, pop songs such as “Hello, I Love You,” “Love Street,” “Wintertime Love,” and “We Could Be So Good Together.” Poetic and spoken word approaches once again appeared via, “My Wild Love.”
The band had endeavoured to deliver another long, meandering song of poems with the seventeen-minute opus, “Celebration of the Lizard,” which would not only be the album’s closing track but occupy its entire second side. Rothschild rejected it for the album as it wasn’t commercial enough and would take up too much real estate on the LP. The band would go on to perform it in concert frequently and it was released on a 1970 live album. The LP instead closed with the fantastic, marching tempo of “Five to One.” In place of an expansive, journeying song, it was a sparsely appointed, aggressive, short track punctuated by a guitar solo and has become another fan favourite.
By the end of 1968, The Doors were one of the biggest acts in music. Their next single, “Touch Me,” reached #3 in the US, the second in a row to do so. Morrison’s controversial performance style, moody demeanour, philosophizing, heavy drug and alcohol use, and distinct fashion style with leather pants, concho belts, and loose shirts, made him one of the most notorious and enigmatic performers of the rock world. The lyric, “I am the Lizard King, I can do anything,” was from, “Celebration of the Lizard,” but when the song was discarded from the album it was instead inserted at the end of, “Not to Touch the Earth.” Though not intended as a self-reference, the moniker, ‘Lizard King,’ thereafter became a frequent nickname for the singer.
“Shaman’s Blues”; “Wild Child” \ The Soft Parade (1969)
1969 continued to see Morrison, and by extension The Doors, court controversy. Arriving late and drunk to a show in Miami in March, the singer performed poorly and antagonism grew between him and the crowd. He threw a police officer’s hat into the audience and someone dowsed him in champagne, leading Morrison to take his shirt off and then simulate masturbation while covering his hand with the shirt. There were accusations that he exposed himself which were refuted by the band. Jim was arrested a few days later and later convicted and sentenced to six months in jail but was released pending appeal.
The fourth album, The Soft Parade, was released in July and saw The Doors stretching their sound in new directions. The band wanted to participate in the broadening rock sounds of the era and was encouraged to do so by their producer, Paul Rothchild. The album’s first track, “Follow Me Down,” was a melodic, loungy tune with horn accents that put quite a distance between it and their typical rock sound. The horns and strings worked better on the next track, the single, “Touch Me,” with its buoyant rhythm, familiar organ sound, and a classic, expansive vocal from Morrison. “Shaman’s Blues” returned the band to their psychedelic rock sound, providing another quality entry into their distinctive catalogue. “Wild Child” took the band into a hearty blues vibe, which they proved effortlessly adept. Horns and strings returned on “Wishful Sinful,” and the album closed with the title track, yet another long, rambling track full of spoken word sequences. It was good, but not to the level of their other efforts in that vein on their prior LPs.
After, “Touch Me,” none of the next three singles from the album reached the top forty. The LP, carried by the band’s reputation, continued their unbroken string of top ten albums in the US, but with a peak of #6 was their lowest charting entry yet. Critics and fans were equally unimpressed with the band’s change in sound, feeling it lacked the quality compositions of their previous work and betrayed their rebellious spirit while failing to execute as a more accessible, pop style.
“Waiting for the Sun”; “Peace Frog/Blue Sunday”; “Maggie M’Gill” \ Morrison Hotel (1970)
After Morrison was arrested for the third time, this time for an altercation on a flight, and once again remained free after the charges were dropped, the band completed the recording of the next LP over the winter of ’69-‘70. Morrison Hotel was released in February 1970 and sustained their hectic recording and touring pace, being their fifth LP in just thirty-seven months. The band returned to their milieu of psychedelic rock, though with a bluesier, tougher sound. It was another triumph, reaching the top ten in the US and top twenty in the UK.
Only one single was released, the piano-charged, growling and howling, “You Make Me Real,” which failed to click and didn’t reach the top forty in the US. Its B-side was the album’s opening track, “Roadhouse Blues,” a rollicking blues rocker full of memorable, instantly classic riffs. It became another of The Doors’ most memorable tunes. The second track, “Waiting for the Sun,” had been recorded during the sessions for their third album and, if included, would have been the LP’s title track. It also had a great mix of the band’s melodic blues and psych-rock grittiness. For me, the album, and perhaps the band, reached a pinnacle with the blended middle tracks, “Peace Frog” and “Blue Sunday.” The first track delivered one of the catchiest riffs and drum and bass grooves in rock history before flowing into the slow, sultry, melodic melancholy of the second track. The combined tunes didn’t have the grandeur and historical weight of many of their greatest hits but were consummate representations of The Doors’ inimitable mix of styles. The album did not close with an extended track but did offer another classic, moody, psychedelic blues-rocker with, “The Spy.”
The Doors in 1970
“L’America”; “Hyacinth House”; “The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)” \ L.A. Woman (1971)
At the end of 1970, Morrison’s personal and public problems continued to plague the band. Their final show of the year in New Orleans saw the singer suffer a breakdown and refuse to complete the show. The rest of the band agreed it was time to stop touring and commenced the longest break of their career.
Returning to the studio in October to record their sixth album, The Doors’ found problems there also. Paul Rothschild took issue with band’s shift into a purer blues and R&B feel mixed with funk and a generally less rocking vibe. He was also frustrated with the band’s slow development of music (a bit ironic given their voluminous output to that point) and Morrison’s unpredictability. Early in the recording he departed, replaced by Bruce Botnick who had engineered their previous work.
The resulting album was L.A. Women, released in April 1971. Ultimately one of their top selling albums, it was ironically their lowest charting yet, just cracking the top ten in the US with a #9 peak. It reached the top forty in the UK. The album, however, featured two top-twenty singles with “Love Her Madly” and “Riders on the Storm,” the first time they had two such successful singles from a single album.
The album continued the musical shift started with Morrison Hotel, featuring blues-driven tracks with their usually hook-filled, keyboard laced melodies and rhythms. “Love Her Madly” cruised along effortlessly, mixing piano and guitar into an undeniable groove. “Riders on the Storm” was yet another long, moody album closer and in which the band found the perfect mix of their dark atmosphere, psychedelic sounds, and pop hooks. Though not a single, the title track also became one of the band’s best known and respected songs, delivering the album’s – and the band’s – most rocking, bluesy, energetic entry. The song also featured Morrison’s newest name for himself, an anagram of his name, ‘Mr. Mojo Risin’.’
Jim Morrison and Pam Coulson in Paris
After the recording of the album in the spring of 1971, Morrison moved to Paris with his girlfriend, Pamela Coulson. With the band not planning to tour to promote the LP, it was a window of opportunity for Jim to get away and, it was hoped, gather himself together amidst the streets of his inspirations, Rimbaud and Baudelaire. It wasn’t to be as his lifestyle in Paris became entangled with the city’s ensuing epidemic of heroin. After an evening in which he’d been ill and vomiting and had retreated to the bath, Pamela found the singer dead in the tub on the morning of July 3. Heart failure was the recorded cause though his lifestyle of addictions were undoubtedly the true catalyst of his early demise. Following the deaths of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin over the prior two years, all at the same age as Morrison, twenty-seven, the coincidence sowed the seeds of what would become the ’27 Club,’ making the age a point of notoriety for those artists departed way too early in their careers and lives.
“Down on the Farm” \ Other Voices (1971)
“4 Billion Souls” \ Full Circle (1972)
Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore had already started working on a new album with a plan to get Morrison to come from Paris with lyrics and to record the vocals. The trio decided to continue with The Doors despite Morrison’s passing. Plans to get a new singer were quickly dropped in place of Krieger and Manzarek assuming the vocals. The result was an album, titled appropriately enough, Other Voices, released in the fall of 1971. Not surprisingly, the absence of their notorious, talented singer left the result wanting. The LP achieved a respectable top 40 placing in the US but came well short of the top ten placing all the prior albums had achieved.
Commensurate to the talent of the trio, the LP had a lot to offer musically, but without the outsized charisma of Morrison’s vocals and unable to avoid the direct comparisons to their previous work, the album came up flat. It continued their exploration of blues with hints of their psychedelic tradition. The first single, “Tightrope Ride,” was an eminently listenable and engaging blues-rocker, while its follow-up, “Ships with Sails,” delved into their ‘70s easy listening vibe established on L.A. Women. Neither single reached the top forty in the US. The LP was kicked off by the bluesy, “In the Eye of the Sun,” a tune that with Morrison might have come alive, but without his booming voice, was more pedestrian. “Down on the Farm” was an airy, psychedelic tune that at turns channeled sounds as diverse as early Pink Floyd to The Grateful Dead.
The trio took another run at sustaining The Doors with the release the following year of the LP, Full Circle. It fared worse than Other Voices, not reaching the top forty. The single, “The Mosquito,” barely cracked the top 100 in the US. Similar to its predecessor all the elements of the band’s music were present, but the songs lacked the lift that Morrison had brought to The Doors. The band’s sound now sounded less distinct and increasingly generic. Facing the reality there wasn’t an audience for The Doors without its fabled singer and having reached the end of their contract with Elektra, The Doors decided to break up in 1973.
Over the course of seven years and six albums with Jim Morrison at the lead, The Doors issued some of the most recognizable songs and albums of the classic rock era. Their eclectic blend of styles, keyboard heavy sound, and rich, distinct vocals made for a unique and intoxicating sound. When combined with Morrison’s troubled behaviour and mystic aura, The Doors were a captivating package that enthralled the young, emerging fan base for rock music. They influenced generations of rockers, classic and modern, that followed in their wake, and have enjoyed several periods of rejuvenated interest and fascination both in their music and their story, not to mention the persistent pilgrimage many make to Morrison’s grave in Paris. Given my interest in modern rock, I now understand my particular interest in The Doors when I dove into classic rock, as their sound was imprinted on many modern rockers, not the least of which, The Stranglers. The Doors were true innovators on the classic blues style, helping build rock to its celebrated status in music.
