name | The Doors |
---|---|
background | group_or_band |
landscape | yes |
background | group_or_band |
origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
genre | Psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock, rock and roll, hard rock |
years active | 1965–1973(Reunions: 1978, 1993, 2000) |
label | ElektraRhino |
associated acts | Rick & the Ravens, The Butts Band, Nite City, Manzarek-Krieger |
website | thedoors.com |
past members | Jim MorrisonRay ManzarekJohn DensmoreRobby Krieger }} |
Although The Doors' active career ended in 1973, their popularity has persisted. According to the RIAA, they have sold over 35 million albums in the US alone. The band has sold nearly 100 million albums worldwide. Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger continue to tour as Manzarek-Krieger, performing Doors songs exclusively. Three of the band's studio albums, ''The Doors'' (1967), ''Strange Days'' (1967), and ''L.A. Woman'' (1971), were featured in the ''Rolling Stone'' list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at positions 42, 407 and 362 respectively. In 1993, The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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".
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 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.
Since "Break on Through" was not very successful on the radio, the band turned to "Light My Fire". The problem with this song was that it was seven minutes long, so producer Paul Rothschild cut it down to a three minute song. 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.
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 could not 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 Sullivan Show."
On December 24, The Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for ''The Jonathan Winters Show'', their performance was taped for later broadcast. 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'' was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician on bass, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on ''Strange Days'' and the next two albums; but the band utilized several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack and Jerry Scheff are credited as bassists who worked with the band.
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.
Halfway through the first set, 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 inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those 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.
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. With the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the rock press pointed out the song's resemblance to The Kinks' 1964 hit, "All Day and All of the Night". Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. 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.
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.
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, with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. However, Morrison remained free pending an appeal of his conviction, and would die before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. Manzarek later described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination".
July 1970 saw the release of The Doors' first live album, ''Absolutely Live''.
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, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary ''Message to Love.''
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 died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela Courson, also died at the age of 27.
The group disbanded in 1973 and Krieger and Densmore would go on to form The Butts Band from 1973-1975. Krieger, Manzarek and Densmore reunited in 1978 for ''An American Prayer'', 1993 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and 2000 for VH1's Storytellers: A Celebration and on the tribute album ''Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors'', which featured band members playing along side guest performers as well as recording new music.
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. In ''Rock is Dead'' and in interviews Morrison makes it clear that the music is a continued exploration of the Dionysian mythic content that had informed his earlier poetry. The apocalyptic elements in the music and the poetry were ahead of the music of the day; however, later groups like Nirvana are influenced by The Doors. We also have to consider the possible influence of Pamela Courson.
In July 2007, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – ''Live In Boston'', a three-disc live album by The Doors. It was recorded on April 10, 1970, as part of the Absolutely Live tour. This is part of previously unreleased material of the Bright Midnight Archives collection of live albums by The Doors.
In March 2008, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – ''Pittsburgh Civic Arena'', a live album by The Doors released in 2008. The concert was recorded in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena on May 2, 1970. This is part of previously unreleased material of the Bright Midnight Archives collection of live albums by The Doors.
In November 2008, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – ''Live at the Matrix 1967'', a double live album compiled and resequenced from recordings made on March 7 and 10, 1967 at The Matrix in San Francisco by club co-owner Peter Abram. The recording is notable because it is one of the earliest live recordings of the band known to exist: The Doors had recorded only one album by March 1967, "Light My Fire" had yet to be released as a single, and they were still relatively unknown outside Southern California.
In November 2009, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – ''Live in New York'', a six-disc box set of the final four concerts performed by The Doors on January 17 and 18, 1970 at the Felt Forum in New York City. About a third of the material on the set was previously unreleased.
In April 2010, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – ''When You're Strange: Music From The Motion Picture'', a single disc of the soundtrack to the 2010 documentary film, narrated by Johnny Depp, about The Doors and their music. The soundtrack features 14 songs from The Doors’ six studio albums, with studio versions mixed with live versions, including performances from The Ed Sullivan Show, Television-Byen in Gladsaxe, Felt Forum in New York and The Isle of Wight Festival.
In November 2010, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – ''Live in Vancouver 1970'', a two-disc live album. It was recorded on June 6, 1970 in Vancouver, Canada. Vince Treanor, The Doors’ tour manager, recorded the show for the band on a Sony reel-to-reel using two microphones placed on the stage. While not a multitrack high fidelity recording, it is clean, quiet and clear, allowing the unbridled energy of the performances to shine through. This is part of previously unreleased material of the Bright Midnight Archives collection of live albums by The Doors.
''When You're Strange'' was released 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.In July 2011, Rhino UK announced the release of The Doors – ''A Collection'', a six-CD retrospective box set of the first six albums from The Doors recorded 1966-1971. It features remastered tracks by Bruce Botnik and original artwork in replicated paper sleeves.
Category:American psychedelic rock music groups Category:Blues rock musicians Category:Elektra Records artists Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Category:Musical groups established in 1965 Category:Musical quartets Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees *The Doors
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