The Doors, The Doors
Elektra, 1967: Jim Morrison (vocals, died 1971), Ray Manzarek (keyboards, died 2013), Robby Krieger (guitars), John Densmore (drums)

Notable songs (OK, I should just list them all!)

The album, released in January 1967, has sold over 17 million copies worldwide. In 1967, it reached number 2 on the chart--it could never get past Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Now, you know that 1967 was a very good year for music with releases by The Doors,The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Pink Floyd, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burdon & The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Procol Harum, Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Kinks, Van Morrison, The Beach Boys, and many more.

"The End" is such a unique song, pretty much unparalleled in the rock universe, an eleven-plus-minute epic about death and good old Oedipus Rex (love the mother, kill the father). When asked about the song's meaning, Morrison himself was always pretty vague, "It could be almost anything you want it to be." Legend has it that this was the last song Morrison heard before he died, but who can know for sure what he was listening to while drinking that night? (The song was recorded live in the studio in two takes; the second take was used on the album.)

The songs on the album were mostly written by Morrison and Krieger, but there are some interesting creative aspects to the album:

Many state that "Light My Fire" became the Door's signature song, while I might lobby for "Riders on the Storm" or "LA Woman." "Light My Fire" generated controversy during The Doors appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show when the show's producers asked Morrison to change the line "Girl we couldn't get much higher," but he didn't, and The Doors never appeared again on Ed Sullivan. Seems so trifling today, but that was the 1960s!

The album was a staple of FM airplay (and college dorms) in he 1970s. Strange that we didn't much play any of the live cuts from Absolutely Live (1970), and none of us had any bootlegs, but we played The Doors all the time (along with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc.) When we still lived in the dorm, it was a good bet that you could hear The Doors from one of our rooms on the first floor at any time.