Legendary Bands - The Doors Posters

They made only six studio albums, but their legacy suggests decades worth of work. Singer Jim Morrison died July 3, 1971, but you wouldn't know it considering that much of the Doors' greatest success occurred in the 1980s when the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive and an aggressive campaign by their record label sold the band to a new generation of fans. That the Oliver Stone movie released in the 1990s is such a horrible fiasco has only served to prove how magical the band were the first time around.

The group comprised charismatic singer/poet Jim Morrison, guitarist Robbie Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and drummer John Densmore. And while the focus has unjustly been centered around the egocentric, often infantile, behavior of Morrison (who certainly helped the Doors garner its reputation with his erratic behavior), it's the band's unusual ensemble playing that made them such an amazing presence.

The Doors' first album is a fairly straight representation of the band's sets at the Whisky-A-Go-Go the previous year, 1966. Including such prime Doors fare as "Break On Through (To The Other Side)," "Soul Kitchen" and their first hit, "Light My Fire," as well as the set closer, Oedipal fantasy, "The End," the Doors announced their arrival in no uncertain terms. Morrison's lyrics were less poetic than awkward and his conceptual conceits were almost always laughable, but this willingness to play the buffoon is what keeps the records as entertaining today as when they were first released.

The Doors continued to release catchy singles that put them in the same league as any other AM radio teenybopper band ("Love Me Two Times," "Hello, I Love You") while saving the more serious material for their albums. The band attempted to record their stage piece, "The Celebration Of The Lizard," for their third album, but what worked effectively in front of sold-out audiences went for naught in the studio. Eventually, the band salvaged a bit as "Not To Touch The Earth" and it became one of several set pieces that defined the Waiting For The Sun release. However, controversy followed them to Miami, where Morrison got particularly drunk and allegedly showed his private member to the audience.

Morrison had had other run-ins with the law, but this particular case came with a possible jail sentence that threatened to end the group. The Doors then issued what is generally considered their weakest album, The Soft Parade. The additional instrumentation with strings and woodwinds proved an interesting experiment, but much of the material wasn't up to their usual standards.

Amidst their troubles, the Doors collected themselves for two of their finest releases, Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman; both were more blues-edged than their previous works. But by the time of the L.A. Woman sessions their producer Paul Rothchild declined to be involved, citing what he felt was lackluster material and a bad vibe within the band. Morrison's voice was deteriorating at a rapid clip, but the band never sounded better.

They eventually recorded several of their most famous compositions, including "L.A. Woman" and "Riders On The Storm." Morrison's years of alcohol and drug abuse caught up with him and while resting in Paris, he died in a bathtub. The remaining Doors carried on for two additional releases, Other Voices and Full Circle, but the band was a done deal. They regrouped in 1978 for An American Prayer, a collection of Morrison's poetry backed by the band. Endless greatest-hits albums and live product have surfaced since, and every few years it seems as if the band is being exhumed for a new audience.

The latest incarnation, the Doors of the 21st Century, emerged in late 2002 amid a flurry of lawsuits. In this version of the Doors, Morrison was replaced by Jimbo wannabe Ian Astbury of gothic rockers the Cult. Densmore decided not to take part in the revival, and filed a lawsuit in an attempt to shut the new Doors down. He was initially replaced by Policeman Stewart Copeland, who bailed, filed his own lawsuit against the Doors, and later reached an out-of-court settlement with the band.

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