Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances
Jim Morrison and
Ray Manzarek on
Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized each other as they had both attended the
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison confided in Manzarek that he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to
Jerry Hopkins in
Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "
Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was then in an unsuccessful band called
Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer
John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from
jazz, rock,
blues, and
folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of
Aldous Huxley's book
The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in
William Blake's
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist
Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club
London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "
The End" and "
Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their
debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed
Whisky a Go Go after being booked by
Ronnie Haran, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), 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 "
Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by
Elektra Records president
Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of
Love singer
Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. 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 sound engineer
Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the
Greek myth of
Oedipus during "The End".
The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) in 1967 The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album around August 1966, at
Sunset Sound Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966,
Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "
Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on
Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on
The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 p.m. on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single achieved only minor recognition, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the
Matrix Club in San Francisco. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by Peter Abram, co-owner of the Matrix. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings,
Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series
Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and Morrison is
lip-synching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. '' advertisement, September 16, 1967 The Doors made their international television debut on October 16, 1967, performing a live version of "The End" for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at their Parliament Street Colour Studio in Toronto. It was recorded in September when they were in Toronto and transmitted on the show ''
O'Keefe Centre Presents''. The misconception that it was at the O'Keefe Centre stems mostly from the title, as the venue shown in the video has a dance floor, which the Centre did not have. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on
The Ed Sullivan Show. Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host,
Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they would never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "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 28, the group played at the
Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set, in the middle of "
Back Door Man", the band stopped performing to watch themselves on
The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album,
Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the
Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of
Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the
Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972),
Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and
Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band.
New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at
New Haven Arena in
New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a live performance. Prior to the start of the concert, Morrison was either having a private conversation with or kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band, the officer told Morrison and the fan 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 fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to music journalist Gillian G. Gaar, the police still did not consider the issue resolved and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song about his experience with the "little man in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. Later, the police lieutenant approached Morrison, during which Morrison thrust the microphone against his mouth and remarked, "Say your thing, man." The concert came to an abrupt end when Morrison was dragged from the stage by the police. The audience, already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. 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 for lack of evidence.
Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) , Detroit Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "
Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at
Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material.
Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach number 1 on the US charts, and the single "
Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of
the Kinks' 1964 hit "
All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter
Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist
Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary
The Doors Are Open. in 1968 A month after a riotous concert at the
Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the
ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the
Roundhouse. 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 (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). in London (September 1968). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more 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 reached No. 3 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the
Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single.
Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the
Dinner Key Auditorium in the
Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, the Doors gave the most controversial and consequential performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". while screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer reacted by taking Morrison's hat and throwing it in the same direction. Manager
Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died 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 the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night.
The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) Morrison, who was increasingly distancing himself from the music, announced to the other Doors members his intention to quit the group; Manzarek convinced him to stay for six more months, ahead of completing
The Soft Parade, the Doors' forthcoming album. Released in July 1969,
The Soft Parade was their first-and-only to feature
brass and
string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening to many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the
Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as
John Sebastian,
Shawn Phillips,
Lighthouse,
Joni Mitchell,
Tiny Tim,
Miles Davis,
Ten Years After,
Emerson, Lake & Palmer,
the Who,
Sly and the Family Stone and
Melanie; the performance was the last captured on the band's
Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on
An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at
The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the concert, Densmore, Manzarek and Krieger came to a mutual agreement that they should end their live act, claiming Morrison was ready to retire from performing.
L.A. Woman and Morrison's leave of absence and death (December 1970 – July 1971) in Paris Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with the album
L.A. Woman, recorded in Los Angeles in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist
Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist
Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in
Elvis Presley's
TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low
Billboard chart peak at No. 9,
L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second bestselling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their
R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "
cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The
title track and two singles ("
Love Her Madly" and "
Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "
Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 11, 1971, near the end of the mixing of
L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with
Pamela Courson; he had visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of residency, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the cause of death was listed as heart failure. He was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of
Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the
27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. == After Morrison ==