The Doors
Of all the epithets that the press and critics have ever awarded The Doors, the most appropriate would be “original.”
She really burst into rock music with an extraordinary whirlwind, swiftly swept along the top of the charts and died so unexpectedly after the death of her charismatic leader. However, many The Doors compositions still inspire musicians, haunt fans and push for dangerous experiments.
The birth of a legend
More than one book has been written about the history of The Doors; films and documentaries have been shot. The milestones of the formation of the musical collective can be traced step by step, and only two of the current living members of the group know what really happened. However, fans are unlikely to ever learn all the secrets and mysteries of this iconic group, because the legend cannot be destroyed, otherwise there will be no symbol of freedom and intransigence.
Fast forward to California in 1965. Hot summers, beaches are full of youth, the spirit of rebellion and rebellion, the denial of canons and rules of conduct, soars in the air. In this atmosphere, two young men met on one of the beaches of Los Angeles. It was Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. Before that, they had already seen each other in a film school, so the conversation started a friendly one. Jim told Ray that he was passionate about writing songs, but he lacked the courage to show or sing them to anyone. The Doors band Manzarek insisted and heard from the lips of Morrison the song “Moonlight Drive”. The composition made such an impression on Ray that he immediately invited Jim to put together a group, the more he knew several musicians and could lure them from other groups.
Morrison did not hesitate for a long time and agreed to a creative adventure, which predetermined his entire (albeit short) future life. So the guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore, who played in the group Rick and the Ravens, got into the newly-minted team.
Infinity The Doors
Within a month, the formed team made the first demo recordings of their creations. Then Morrison came up with a laconic name for the group The Doors. This idea came to Jim after reading Aldous Huxley’s Doors of Perception. The author in the preface wrote a phrase from William Blake’s poem: “If the doors of perception were clean, everything would appear to a person as it is – endless.” The same endless, timeless events and events became the work of The Doors. A more controversial team in the United States of America in the 1960s was not found.
The uniqueness of the group was confirmed not only by Jim Morrison’s charisma, but also by the creative abilities of other members of the collective. For example, John experimented with drums, Ray played the bass parts of The Doors with one hand on a special keyboard (there was no bass player in the group), and the second was occupied with the performance of ordinary keyboard passages. The music was also given originality by a collective approach to its creation – each member of The Doors brought to the song a piece of his vision of the final product.
The group also gained popularity with regular performances in local clubs. Yak Holtzman (president of the record company Elektra Records) and music producer Paul Rothschild specially attended one of them at the Doors concert. By the way, Arthur Lee, the vocalist of the rock band Love, advised them to hear the live performance of the odious group. Yak and Paul did not regret at all that they had visited the famous Whiskey A Go Go and witnessed such an impressive performance. Morrison was so divided at the end of the program that he began to shout not very decent phrases from the stage. The club owner could not endure this and broke the contract with the group. Therefore, the proposal of the music label for cooperation with the team arrived in time at the right time.
Psychedelics through the mouth of Morrison
It took the musicians just a few days to record their debut album, entitled The Doors. It was with him that musician Jim Morrison opened their doors to the world of recognition and success. The song “Light My Fire” a few months later made them national idols and put them on a par with such rock bands as Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead. Fans were fascinated by the strong and unique voice of Jim Morrison, his brutal appearance, frantic energy and tight leather pants. These attributes instantly made him a sex symbol among young people.
He did not consider himself to be such at all. On the contrary, at first he was even embarrassed to turn to face the audience, performing his mystical songs, and felt insecure on stage. He tried to suppress his fear of publicity with the help of alcohol and psychedelic drugs. He was thrown from one extreme to another, which often led to scandals and problems with law enforcement agencies. Although this only fueled interest in his person and group as a whole. They were invited to popular TV shows and fashion clubs, all of America spoke about them.
