Doors

The Doors were an American rock band that formed in 1965 in Los Angeles. The Doors' music included socially, psychologically, and politically influenced lyrics mostly written by 'The Lizard King', Jim Morrison. more...

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The precise drumming of John Densmore, the organ and bass organ of Ray Manzarek, and Robby Krieger's innovative guitar style, which showed the influence of flamenco, jazz, Indian, the blues and classical music, combined with Morrison's deep, expressive vocals to form a distinctive sound.

Line-up

Jim Morrison — Lead vocals; Ray Manzarek — Organ, piano, keyboard, keyboard bass; Robby Krieger — Guitars; John Densmore — Drums, percussion;

History

Origins: 1965–1966

A chance meeting between acquaintances and UCLA film school students Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice beach in July 1965 led to the founding of The Doors, one of the premier acts of the late 1960s, in 1965 in Los Angeles, California. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and, at Manzarek's encouragement, sang "Moonlight Drive." Impressed by the quality of Morrison's lyric, Manzarek immediately suggested they form a band.

Vox-Organ-Player Ray Manzarek was already in the band called Rick And The Ravens with his brother Rick Manzarek while Robby Krieger and John Densmore were playing with The Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from shared meditation instruction. In August Densmore joined the group and, along with members of the Ravens and an unidentified female bass player, recorded a six-song demo on September 2. This was widely bootlegged and appeared in full on the 1997 Doors box set.

That month the group recruited talented guitarist Robby Krieger and the final lineup—Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore—was complete. The band took their name from the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, which was in turn borrowed from a line of poetry by the 18th century artist and poet William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite."

The Doors were unusual among rock groups because they did not use a bass guitar in concert. Instead, Manzarek played the bass lines with his left hand on the newly invented Fender Rhodes bass keyboard, an offshoot of the well-known Fender Rhodes electric piano, and keyboards with his right hand. However, the group used bass players such as Jerry Scheff, Doug Lubahn, Harvey Brooks, Kerry Magness, Lonnie Mack, and Ray Neapolitan on their albums.

Many of The Doors' originals were composed communally with Morrison usually contributing the lyrics and some melody and the others hammering out the beat and flow of the song. While Morrison and Manzarek were walking on the beach in California, they passed a black woman, and Morrison wrote the lyrics to "Hello, I Love You" in a single night, referring to her as the "dusky jewel." Some criticized the song for its resemblance to The Kinks' 1965 hit "All Day and All of the Night," and The Kinks' lead singer, Ray Davies, sued The Doors.

Read more at Wikipedia.org