Have you heard the music of one of America’s best rock bands, The Doors? This timeless band first came to the attention of the international music industry in the 1960s and 1970s. But, since then their popularity hasn’t stopped, while the band is no more, today many people worldwide still listen to them.

If you’re not one of the many, then there’s a lot of reasons why you should. Keep on reading to know why you should listen to this epic rock band.

6 Top Reasons To Listen The Doors

If I were to state all the reasons to listen to The Doors band, it would take a few articles to cover. Therefore to save you time, here are some of the best reasons:

1. They Infuse A Lot Of Genres

Back in the day, The Doors were one of the most creative bands to infuse multiple genres into their songs in one go. In the 1960s, the most popular type of music was hippy surf music or folk-rock. Instead, The Doors have a lot of influence from the jazz genre, and they combine it with rock. Therefore their music can be classed as a combination of psychedelic rock, blues rock, and acid rock. It sounds like a unique yet intoxicating mix, right?

2. Their Songs Are Long

In today’s times, when you listen to the radio or watch songs on youtube, how long are they usually for? I can guarantee that the typical time of songs lasts between 2-3:30 minutes for most artists. On the other hand, The Doors were notable for creating long melodic songs starting at 5 minutes and lasting up to 12!
Not all of the time do the entire songs have lyrics to cover each minute; however, instead, you will find some melodious instrumentals that can take you to another universe.

3. They’re Constantly Stated As One Of America’s Greatest Rock Bands

Whether you’re reading articles by The Evening Standard, The Telegraph, Ledger Note, or Rolling Stone again and again, they’re highlighted as one of the greatest rock bands of all time and one of America’s best. Part of the reason for this is that they made a massive impact on the USA and the world in just a short time frame of 6 years.

Alongside this, they sold over 100 million records worldwide across their 6 studio albums.

4. Ahead Of Their Time

If you choose to listen to The Door’s music now, you will probably be able to relate their music to many modern-day bands. For example, you may see traces of the same riffs or genres in Stone Temple Pilots, Tame Impala, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, The Rolling Stones and Steppenwolf.

But, this band inspired many of the bands you know today due to their weirdness and infusion of genres. Plus, they incorporated music sounds from the 80s and 90s before they were defined as sounds of those decades. Moreover, the 60s music they were inspired by didn’t make them sound like the typical music back then.

Not only that, Jim Morrison, their lead singer, scarily predicted the future of music once in an interview in 1969, he stated: “Music will merge traditionally black and white styles more fully and combine them with new technology… It might rely heavily on electronics, tapes.” Today this is what hip-hop and dance music mainly revolves on, scary, huh?

5. Jim Morrison Influenced Rock And Roll Stunts

When thinking about some of the world’s greatest rock and roll bands, not only do you think about the music, but often the chaos from their live shows that they’re known for. While you probably can recall many great rock bands pulling some controversial tricks on stage, Jim Morrison was often seen as one of the pioneers.

First of all, he was the first artist to get arrested while performing on stage. On December 9th, 1967, in Connecticut, he was discovered by a police officer while he was in a shower stall with a girl. When the officer caught him, he told Morrison to “beat it”; instead, Morrison told the officer to “eat it.”

Later on, Morrison told the audience the story that badmouthed the New Haven Police. After doing so, police came on stage to arrest him on public obscenity and indecency charges. Another time, The Doors were performing to a crowd of 12,000+ people in Miami at the Dinner Key Auditorium. During the show, the crowd became extremely restless, and it got very hot inside.

Adding to the atmosphere, Morrison was drunk and decided to take off his clothes in front of the crowd. A few months later, Morrison received a sentence for 6 months in jail and paid a $500 fine; however, his lawyer waived it off. You couldn’t get any rock and roll more than that?

6. Their Legacy

Music of many bands after they’ve had a hiatus or end to their music tends to die down due to a lack of releases. However, since The Doors began, they have become even bigger. Today you can find many writers, activists, and creative communities referencing The Doors. Plus, you can even hear their music featured in various films, TV shows, and games. Their legacy still lives on to this day.

Do you wish you could step back in time to the era of the 1960-1970s? If so, then you’d probably love to experience the hits of The Doors. If you weren’t born then, you certainly missed out on this legendary American rock group. Don’t worry though, thanks to the Internet, a large amount of tv footage, and recordings, this epic band’s compilation still survives today.

Trust me; it’s a compilation that you won’t want to miss out on. I can guarantee you’ll want to listen more often once you hear them. But, before you truly digest each lyric and riff from The Doors, it’s important you learn about them first.

Who Are The Doors?

The Doors are an American rock band founded in the 1960s that were the first to achieve eight consecutive gold LPs. They sold over 100 million records worldwide and 35 million in the USA alone between the band. The Doors consisted of Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore.

Member Profiles

Jim Morrison

James Douglas Morrison was the lead vocalist, poet, and songwriter of the band who triggered a lot of influence and contributed to the band’s success. He was born on 12/08/1943 and died on 07/03/1971 from a drug overdose.

Ray Manzarek

Another vocalist of The Doors and keyboardist was Ray Manzarek, born on 02/12/39; he was an active member from 1965-1973. He sadly passed away from cancer on 05/13/2013.

Robby Krieger

Robert Alan Krieger, born on 01/08/1946, was the guitarist of the rock band and helped contribute to the songwriting process.

John Densmore

The drummer of The Doors was John Densmore, born on 12/01/1944, who appeared in pretty much every recording the band made. The rock and jazz genre inspired his drumming talent.

Where Did The Doors Get Their Inspiration From?

If you’re unfamiliar with this band’s music or contribution to the industry, you might be confused why they have such a random name. The truth is, their name isn’t that random; their name came about due to Jim Morrison finding inspiration from Aldous Huxley’s book Mescaline relating to psychedelic drugs, in particular LSD.

While all band members contributed a lot to their fame, the main inspiration came from the band’s lead vocalist Morrison and supporting vocalist and keyboardist Manzarek. Ever since they first met on Venice Beach in 1965, they recognized each other from attending the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.

After a shared connection, Morrison shared personal songs he’d written with Manzarek, who was equally inspired thinking about how he could play in accordance with the lyrics and encouraged him to write more.

How Did The Doors Become Famous?

Before The Doors was listed in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, they began gaining a significant amount of popularity in the USA in the 1970s. The reason behind this was that in LA, the most common types of genre were surf music or folk music. The Doors music was mainly jazz inspired, with a rock influence, and had organ riffs.

With the fusion of music from other genres, people got talking and interested, straying away from the common genres at the time. Many people thought that the music The Doors created was far beyond the head of their time, inspiring audiences with their creative lyrics.

Alongside this, The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison unintentionally got the band a lot of media attention. He became later known for certain stunts he would pull on stage, like getting arrested for exposing himself while performing in Miami.

The Doors Hits

For many fans, The Door’s music can be difficult to categorize in terms of the best album or single for them. After all, The Doors had 9 studio albums, 6 Live albums, 21 compilation albums, and 23 archived albums released. However, out of them all, the five most popular Doors songs are:

• Light My Fire, Album: The Doors (1967)

This song comes from their debut album and is 7 minutes long. The majority of this song was written by Krieger, who wanted to write a piece about fire, earth, air, and water.

• The End: The Doors (1967)

The End became so well known because the song goes on for a disturbing almost 12 minutes. Part of the reason it’s disturbing is the song lyrics reflect a haunting nightmare filled with paranoia related to the apocalypse.

• Break on through to the other side: The Doors (1967)

One of the main reasons this song became popular is that it repeatedly referenced drug use using the lines “She gets me high.” As it became popular, this line got censored and started causing a lot of controversy due to the lyrics.

• L.A Woman: LA.Women (1971)

There are many reasons why this song became well known; one of the main ones was that the song’s name was an anagram for a woman called Linda Ashcroft, with whom Jim Morisson had an affair.

• People Are Strange: Strange days (1967)

In comparison to their self-titled debut, People Are Strange gained attraction due to incorporating hippie idealism and nostalgia from the pre-war.

Conclusion

Overall, The Doors in their time were a highly influential band around the world and still are today. In addition to getting a lot of radio play, this band gained popularity for their songs that weren’t played on the radio.

Their lyrics, music, and long songs made them a band that is timeless and unique to listen to. This rock band will take you to another dimension in your mind with their music; their songs are like no other.