By the beginning of 1967, The Doors were well-established members of the Los Angeles music scene. As the house band at the Whiskey a Go Go on the Sunset Strip, they had built a large local following and strong industry buzz, and out on the road, they were fast becoming known as a band that might typically receive third billing, but could blow better-known groups like The Young Rascals and The Grateful Dead off the stage.
It would have been poetic if their popular breakthrough had come via their now-classic debut single, “Break On Through,” but that record failed to make the national sales charts despite the efforts of Jim Morrison and his bandmates to fuel the song’s popularity by repeatedly calling in requests for it to local L.A. radio stations. It was the follow-up release from their debut album, The Doors, which would become their first bona fide smash. “Light My Fire,” which earned the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 on July 29, 1967, transformed The Doors from cult favorites of the rock cognoscenti into international pop stars and avatars of the ’60s counterculture.
As “Light My Fire” climbed the charts in June and early July, The Doors were out on the East Coast, still plugging away as an opening act (e.g., for Simon and Garfunkel in Forest Hills, Queens) and as sometime-headliners (e.g., in a Greenwich, Connecticut, high-school auditorium). When the group topped the charts in late July, Jim Morrison celebrated by buying his now-famous skintight black-leather suit and beginning to hobnob with the likes of the iconic model/muse Nico at drug-fueled parties held by Andy Warhol.
Attempting to keep Morrison grounded were not only his fellow Doors Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore as well as the professional manager they had hired in part to “babysit” him, but also his longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson, who is quoted in Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman’s Doors biography No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) as greeting the sight of Jim Morrison preening in front of a mirror at home before a show in the summer of 1967 with, “Oh Jim, are you going to wear the same leather pants again? You never change your clothes. You’re beginning to smell, did you know that?”
In the end, of course, Morrison’s heavy drinking and drug use would lead to increasingly erratic behavior over the next four years and eventually take his life in July 1971. During that period, The Doors would follow up “Light My Fire” with a string of era-defining albums and songs, including “People Are Strange,” “Love Me Two Times” and “The End” in 1967; “Hello, I Love You” and “Touch Me” in 1968; and “L.A. Woman” and “Riders on the Storm” in 1971.
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The day the vinyl came out for sale I met the clerk at the store and we spend the night listening to it……….. First time (and last) I was with a chick older than me. Was 20 she was 22. hahaha.
And all these many many years later you still say ‘chick’.
haha No offense, old man. Personally, I think that’s groovy.
I’m old(er)… but don’t say it too loud I might get lucky. Can’t believe I made that far. Everyone who knew me back then were saying I wouldn’t pass 40…. and yet here I am.
I suspect the old saying is true for a lot of us:
“If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.”
Sorry to disappoint you I’m in great shape and don’t even need blue pills to function.
This day in history Stucky goes to 42nd street.
Not exactly “grab a granny” was it, but well done anyway!
54 years later and I’m still in awe when listening to the Doors.
Timeless.
This is who wrote it.
Dude, it was written (lyrics) largely by Robbie Krieger — with the line “and our love become a funeral pyre” coming from Jim. The iconic organ parts were, of course, written by Ray Manzarek…
Give me a break! Jose Feliciano didn’t write the song~ all he did is a cover version that sucked.
Should you want an incredible look into the music of the 60s and early 70s, including Jim Morrison/The Doors, The Beach Boys, Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, The Mamas and Pappas and so forth, give Dave McGowan’s ‘Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream’ a read.
These musicians all lived in Laurel Canyon, a canyon near LA. Others mingled with them, including politicians and the infamous Charles Manson; Manson lived in nearby Topanga Canyon. Manson was widely acclaimed by the Laurel Canyon folks to be not only a friend but a great musician.
Many of the Laurel Canyon musicians had very close military connections. Jim Morrison’s father became a navy admiral and was a part of The Gulf Of Tonkin.
And would you believe that at the top of Laurel Canyon was ‘Lookout Mountain’, a secret military installation. Lookout Mountain was far superior in movie making abilities to Hollywood. Perhaps a coincidence, but at the top of Laurel Canyon was the best movie studio in the world during the 60s and in the 60s the moon landing production was released.
His father was a part of the Gulf of Tonkin lie, yet he took the opposite side of the USS Liberty incident. He wanted to bomb Israel for the attack, he was put down for that by John McCain’s father.
If Morrison wasn’t so self destructive, the Doors could have possibly competed with the Beatles and Led Zep.
This documentary of Morrison’s final 24 hours came out July 3rd the anniversary of his death.
I first saw the doors on Feb 10, 1967. It was my 18th birthday. They played at a roller rink in Modesto with Love and a couple of local bands. Their manager introduced them with, “Ladies and gentlemen, the doors. They will be the biggest group of 1967.” I recall thinking that was pretty ballsy. My first impression was their drummer was exceptional. I bought their album. It was hard to find. I listened to it over and over again.
Between then and June 8, I saw the doors a total of 9 times. In Modesto, San Francisco at the Avalon Ballroom, in Merced and Turlock, sometimes on consecutive days. I saw and heard them before and at the very beginning of their becoming one of the biggest bands on the planet. I was able to talk with Ray, Robbie and John. I never spoke with Jim but I was near enough to listen to him speak with some friends of mine. I listened to their music from a classically trained perspective (I was first chair trumpet in the county honor band) and as a rock musician (high school cover bands). I was impressed with their originality, musicianship and spontaneity. They could change songs without warning. There could be new words or new music. It was “Live music” and it was great.
I remember talking with Ray in Turlock. There were only about 20 people in the audience. I told him how much I liked their music and he said, “We try.” What a classy answer. He let me stand behind him near the stage, maybe 8 feet away and watch him do his magic. I worked my way through college and post-graduate school in bar bands playing a poor imitation of Ray.
The last time I saw the doors with Jim was June 8, 1967. Light My Fire was huge. The place was packed and they still were all still trying. It was magic.
Never saw them again with these four. I talked with friends who saw them later. They rarely had anything good to say. One of my college friends was at the Miami concert and said it was terrible. I know a studio man who worked on the LA Woman album. He told me that Jim could be a smart, focused artist like the others but usually he was not.
My son recently asked me if Jim had been sober, would he be as creative? We can only speculate.
Cheers