The Doors (album)

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The Doors
The Doors cover
Studio album by The Doors
Released January 4, 1967
Recorded late August - early September 1966
Genre Acid rock, blues-rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock
Length 44:28
Label Elektra
Producer Paul A. Rothchild
Professional reviews
The Doors chronology
The Doors
(1967)		 Strange Days
(1967)

The Doors is the self-titled debut album by the band The Doors, recorded in 1966 and released in 1967. It features the breakthrough single "Light My Fire", extended with a substantial instrumental section omitted on the single release, and the lengthy song "The End" with its Oedipal spoken-word section. The Doors credit the success of their first album to being able to work the songs out night after night at the Whisky a Go Go or the London Fog. "Alabama Song" was originally written and composed by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill for their opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny); "Back Door Man" was a Howlin' Wolf cover. "The End"'s Oedipal climax was first performed live at the Whisky A Go Go and The Doors were thrown out as a result of lead vocalist Jim Morrison screaming "kill the father and fuck the mother."

Contents

[edit] Censored

The songs "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" and "The End" were both released censored with the album. During "Break on Through" the part where Jim Morrison sings "She gets, she gets" was originally recorded as "She get high." The interlude singing part near the end of "The End" was censored and taken out. It included Jim using the word fuck over and over. Subsequent releases of the album have both of the original parts intact, although 1980s compact disc reissues appear to keep the verses censored. The band accepted this censorship but would refuse later to reword "Light my Fire" in the infamous Ed Sullivan Show ("Girl we couldn't get much higher").

[edit] Legacy

The album's dark tone and frontman Jim Morrison's sexual charisma and wild lifestyle influenced much of rock and roll to come.

The album is generally thought of as the band's best work, in addition to being one of the greatest debut album's by any band. It's also considered to be one of the quintessential albums of the counterculture movement/Social Revolution. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted The Doors the 93rd greatest album of all time; in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 60. In 2003, the album was ranked number 42 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore, except where noted.

  1. "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" – 2:30
  2. "Soul Kitchen" – 3:35
  3. "The Crystal Ship" – 2:34
  4. "Twentieth Century Fox" – 2:33
  5. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill) – 3:20
  6. "Light My Fire" – 7:08
  7. "Back Door Man" (Willie Dixon) – 3:34
  8. "I Looked at You" – 2:22
  9. "End of the Night" – 2:52
  10. "Take It as It Comes" – 2:18
  11. "The End" – 11:44

[edit] 2006 CD re-issue bonus tracks

  1. "Moonlight Drive" (recorded 1966, version 1)
  2. "Moonlight Drive" (recorded 1966, version 2)
  3. "Indian Summer" (recorded August 19, 1966, vocal, this track would later appear on the album Morrison Hotel)

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Year Chart Position
1967 Pop Albums 2

[edit] Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1967 "Light My Fire" Pop Singles 1

[edit] See also

v • d • e
The Doors
Jim Morrison · Robby Krieger · Ray Manzarek · John Densmore
Studio albums
Compilations
Live albums
Box sets