“You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side”
In the early light of 1967 The Doors presented us with their debut, self-titled record, setting in action a chain of events that are still echoing through the world of music exactly half a century later.
50 years ago The Doors released their self-titled debut record, shaping the world of classic rock and defining a musical generation.
The 11-track The Doors heralded immortal tracks such as Break on Through (To the Other Side), The End and of course, Light My Fire. Imagine it’s 1967; rock and roll has blasted through infancy and is taking it’s first steps as a staple genre, and someone hands you this record.
Ray Manzarek’s keys cut through the mix and Jim Morrison opens his mouth, blasting your mind wide open with one of the greatest releases of musical potential energy of the last century.
Dropping Light My Fire as their first single (apparently the first song Morrision ever wrote), it was this moment that began the band’s tragically short musical trajectory, shooting to massive acclaim both before and after their frontman’s death in 1971.
As controversial as they were influential, The Doors went on to present the world with a canonical classic rock catalogue, remaining one of the greatest selling bands of all time despite their active career ending in 1973.
As time passes, remembering the greatest luminaries of music becomes more and more important. Each year sees the passing of so many artists from the oral history of rock, or any other genre, and remembering the ones who echo so far beyond their dismantling will forever be an essential exercise within the musical world.
The feature length doco The Doors: When You’re Strange made our list of the best music documentaries on Netflix. Watch the trailer or read the entire list right here.
