Timeline : The Doors
Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist of The Doors, is born Raymond Daniel Manczarek Jr. in Chicago, Illinois. His expressive, jazz-influenced style and ability to play bass notes on the keyboard with his left hand become integral elements of the band's sound.
Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, is born James Douglas Morrison in Melbourne, Florida. His intense, confrontational onstage persona, his poetic and dark lyrics, his booming voice, and his movie-star looks help make him a cultural icon of the 1960s and early '70s.
John Densmore, the drummer of The Doors, is born in Los Angeles. His restrained, jazz-influenced style and ability to improvise help complement his band's musical explorations.
The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger is born in Los Angeles. His skills on slide guitar and flamenco guitar are a major part of the band's unique, eclectic sound, while he also co-writes some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire."
After a few months honing their act at the Los Angeles club The London Fog, The Doors play the Whisky a Go Go for the first time, where they become the house band. Their Whisky run gets them lots of exposure and leads to them signing a contract with Elektra Records.
Jim Morrison is a no-show for The Doors' set at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. They play the first set without him, then get him at his apartment, where he is tripping on acid. When The Doors return to the club with Morrison, they play "The End," and he improvises Oedipal lyrics: Father... I want to kill you Mother... I want to f--k you This gets them fired, but provides the final lyric that goes into the song when they record it for their first album.
The Doors break on through with their eponymous debut album. The Doors is a hit with listeners and critics alike and produces the single "Light My Fire," which quickly hits #1 in the US.
The Doors release a truncated version of "Light My Fire" as a single, trimming it from an album-awesome 6:50 to a radio-friendly 2:52. The group's first single, "Break On Through," didn't, but "Light My Fire" ignites, going to #1 and becoming their most famous song.
The Doors' "Light My Fire" hits #1 for the first of three weeks in the US. It is knocked off by the Beatles song "All You Need Is Love."
The Doors release their second album, Strange Days, which includes such classic songs as "People Are Strange," "Love Me Two Times" and "When The Music's Over."
Appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Doors are asked to change the line "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" in their hit "Light My Fire" to "Girl, we couldn't get much better." Lead singer Jim Morrison agrees, then sings the offending line anyway, angering the host and earning a lifetime ban from the show.
The Doors release their alienation anthem "People Are Strange."
Jim Morrison of The Doors is arrested onstage during his band's concert in New Haven, Connecticut. The singer is arrested after angrily telling the crowd about a backstage run-in he'd had with a police officer before the show. The officer had confronted Morrison and maced him while he was hanging out in a private area with a young woman. It's the first time a famous musician is arrested in the middle of a performance.More
Jim Morrison of The Doors is arrested after threatening a security guard at an adult movie theater.
The Doors hit #1 in America for the second (and last) time when "Hello, I Love You" reaches the top for the first of two weeks. Their first #1 was "Light My Fire" in 1967.
The Doors' third album, Waiting For The Sun, hits #1 in America thanks partly to the popularity of the hit "Hello, I Love You." They decided to include the song on the album after scrapping plans to put a Jim Morrison poetry piece called "Celebration Of The Lizard" on the entire first side.
The Doors concert documentary Feast Of Friends premieres at the Cinematheque in Los Angeles.
En route to a to a Rolling Stones concert, Jim Morrison of The Doors is arrested by the FBI for drunk and disorderly behavior and interfering with the flight of an aircraft in Phoenix, Arizona, after a flight attendant on his trip from Los Angeles accuses him of attacking and sexually harassing her. Morrison and his flight companion, American actor Tom Baker, spend the night in the local jail but are released the next day on $2,500 bail. The charges are later dropped.
The Doors release their fifth album, Morrison Hotel. It's named after a real hotel in Los Angeles that happens to bear the same name as their lead singer, Jim Morrison. The album, which marks a return to the band's blues sound, features the classic-rock staple "Roadhouse Blues."
The Isle of Wight Festival hits its stride on Day 4 (of 5), with performances by Miles Davis, The Doors, The Who and Joni Mitchell. Mitchell's set is interrupted by a hippie named Yogi Joe who has to be removed by security. It also features Emerson, Lake And Palmer in only their second live performance.More
The Doors' Jim Morrison is arrested in Los Angeles for public drunkenness after being found lying unconscious on a resident's doorstep.
A Miami judge finds Jim Morrison guilty of indecent exposure after The Doors singer dropped his pants onstage at a concert in March.
Jim Morrison of The Doors makes the spoken-word recordings that would later become the basis of the group's album An American Prayer.
The Doors release their sixth album, L.A. Woman. It's their last with lead singer Jim Morrison, who dies a few months later.
At the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, The Doors, who have continued as a trio since the death of Jim Morrison in July 1971, play their last concert. Their final song is "Light My Fire."
Director Oliver Stone's biopic The Doors, starring Val Kilmer, opens in Los Angeles.
At the eighth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Cream, Ruth Brown, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, Frankie Lymon & the teenagers, Etta James, Van Morrison, and Sly & the Family Stone are welcomed into the hall. Cream reunite on stage, but Morrison skips the ceremony, becoming the first living inductee to do so.More
With Ian Astbury on lead vocals and Stewart Copeland on drums, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors perform their first concert as "The Doors of the 21st Century." The show is part of the Harley-Davidson Open Road Tour at the California Speedway in Fontana.
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