In the summer of 1965, Ray Manzarek had a chance encounter on Venice Beach with Jim Morrison, a young poet whom he knew when they were both students at UCLA’s film school. Jim told Ray he had been living on a friend’s rooftop writing songs. Though Morrison had never intended to be a singer, he sat down on the beach and sang the new songs to Ray, including “Moonlight Drive”. Manzarek thought they were the best rock and roll lyrics he ever heard. At that moment, they both agreed to start a rock band and call it THE DOORS, taking their name from Aldous Huxley‘s psychotropic monograph “The Doors of Perception” and William Blake‘s “The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell”. Guitar player Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, who’d played together in the PSYCHEDELIC RANGERS, were recruited soon thereafter. After months of rehearsals, they landed a gig as the house band at a small Sunset Strip club called the London Fog. By May 1966, they had graduated to their dream gig — house band at the Whisky A Go Go. Soon after, Elektra Records president Jac Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw the band performing at the Whisky and signed THE DOORS to the label. Over the course of a week, THE DOORS recorded their debut album at Sunset Sound Recording Studios in Hollywood, putting on tape the songs they had been playing night after night at the Whisky. With an intoxicating, boundary-pushing sound, provocative and uncompromising lyrics, and mesmerizing stage presence, THE DOORS would go on to have a transformative impact on both music and culture.
Beginning next month, THE DOORS will kick off the 2025 60th anniversary with a new anniversary logo, a series of physical releases, an extraordinary anthology book, and much more to come.
“The Doors 1967-1971” 6-LP set will arrive as the latest installment in Rhino‘s acclaimed High Fidelity audiophile vinyl series on November 22, featuring all six of the band’s original studio albums cut from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio. The vinyl was pressed at Optimal Media and the box includes a heavyweight gatefold jacket featuring rare photos and liner notes by DOORS archivist David Dutkowski. Only 3,000 copies of the limited-edition set will be available exclusively at thedoors.com and rhino.com.
Additionally, for Record Store Day’s Black Friday on November 29, THE DOORS will release “The Doors – Live in Detroit”, featuring the band’s performance from the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on May 8, 1970. This 4-LP set will be available on vinyl for the first time.
Captured on tape during the band’s 1970 U.S. tour, it was one of the band’s longest performances. In fact, the band played for an hour past curfew and were then banned from the Cobo Arena on future tours. The fiery set includes a number of blues covers, including “Back Door Man”, Junior Parker‘s “Mystery Train” and “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson. THE DOORS also tear through a 17-minute-plus version of “The End”, as well as an over 19-minute version of “Light My Fire” and other rare tracks such as “Love Hides”. This collection captures the band at their absolute zenith.
THE DOORS‘ eponymous debut album — which the BBC and Rolling Stone have each hailed as one of the greatest debuts of all time — released in January 1967 and features the chart-topping smash hit “Light My Fire”, the bluesy, growling “Back Door Man” and seminal live-set showstopper “The End”, with its legendary Oedipal spoken-word section.
Having cemented their place in the rock pantheon and the psychedelic rock revolution, THE DOORS returned to the studio resulting in the anticipated follow-up, “Strange Days”, which went to No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and featured “Love Me Two Times” and “People Are Strange”.
In 1968, the band released “Waiting For The Sun”, their first No. 1 album featuring the chart-topping single “Hello, I Love You”, along with “Love Street” and “Five To One”.
THE DOORS then dove further into uncharted psychedelic territory with 1969’s string and horn-laden album “The Soft Parade”, which included the Krieger-penned hit “Touch Me”.
1970’s “Morrison Hotel”, which boasts fan favorites “Roadhouse Blues” and “Peace Frog”, took the band back to its bluesy roots. 1971’s “L.A. Woman”, the band’s final album with Morrison and recorded in the band’s rehearsal space, features “Riders On The Storm”, “Love Her Madly” and the title track.
During their brief time together, THE DOORS delivered six studio albums before Morrison‘s untimely death in Paris in 1971. Their electrifying achievements in the studio and onstage remain unmatched in the annals of rock, and today they remain as one of the best-selling bands of all time with over 100 million records sold worldwide.
In 1993 the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Several years later, the songs “Light My Fire” and “Riders On The Storm” along with THE DOORS‘ debut album were inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame. The Library of Congress also recognized the band, selecting their self-titled album for inclusion in the National Recording Registry in 2014. THE DOORS also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2007.
Created to commemorate the upcoming 60th anniversary, THE DOORS‘ first-ever complete anthology book “Night Divides The Day” will illuminate the band’s archives like never before with rare photography, intimate interviews with Robby Krieger and John Densmore, and meticulously sourced archival text from Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. With unlimited access granted by the band, “Night Divides The Day” includes a unique collection of historical ephemera — including childhood photos, song lyrics, poster artwork, movie stills, and much more — which adds context to the wealth of rare photography that documents the band’s musical odyssey.
Joining Robby and John are a host of contributors, with a foreword by NIRVANA bassist Krist Novoselic, and afterword by maestro Gustavo Dudamel. The anthology is presented in a limited-edition of only 2,000 numbered box sets, each hand-signed by Densmore and Krieger. Each set includes the 344-page signed edition, a seven-inch vinyl record with rare demos of “Hello, I Love You” and “Moonlight Drive”, and other assorted historical memorabilia. Available for pre-order now and shipping early 2025.
Stay tuned for more news coming soon from THE DOORS and Rhino this year, and as the 60th anniversary kicks off in the new year.
