History of Rock & Roll; CH 31

This raga like song was the last track on the Doors' first album.

The End

Spirit's style

Acoustic music, jazz, and rock styles

Steppenwolf combined these sounds

Blues and garage rock

"Heavy metal" referring to motorcycles

Born to be Wild, Steppenwolf

Songs by the Doors

Break On Through To The Other Side, Back Door Man, Spanish Caravan, Love Me Two Times, When The Music's Over, Alabama Song

Scene in LA that spawned bands

Club scene

The Doors' music was distinguished by

Dark lyrics laden with themes of loneliness and alienation

Foremost group in LA club scene

Doors

Also in the band was former jazz drummer

Ed Cassidy (Randy California's step-father)

The Doors had an unusual line-up:

Guitar, keyboard, drums, and vocals----there was no bass player

Led by guitarist Randy California, who had played briefly with Jimi Hendrix and received his professional name from Hendrix as well

Spirit

This band had the most diverse sound of the LA groups

Spirit

"I Got A Line On You"

Spirit's biggest hit, reaching top 25 on charts

borrowed its name from the novel by German author Herman Hesse

Steppenwolf

They got a big break when two of their songs ("The Pusher," and "Born To Be Wild") were used in the soundtrack of the film Easy Rider (1969) which was a cult hit

Steppenwolf break

Their song "In A Gadda da Vida" was wildly successful when it was released in 1968

Iron Butterfly's song

The instrumental "Taurus" is widely believed to have been the inspiration for

Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven."

Iron Butterfly's music has been used in the soundtracks of

Manhunter, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Fatal Instinct and their music has also been referenced in several television shows

Pen name of one Steppenwolf member (for songs)

Mars Bonfire

The Doors formed by

Morrison and Ray Manzarek who were both film students at UCLA

Did not share a common ______; only link was the _____

Style; city

_____ wrote the band's first #1 hit, "Light My Fire" although on the band's first album all writing credits were attributed to the band, no one individual.

Robbie Krieger

"Mr. Skin"

Song by Spirit. The horns and the saxaphone solo give this song a jazzy flavor. Mr. Skin was a nickname for Ed Cassidy, the drummer in Spirit, who had a shaved head.

Other groups

Iron Butterfly, STeppenwolf, and Spirit

This song is more interesting than "In A Godda Da Vida." Note the classic keyboard sound, it is pure psychedelia.

My Mirage, Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly was the ultimate

One hit wonder

Doors' first #1 hit

"Light My Fire"

Songs by the Doors showing loneliness and isolation

"People Are Strange" or "Break On Through To The Other Side."

One of the best anti-drug songs in rock

The Pusher, Steppenwolf

The Doors' sound was even more distinctive because

The guitarist, Robbie Krieger was trained primarily as a classical guitarist and his technique was very unusual in rock. He played finger-style rather than with a pick.

An excellent documentary about The Doors was released in 2010,

When You're Strange (movie) ALSO BIOPIC 1991 "The Doors"

At the time The Doors first album was released, Jim Morrison was

estranged from his family (His father was a naval officer and had discouraged Jim from a career in music). They didn't know he was in a famous band until a neighbor brought the album to their house after having recognized Jim on the cover.

Inspiration for the Doors' name

excerpt from Blake's poem "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,"

Iron Butterfly's hit album, also entitled In A Gadda Da Vida sold over eight million copies and became the record industry's first

first platinum album (on charts for 140 weeks)

The Doors enjoyed a spectacular if short-lived period of prominence:

from 1967 with the release of their debut album, until the death of lead singer Jim Morrison in 1971.

Some of the Doors songs featured

lengthy instrumental solos that were characteristic of much of the rock music in the late 1960s. "Light My Fire," for example, has keyboard and guitar solos back to back in the middle of the song.

Jim Morrison, the Doors' lead singer, was an avid

reader of poetry

The Doors' fame was dependent on

the magnetic yet doomed persona of Morrison who self-destructed through heavy drug use. On one occasion during a European tour in 1968 he was so out of it that the rest of the group had to perform without him (Ray Manzarek did the vocals in addition to playing the keyboard and bass parts).