Album of the Week: The Doors

Most of you received an email on Thursday asking you to vote for the final Record Club Summer Album. If you missed it, here's the poll. I'll cut it around Wednesday and then send another email out this Thursday announcing the winner. Thanks for being a participant in Record Club! It's been a fun summer so far!

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WEEK 341 — August 10-16, 2025

The Doors

by the Doors

LISTEN:

Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp | Apple

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PICKED BY VOTE

CATEGORY OF VOTING: "Classic Rock Artists from Joe's Youth." We don't do too many of these in Record Club. Maybe that's for the best. But I thought it would be fun to touch on at least one of them. I'm legitimately surprised that the Doors won. Maybe people thought it would be the easiest review to write. (It was also interesting attempting to figure out which album from these big classic rock artists were still eligible for this godforsaken rule-infested club.)

LOSING ALBUMS: Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience; The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd (already mentioned as part of Gloria's wall); Presence by Led Zeppelin; The Times They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan; The Who Sell Out by the Who.

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ALBUM DETAILS

GENRE: Psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock, garage psych

RELEASED: January 4, 1967

LENGTH: 43:34

TRACKLIST:

1. Break On Through (to the Other Side)
2. Soul Kitchen
3. The Crystal Ship
4. Twentieth Century Fox
5. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
6. Light My Fire
7. Back Door Man
8. I Looked at You
9. End of the Night
10. Take It as It Comes
11. The End

LYRICS: Genius.com

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ARTIST DETAILS

PRONOUNS: each of the four members of the Doors use or used he/him/his

ABOUT: The Doors formed in 1965 in L.A. The original and, according to some, only lineup of the Doors consisted of: Jim Morrison on vocals, Ray Manzarek on keyboard, Robby Krieger on guitar, and John Densmore on drums. They are considered one of the most important rock bands of the '60s-era counterculture movement, and attracted much controversy in their heyday, mostly due to Morrison's lyrics and behavior. Morrison died in 1971 at the age of 27, and though the official cause of death is listed as heart failure, they never did an autopsy (he currently lives in Syracuse, according to at least one documentary). The Doors continued after Morrison's death, first as a trio (releasing a 1978 album comprised of new music underneath Morrison's archival poetry readings), and then as fronted by Ian Astbury of the Cult ("The Doors of the 21st Century" until the Morrison estate sued). Ray Manzarek passed away in 2013. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book, The Doors of Perception.

DISCOGRAPHY: This is the debut album by the Doors. The band released six albums during their five years with Morrison, and three after, with the most recent the aforementioned An American Prayer in 1978.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

READING SOME SHIT: the band Field Music on why they also perform as a Doors cover band

WATCHING SOME SHIT: the Doors on Ed Sullivan

RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: First Tinted Windows, and now the Doors. What's next, another wall (after Tilly and the Wall and The Writing's on the Wall)? Are we building a house?! Should we Bless This House?!?!

Oof, yeah, that's all I got. Is it? I don't know. I'm writing under duress. Oh, apparently Miley Cyrus covered "Roadhouse Blues" with Robby Krieger? Even better: Weird Al did a song inspired by the Doors, and it featured Ray Manzarek on keyboard. I don't feel like stretching it today, though, like saying Kyle MacLachlan played Manzarek in the Oliver Stone movie, and also had a role in How I Met Your Father with Hilary Duff. Let's take it easy.

MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: "Doors" isn't an easy thing to search on the blog, but I think I have found enough hits to justify this blurb today. Song Challenge had a few Doors selections: "Touch Me" for Stephan's SSC Day 26; "The End" for Maeve's SSC Day 99; oh shit, I didn't even realize this at the time, and I totally would've called her on it if I did, but Maeve repeated "The End" for YSC Day 142; "Riders of the Storm" for Boober's YSC Day 8. Gloria picked "Peace Frog" for a Mixtape. I covered Morrison Hotel in A Year of Blind Spots back in 2021. Apparently, Jim Morrison used to stretch every morning. Lester Bangs describes Jim Morrison as "a drunk posing as a poet," and Mandy B. describes the Doors as "fast food rock." Finally, sixteen-year-old Joe buys Strange Days and writes about it on Xanga.

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OTHER ALBUMS TO CHECK OUT

LAST WEEK'S ALBUM: The Young and the Hopeless by Good Charlotte, and make sure to check out the reviews if you wanna see what we thought of it!

RC@5: We're relistening to the Record Club album we featured exactly five years ago this week. The RC album for this week in 2020 was Supa Dupa Fly by Missy Elliott.

SHADOW RECORD CLUB: Each week, we're exploring the genres of last week's album. If there is a genre that has a #1-rated album that I've never heard before, I'll download it. If not, I'll just give you my best recommendation. Last week's The Young and the Hopeless was a power pop album. We're listening this week to The Blue Album by Weezer. I've heard it before (obviously).

NEXT WEEK'S RC ALBUM: In case you need some extra time with an album to write a review for it, you can get a head start on Shaq Diesel by Shaquille O'Neill!

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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!