This is a band that was commercially successful when they existed, and have continued to be so as one of those classic artists whose music is always accessible. In spite of all that, it’s hard to get a handle on what exactly their legacy is. Which also means that when you’re 13 or 14 and first discovering the music of your parents’ or grandparents’ generation, you see Jim Morrison’s face on T-shirts in the mall, or you see the millionth biography or the millionth Doors reissue, either with Morrison’s face staring back at you. By the time you get to the end of the 20th century or the beginning of the 21st century, this means these people are preserved and held up, forever, as tragic icons of their day. In the specific case of Morrison and the other legendary ’60s artists who died around the same time, it formed one element of the story of how the ’60s failed, how they burned out into moments like the Hell’s Angels at Altamont or the Manson Family murders. Morrison is part of the legendary 27 Club, along with fellow ’60s casualties Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, and Jimi Hendrix (and, later, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse) who died at that age. This inextricably bound the Doors in the narrative of the ’60s and rock history. Though keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore were all crucial to forming the very specific and unique sound of the Doors, the person who pushed them into legendary status was Jim Morrison, the erratic singer and iconic frontman who became lionized after dying in Paris, at 27, in 1971. The bands that - assuming you weren’t around in the ’60s - are amongst the first names you explore when you start digging into pop music’s past.
The Doors are part of a very specific category of classic-rock artists: the gateway artists.
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