When Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek formed The Doors
As 1965 began, the rock scene was changing rapidly. After the British invasion swept America, bands started experimenting with different sounds and expanding the concept of rock and roll. Flower power was just around the corner, and a meeting between Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek was underway.
While studying at UCLA, Ray Manzarek was looking to become a lawyer. He claimed to have lasted around two weeks before admitting it wasn’t for him as he switched to a film degree and dedicated his life to the arts. “I made a terrible mistake, so I dropped out of law school and went into the film department,” he later commented.
Morrison had also enrolled at UCLA to study film, but it wasn’t until after finishing college that he struck up a friendship with Manzarek. He had grown up in a military background and had become accustomed to living a nomadic lifestyle. The idea of staying in the same place for too long was a frightening thought for Morrison, and unsurprisingly, he was also unwilling to throw himself into work after graduating. Instead, he chose to adopt a bohemian attitude which was fuelled by creativity.
At the time he became friendly with Manzarek, Morrison was living on the rooftop of a former fellow UCLA student, and his days were filled with songwriting. One day, the singer took a trip down to Venice Beach, and to his surprise, he saw Manzarek meditating alone. While they were acquaintances rather than close friends, Morrison approached Manzarek, and they started discussing the happenings of life.
Morrison explained how he was focusing on music, and even sang a verse of ‘Moonlight Drive’ to Manzarek, which was enough to convince them to discuss the idea of forming a band. Before Morrison started to sing, however, Manzarek had mentioned that rock music was the furthest thing from Morrison’s mind. Immersing himself in the world of cinema, Manzarek talked about Morrison’s love for poetry, saying: “Jim was all about the beat poets. Certainly people like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg.”
Although Morrison was originally planning on going back home to Florida, this meeting with Manzarek led to him creating a band that would change the course of popular culture. While the two former classmates were catching up, Morrison let it slip that he was also writing songs. Since Manzarek had already been playing the organ, he pushed Morrison to show his stuff. Manzarek said: “Let me hear some of your songs. And at first, he was very shy, like, ‘Oh I don’t have that much of a voice.’ I’m like, who cares, man? Bob Dylan doesn’t have a voice, and he’s like the biggest thing going right now.”
However, there was one problem: Morrison didn’t know how to play a single instrument. As a result, Manzarek was treated to an acapella performance of what would later become a Doors classic, as he explained: “He closed his eyes, and he started to bob to himself and started singing ‘Moonlight Drive’. And he said, ‘Do you like it?’ I was like, ‘I love it. That’s it, man. We’re getting a rock and roll band together. We’re going all the way with this one.'”
However, it wasn’t the easiest fit once the Doors started to fill into place. While the original incarnation of the band included Manzarek on piano and Morrison on vocal duty, Manzarek’s brother was originally a part of the band as a harmonica player. When they started to jam for the first few weeks, the rest of the band didn’t think they were going anywhere and chose to return to their studies. However, with a bit of patience and as the rest of the psychedelic scene started to grow, the Doors started to fall into place when Robbie Krieger came into the band. As Krieger puts it: “The first time we played together, we thought we were as good as the Stones. As good as anybody on the scene. We could at least see that there was a lot of potential there”. The band spent a lot of wanton nights honing their craft, gigging up and down the Sunset Strip once they had John Densmore behind the drumkit.
When it came time to actually writing their own songs, the band would always follow Morrison’s lead. For instance, Densmore remembered when they put together songs like ‘The Crystal Ship’ for their debut album, saying: “Jim couldn’t play one chord on any instrument. So he would think of a melody. He would hear in his head the lyric, ‘Before you slip into unconsciousness I’d like to have another kiss.’ And we would all go ‘WHOA WHOA WHOA.’ Robbie and Ray would work out the chords. I would say, ‘it’s a waltz, whatever it is’ and work it out that way”.
What emerged was an eclectic mix of every genre the band could get their hands on. ‘The Crystal Ship’ started life as a waltz, while ‘Break On Through’ tapped into psychedelic hard rock. There was also a healthy respect for the blues, as the band covered songs like ‘Back Door Man’ when they played live.
Morrison wasn’t the only one bringing these songs to life either. During their first handful of recording sessions, the band came up a few tracks short of a complete album. After suggesting that the rest of the band try their hand at writing, Krieger mustered up ‘Light My Fire’, taking Morrison’s advice about writing about universal subjects.
However, each live show often dissolved into Morrison reciting his own poetry. As the band would vamp on different chords, and he would start rambling free verse over the chords, making for an enticing performance every time they played. Some of these jams would eventually turn into songs on future Doors albums. ‘The Wasp’, which ended up featuring on L.A. Woman, actually began life as a verse that Morrison had been reciting live before the band put a rolling blues rhythm behind it.
Although it was fun when they were playing at venues like the Whiskey A Go Go, it wasn’t long before Morrison’s words descended into chaos. When the Doors were performing on one particular night, Manzarek remembers one of the jams taking a dark turn: “We’re playing a packed house. And all of a sudden, Morrison says, ‘The killer awoke before dawn’. I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, what is he gonna do?’ He then said, ‘He put his boots on, he took a face from the ancient gallery, and he walked on down the hallway.'”
While these words would find life in the band’s epic song ‘The End’, Morrison did not censor himself that night, proceeding to recite the retelling of Oedipus Rex from the stage before the owner saw them and fired them on the spot.
The Doors’ antics weren’t going to stop just from one upset club owner. For the rest of the ’60s, the band became kings of psychedelic rock, combining jazz, blues, and psychedelia into one stew. Since most other bands were about peace and love, Morrison’s words were a look at the dark side of flower power and opened the door for a whole new generation of hard rock. Not bad for a couple of film school dropouts from UCLA.
