John Densmore, morals and selling out? How The Doors lost out on an estimated $20m
Following the death of Jim Morrison, The Doors attempted to continue as a trio before ultimately disbanding in 1973 and concluding that existing without their leader was an impossible task. Through sales, the rest of the band continued to make a healthy residual income. However, if they had succumbed to the temptations of advertising, they could have made considerably more.
While the band members once allowed Pirelli to use ‘Riders on the Storm’ to promote their product, John Densmore felt uneasy about doing so and donated his earnings from the campaign to charity. While Robby Kreiger and the late Ray Manzarek adopted a laid-back approach to their songs being used to promote commercial activities, Densmore doesn’t share their attitude.
Over the years, brands including Cadillac and Apple have offered lucrative fees to secure music by The Doors in their advertisements, but Densmore prevented his bandmates from receiving their payday. According to Campaign Live, in 2005, the total figure of lost income stood at almost $20million because he refused to sell out.
Cadillac initially planned to use The Doors’ song ‘Break On Through’ for an advertisement campaign for their 4×4 range, but after Densmore spoiled their plans, they instead chose to use ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll’ by Led Zeppelin. While this hurt the bank account of Manzarek and Kreiger, Densmore slept comfortably, knowing that Morrison’s legacy remained intact.
Densmore explained why he’s against using The Doors material in adverts in 2002 when he wrote in The Guardian: “It all started in 1967 when Buick offered $75,000 to use ‘Light My Fire’ to hawk its new, hot little offering – the Opel. As the story goes, Ray, Robby and I agreed to it while Jim was out of town. He came back and went nuts. In retrospect, his calling up Buick and saying that if they aired the ad, he would smash an Opel on television with a sledgehammer was fantastic. I guess that is one of the reasons why I miss the guy.”
Later in the article, he added: “So it’s been a lonely road resisting the chants of the rising solicitations: ‘Everybody has a price, don’t they?’ Every time we (or I) resist, they up the ante. An internet company recently offered $3million for ‘Break on Through’. Jim’s ‘pal’ (as he portrays himself in his biog) said yes, and Robby joined me in a resounding no! ‘We’ll give them another half mil, and throw in a computer!’ the president of Apple pleaded.”
While Denmore could have made himself unfathomably rich by accepting offers from companies such as Apple, he’s already content with his bank account. Most importantly, the legacy of The Doors matters more to him than earning money.
