The Doors biography

The band's eponymously titled 1967 debut album laid down the group's manifesto on the opening cut. Break On Through (To The Other Side) was an orgy of transcendental blues guitar, Manzarek's swirling organ spirals and Densmore's bossa nova beat set to Morrison's theatrical baritone. Even more compulsive was Light My Fire, inspired by John Coltrane's take on My Favourite Things. The song became a No.1 hit selling over 1m copies and a universal standard, undiminished by even Will Young's insipid jazz-lite cover. The band were at the their darkest and most commanding on the album's stand-out track, the 11 minute The End - a violent, apocalyptical, oedipal musical howl. The song was the perfect accompaniment to the Dionysian figure of Morrison. On stage he'd scream his Oedipal parable, stunning audiences by shouting "Father I want to kill you!"

Almost immediately the band's music, combined with Morrison's good looks and leather-panted, anti-hero persona, enthralled both the pop buying public and the underground culture. And it didn't hurt their crediblity when they performed on Ed Sullivan's US TV show and refused to change the "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" lyrics to Light My Fire. After that, The Doors were positioned as the most successful new band in America.

1967 follow up album Strange Days managed to retain The Doors mystique. As well as the hit People Are Strange, the album included Horse Latitudes, a high school poem of Morrison's set to music. When the Music's Over included the chanted refrain "We want the world and we want it now." In an era of anti-Vietnam protests and student rebellion, the Doors became anti-establishment standard bearers and songs like The Unknown Soldier and Five To One took on strongly political connotations.

But Morrison preferred to style himself as 'an erotic politican'. As his drink and drugs antics became increasingly problematic he was arrested several times on stage and off, including one infamous night in March 1969 on stage in Miami when he allegedly showed his manhood to the front row! Still, the hits kept coming and in the summer of 1968 the band found themselves back at the top of the charts with Hello, I Love You, taken from the album, Waiting For The Sun. A disappointing fourth album, The Soft Parade followed in 1969 although it did contain the hit, Touch Me. Controversy followed in November 1969 when Morrison was accused of interfering with an airline stewardess during a flight. He was later acquitted but later was given an eight month prison sentence for his lewd behaviour at the Miami concert. He was freed on appeal. As a result of Morrison's court cases the band made few live appearances and Morrison's heavy alcohol and drug intake made him increasingly erratic. 1970 album Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe was a return to more basic rock and roll. 1971's critically acclaimed LA Woman album included John Lee Hooker's atmospheric blues Crawlin' King Snake as well as the hits Love Her Madly and the gently ambient Riders On The Storm, almost weirdly prophetic after Morrison's death. Ironically Morrison's drug and booze intake had given his vocals a more compelling resonance.

After the recording of LA Woman, Morrison relocated to Paris in the spring of 1971 with his girlfriend Pamela Courson. Even though the band had seemed to find their feet again, there were rumours of an imminent split from the group. The singer wanted to concentrate on a book of poetry, The Lords and The New Creatures, which was released to critical acclaim later that year.

It was supposed to be a new beginning but on July 3rd 1971 Morrison was found dead in his bathtub in his Paris flat. Speculation was rife at the time as to the cause of his death. Was it the US government? (He had been on an FBI 'hitlist) Or a ritualistic killing? But it later became apparent that he had died from a drugs and drink induced heart attack. Morrison was buried in Paris, his grave becoming a shrine to his fans but not to his parents who had disowned him in 1967.

The Doors briefly continued as a trio, releasing the lacklustre Other Voices in 1971 and Full Circle in 1972. They reunited in 1978 to record backing tracks for An American Prayer, an album of ambient, jazzy noodles set to Morrison reciting his poetry. Over the years Morrrison's cult following only got bigger, the mysterious circumstances of his death sealing his image as a romantic rock and roll poet. A biography of the band, No One Gets Out Of Here Alive by Morrison's friend Danny Sugerman and a 1991 Oliver Stone biopic starring Val Kilmer kept the Doors industry alive, helping the band to sell more records than they ever did in the 60s.

Like Elvis, there are often reported 'sightings' of Morrison spotted shopping in his local supermarket or enjoying a round of gold with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin but while there have been many imitators (not least The Cult's Ian Astbury who toured with the remaining Doors on a 'reunion' ticket in 2004), very few rock figures can match the lizard king's dark mystique and the compelling drama of The Doors' music.

• Discography