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Re: 40 Years Ago: The Doors Break Up
On Aug. 30, 1973, after two years and two albums without deceased frontman Jim Morrison, the surviving members of the Doors decided to call it quits.
The move represented a reversal for remaining Doors John Densmore, Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek, who’d elected to carry forward as a trio following Morrison’s death on July 3, 1971. In October of that year, the reconfigured band released ‘Other Voices,’ recorded with Krieger and Manzarek sharing lead vocal duties; the following year, they repeated the formula for the group’s eighth studio LP, ‘Full Circle,’ released on July 17, 1972.
While neither post-Morrison record could rightly be considered a flop — ‘Other Voices’ peaked at No. 31 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, while ‘Full Circle’ got as high as No. 68 — neither captured the public’s attention the way the band’s music did when Morrison was at the helm. In fact, the band’s profile had decreased so markedly that its breakup was merely mentioned in passing in the pages of Rolling Stone.
The Doors’ legacy proved hard to escape, however. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek decided to pull the plug only after auditioning a series of vocalists to replace Morrison — and they might have settled on former Audience singer Howard Werth if Manzarek hadn’t opted out, leaving Krieger and Manzarek to regroup and soldier on for a couple of years as the poorly christened Butts Band.
By 1978, all three of them were back in the studio again, lending backing tracks to recordings of Morrison reciting his poetry. The result, ‘An American Prayer,’ went platinum, helping cement the trio’s position as custodians (and occasional opportunists) of Doors history.
The surviving Doors have reunited sporadically in subsequent years, both in the studio (where they reconvened to complete the song ‘Orange County Suite’ for a 1997 box set) and on the stage (at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and for a 2000 episode of ‘VH1 Storytellers’). In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger drafted Ian Astbury of the Cult to front a Doors tribute called the Doors of the 21st Century — at least until legal action from Densmore prompted a switch to Manzarek–Krieger or Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors. This version of the band dissolved on May 20, 2013, following Manzarek’s death from cancer.
Re: 40 Years Ago: The Doors Break Up
Had no idea the Doors put out to albums sans Morrison. I'll have to check them out some time. I was a huge Doors fan back in the day, so I have all their other records.
My sister got me into the Doors, they and GNR were her favorite bands growing up. She used to think Axl was the reincarnation of Mr. Mojo Risen, because they were both amazing lyrasists and they were both fucking nuts.
- Me_Wise_Magic
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Re: 40 Years Ago: The Doors Break Up
Had no idea the Doors put out to albums sans Morrison. I'll have to check them out some time. I was a huge Doors fan back in the day, so I have all their other records.
My sister got me into the Doors, they and GNR were her favorite bands growing up. She used to think Axl was the reincarnation of Mr. Mojo Risen, because they were both amazing lyrasists and they were both fucking nuts.
Nice!! That's so cool. Yeah..The Doors influenced so much. It took me awhile to get into their style of music; but after awhile I grew into it. Van Halen, Queen, Nirvana, The Beatles, and The Who are some of the bands I grew up on and in high school experienced my true rock n' roll favs. Eventually GNR would be part of that equation too. 
Re: 40 Years Ago: The Doors Break Up
I remember hearing the news that Ian Astbury was teaming up with Manzarek and basically trying to launch a new Doors with Astbury up front.
I could not have been more stoked. I thought that was a brilliant mix, and Astbury is alive today (imho), because of the Doors. I mean The Cult was from top-to-bottom an arena rock tribute to them basically, and Astbury was into the Native American Mysticism thing no different than Morrison.
Perfect blend... so sad it never happened. Astbury has always been underrated, and I always wondered would they have been able to put out killer Doors sequel records all these years later with Astbury. Crushes me it never came to be.
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