Top 10 Doors Songs

Photo:By Elektra Records-Joel Brodsky (eBay item photo front photo back) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Top 10 Doors Songs list is one of those rankings that can change every day because the band recorded far too many classics to make ten choices feel permanent. If we only had enough space on an old hard drive, a blank CD, or, god forbid, a 60-minute BASF cassette tape, these are the songs we would burn. We know plenty of lists put “Light My Fire” at number one, but we have always felt that song alone does not capture the Jim Morrison persona that made hardcore Doors fans so devoted. Morrison brought something to rock and roll that nobody else quite duplicated. It is impossible not to wonder what he might have done had he lived longer. For us, these ten songs get closest to the sound, danger, humor, and mystery that made the Doors different.

# 10 – Back Door Man

Opening our list is “Back Door Man,” the first song on side two of the Doors’ 1967 debut album. Willie Dixon wrote the blues classic for Howlin’ Wolf, and the Doors turned it into something much dirtier and more dangerous. Jim Morrison’s opening growl sounds like the arrival of a singer who already knew exactly how much trouble he could cause. Ray Manzarek’s organ and Robby Krieger’s guitar push the song while John Densmore keeps it loose enough to breathe. Morrison also gets one of those lines that became part of the vocabulary of Doors fans everywhere. If you ever found yourself eating some Kentucky Fried and muttering about eating more chicken than any man ever seen, you already know why this one made the list.

# 9 – Love Me Two Times

Strange Days (50th Anniversary Expanded Edition)

The Doors’ “Love Me Two Times” appeared on their 1967 album Strange Days. Robby Krieger wrote the song, and Ray Manzarek’s keyboard solo gives the record that unmistakable harpsichord-like bite. Released as the second single from Strange Days, it reached number twenty-five on the Billboard Hot 100. Morrison sounds relaxed and sly instead of threatening, which is part of what makes the performance so effective. Aerosmith later covered the song for the Air America soundtrack, and Joan Jett recorded it for The Hit List. The groove still speaks for itself.

# 8 – Peace Frog

“Peace Frog” appeared on the Doors’ 1970 album Morrison Hotel and remains one of the funkiest tracks they ever recorded. Robby Krieger wrote the music, while Jim Morrison’s lyrics were assembled from earlier pieces of his poetry. The song references Morrison’s arrest in New Haven and folds personal memory into images of blood, violence, and unrest. Krieger’s guitar riff is so sharp that the whole track feels like it is moving on one nervous pulse. The band then slides directly into “Blue Sunday,” making the two songs feel almost inseparable on the album. “Peace Frog” rarely gets treated like one of the obvious Doors hits, but the groove is simply too good to leave off this list.

# 7 – The Soft Parade

The Soft Parade (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

“The Soft Parade” closes the Doors’ 1969 album The Soft Parade and is the longest song on the original record. Jim Morrison wrote it, with producer Paul A. Rothchild helping shape its different pieces into one long, strange performance. The song keeps changing direction, moving through spoken poetry, organ-driven passages, blues, jazz, and hard rock without asking permission. Fans can argue forever about what Morrison meant by lines like “we can whip the horses’ eyes,” and that is part of the fun. This is not the cleanest or easiest Doors recording, but it may be one of the most revealing. No other band could have made something this odd and still made it sound like a Doors song.

# 6 – Moonlight Drive

The eerie guitar opening of “Moonlight Drive” leads into one of the most haunting romantic songs the Doors ever recorded. The song appeared on 1967’s Strange Days as track six, not as the album closer, and it was also released as the B-side of “Love Me Two Times.” “Moonlight Drive” goes all the way back to Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek’s 1965 reunion on Venice Beach, when Morrison sang the song to Manzarek before the band had even formed. Robby Krieger’s bottleneck guitar gave the later recording the dark, floating sound that made it famous. The lyric is romantic, but there is always something unsettling underneath it. Sometimes the B-side really is every bit as interesting as the A-side.

# 5 – The End

“The End” closed The Doors’ 1967 debut album and grew from a relatively simple breakup song into one of rock’s darkest long-form performances. Paul A. Rothchild produced the recording at Sunset Sound, where the band captured the slow build that had already become a centerpiece of its live shows. Francis Ford Coppola’s use of the song in Apocalypse Now in 1979 put the song in front of another generation. That renewed exposure became part of the larger revival of interest in the Doors that continued into the 1980s. Even Nirvana later toyed with “The End” in live performance. The recording still feels dangerous because it never sounds completely under control.

# 4 – Riders on the Storm

“Riders on the Storm” closes the Doors’ 1971 album L.A. Woman, the final Doors studio album released during Jim Morrison’s lifetime. Ray Manzarek’s Fender Rhodes figure immediately creates the feeling of rain, darkness, and an empty highway before Morrison even enters. The band produced the track with Bruce Botnick, and Jerry Scheff’s bass gives the recording a fluid foundation beneath John Densmore’s restrained drumming and Robby Krieger’s guitar. Morrison’s whispered vocal overdub shadows the main performance and makes the song even stranger. Released as a single in 1971, it reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100. Few final album tracks have ever sounded more like a band disappearing into its own weather.

# 3 – L.A. Woman

The title track from the final Doors album with Jim Morrison sounds like the band charging into a new blues-heavy direction. L.A. Woman was recorded in the band’s own Los Angeles workshop with the Doors and Bruce Botnick producing. Jerry Scheff plays bass and Marc Benno adds rhythm guitar, giving the core band a bigger, looser sound. Morrison turns Los Angeles into a character of its own, part seduction and part threat. Robby Krieger has called “L.A. Woman” a quintessential Doors song, and it is easy to hear why. The track sounds like the band had found another road just as its original run was coming to an end.

# 2 – Break On Through (To the Other Side)

“Break On Through (To the Other Side)” opened the Doors’ first album and also became the band’s first single in 1967. The single did not break into the Billboard Hot 100, but that hardly matters when you hear how completely the song announces what the group was about. John Densmore begins with the bossa-nova-influenced drum groove, Ray Manzarek enters with the dark keyboard figure, and Robby Krieger’s guitar doubles the attack. Then Morrison comes in and the whole record seems to lunge forward. The song later became one of the most recognizable Doors recordings, even without being an original chart hit. As an opening statement, very few bands ever introduced themselves this well.

# 1 – Roadhouse Blues

No other song in the Doors’ catalog better combines grit, sexuality, darkness, blues, and Jim Morrison’s voice than “Roadhouse Blues.” The song opened the 1970 album Morrison Hotel and was also issued as the B-side of “You Make Me Real.” Lonnie Mack plays bass on the master, while the Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian plays harmonica under the credit “G. Pugliese.” Robby Krieger’s guitar, Ray Manzarek’s piano, and John Densmore’s drums make the track sound like the greatest bar band in the world has just walked through the door. Deep Purple and Blue Öyster Cult later covered it. Morrison’s delivery seals the choice for us: “Roadhouse Blues” is the song that most completely defines what made the Doors sound like nobody else.