Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin - rise of the Lizard King

Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin

The poetic vision and electrifying live performances of The Doors, their appetite for psychedelic experiences and the debut album inflamed the spirit and psyche of several generations till date and still going strong. Writes Faizul Khan Tanim

“There are things known and things unknown

and in between are The Doors”

-Jim Morrison

Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin!

Although Jim Morrison has been dead for decades but he is still causing trouble in the minds of the faithful fans. His haunting voice, the urgent lyrics, the band's sound of psychedelia reached out to millions of fans to break on through to the other side or set the night on fire.

He lived fast, died young and left six studio albums for his mates Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore. The debut album – self-titled, recorded in 1966 and released in 1967 broke bones, records and gave the fans options to drink and drive, spliff and fly.

The album climbed up the Billboard 200 chart, becoming a huge success in the US. "Light My Fire" scaled the charts, with the album peaking at number two on the chart in September 1967 and going on to achieve multi-platinum status.

The album today is number 42 on "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and is also on "The Rolling Stone Hall Of Fame". The album is on Q magazine's "100 Greatest Albums Ever" and ranked 25 in NME magazine's list of the "Greatest Albums Of All Time".

Although many fans believe that no one in particular inspired the Doors, but critiques say they were influenced mostly by blues artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Muddy Waters etc. Jim Morrison was a very big fan and was himself influenced by the “Crooners” Perry Como, Dean Martin, Sinatra and more.

Their uniqueness in the 60’s could not create any following but during the 70’s, quite a few artists were influenced by Doors music like Blue Oyster Cult, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Iggy Pop and some more. In recent times, we heard of grunge band Pearl Jam having influence of The Doors and Morrison and the band Creed along with Robby Krieger performed the immortal song Roadhouse Blues at Woodstock 99 and set the stage on blaze of glory.

In Bangladesh, the band's blues psychedelia heavily influenced Nagarbaul and guru James, who is said to have coined his name following the mesmeric figure of the American sixties James Douglas Jim Morrison.

When this album was rising, writers, journalists and philosophers went crazy trying to comprehend Morrison’s mojo and how it was rising and brewing. Songs like Light My Fire from the album is about heated passion of the night life in the turbulent 60's and trying to set the night on fire whether it be by drugs, sex, or rock 'n' roll. And there's songs like Break On Through urging to break on through the doors of perception, and free themselves from the mechanical civilization and the monolith of dysfunction, war, rage, attitude and seek involved and informed consciousness.

The Doors concerts, following the album release, were throbbing with war-like rhythms and beats of Red Indians and the experience of shamanistic ritual and cosmic psychedelia.

So is everybody in? Because the ceremony have already started!