182-504: L.A. Woman is the sixth studio album by the American rock band the Doors , released on April 19, 1971, by Elektra Records . It is the last to feature lead singer Jim Morrison during his lifetime, due to his death exactly two months and two weeks following the album's release, though he would posthumously appear on the 1978 album An American Prayer . Even more so than its predecessors,
364-475: A 5.1 surround version of the album, released on DVD-Audio on December 19, 2000; the surround mix was created by Botnick from the original eight-track analog 1" master tapes. In 2006, all six of the Doors' albums with Morrison were remixed in stereo and 5.1 for the Perception box set. This edition of L.A. Woman includes two bonus tracks ("Orange County Suite" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further") and
546-436: A Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 p.m. on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor recognition, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on
728-554: A band in perfect harmony". He describes the Doors' material as "disturbing and cynical over the years, and these songs were no exception". PopMatters ' s Nathan Wisnicki said Morrison's lyrics were less pretentious than previous work because of L.A. Woman ' s "more conventional blues". Stephen Dalton of Classic Rock , reviewing the 40th Anniversary Edition of the album, remarks how "the original L.A. Woman still stands proud, an all-time classic journey into bright shining darkness." David Quantick from BBC Music attributed
910-409: A can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive , the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which
1092-441: A collector's cover. The Doors' faces were printed on clear film. The backing color of the inner sleeve could be changed and would affect the mood of the package. This is the first album in which Jim is bearded on the front cover. His photo is on the right, no bigger, no smaller than the others, just another guy in the band." Three months after release, on July 3, Morrison was found dead. There had been discussions between Morrison and
1274-425: A comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second bestselling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as " cocktail lounge music ", he quit and handed
1456-552: A concert in Miami, Florida. Morrison had mentioned leaving the group at the end of 1968, only to be convinced by keyboardist Ray Manzarek to stay on another six months. On September 20, 1970, Morrison was convicted for the Miami incident. In a 1970 interview with Ben Fong-Torres , Morrison said of Miami, "I think subconsciously I was trying to get across in that concert, I was trying to reduce it to absurdity. And it worked too well." In November 1970, shortly after Morrison's trial ended,
1638-606: A concert that Bill Graham publicized as the last official concert of Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company. The opening acts on this night were Chicago , then still called Chicago Transit Authority, and Santana . Despite Graham's announcement that the Fillmore West gig was Big Brother's last concert with Joplin, the band—with Joplin still as lead vocalist—toured the U.S. that fall. Reflecting Joplin's crossover appeal, two October 1968 performances at
1820-465: A desire to leave the city with his partner, Pamela Courson . Artistically, L.A. Woman saw the band mixing blues and rock, with some elements of psychedelic and jazz rock of their early career. L.A. Woman opens with the Morrison-penned track " The Changeling ", which the Doors wanted to be the album's first single. Taken from one of Morrison's journals written in 1968, Holzman overruled
2002-771: A drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, " Touch Me " (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. On March 1, 1969, at
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#17327976268512184-602: A house in Lagunitas, California , where they lived communally. The band often partied with the Grateful Dead , the members of whom lived less than two miles away. She had a short relationship and longer friendship with founding member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan . The band went to Chicago for a four-week engagement in August 1966, then found itself stranded after the promoter ran out of money when its concerts did not attract
2366-490: A huge Presley fan – was excited by Scheff's participation. In addition, Benno was asked to participate as a result of his recent notoriety from working with Leon Russell . The songs were completed in a few takes on a professional-quality 8-track recorder, and the album was finished in six days. Morrison was a blues enthusiast and proclaimed the final recording session as "blues day", recording " Crawling King Snake ", "Cars Hiss by My Window", and "L.A. Woman". The album had
2548-685: A mutual agreement that they should end their live act, claiming Morrison was ready to retire from performing. Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with the album L.A. Woman , recorded in Los Angeles in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff , best known for his work in Elvis Presley 's TCB Band . Despite
2730-488: A new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb Records . They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978. Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002,
2912-483: A new length of 4:58 (as opposed to 4:10 on the original). In 2009, the album was reissued on 180g vinyl featuring the original mix, cut by Grundman. In 2012, L.A. Woman was digitally remastered again as a part of "The Years of the Doors" series to commemorate its 40th Anniversary release. This edition was reissued in an expanded format on January 24, 2012, by Elektra and Rhino Records in CD and digital formats, and it includes
3094-415: A new song in 2012, of which Manzarek said, "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century". The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION , which recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection: "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do
3276-553: A not-so-favorable review, commending some cuts, especially the "effective electric piano" of "Riders on the Storm", but deemed the rest of the album as just "staleness", and that it's "all so obvious that originality has left them". In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau appreciated Morrison's sense of humor in some of the lyrics and believed "the band has never sounded better", although he
3458-549: A number of blues standards, which incidentally featured Kaukonen's wife Margareta using a typewriter in the background. This session included seven tracks: "Typewriter Talk", " Trouble in Mind ", "Kansas City Blues", " Hesitation Blues ", " Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out ", "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy", and "Long Black Train Blues", and was released long after Joplin's death as the bootleg album The Typewriter Tape . In 1963, Joplin
3640-419: A professional career as a singer without relapsing into drugs, and her drug-related memories from immediately prior to returning to Port Arthur continued to frighten her. Joplin sometimes brought an acoustic guitar with her to her sessions with Giarritano, and people in other offices within the building could hear her singing. Giarritano tried to reassure her that she did not have to use narcotics to succeed in
3822-480: A professional studio. A mixing console previously owned by Elektra was installed upstairs in the Workshop, while studio monitors , microphones, and keyboards were set up downstairs. To compensate for the lack of an isolated vocal booth , Morrison recorded in the bathroom doorway, singing into the same microphone used on the Doors' final tour. According to Botnick, Morrison was easy to work with and spent long hours in
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#17327976268514004-498: A raw, live sound with overdubs mostly limited to additional keyboards. Botnick explained, "The overall concept for the recording session was to go back to our early roots and try to get everything live in the studio with as few overdubs as possible". Mixing was completed at Poppi Studios in West Hollywood , by which time Morrison had moved to Paris. The band began recording without much material and needed to compose songs on
4186-456: A rehearsal to her home, Rivers was not there, but "two or three", according to Getz' recollection 25 years later, guests whom Rivers had invited were in the process of injecting drugs. "One of them was about to tie off," recalled Getz. " Janis went nuts! I had never seen anybody explode like that. She was screaming and crying and Travis walked in. She screamed at him: 'We had a pact! You promised me! There wouldn't be any of that in front of me!' I
4368-512: A return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade , with their fifth LP Morrison Hotel in 1970. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was " Roadhouse Blues ". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh , the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this
4550-451: A riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident ( Mike Zwerin , Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page ), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of
4732-570: A roller rink in Alexandria, Virginia, were reviewed by John Segraves of the conservative Washington Evening Star at a time when the Washington metropolitan area's hard rock scene was in its infancy. An opera buff at the time, he wrote: Miss Joplin, in her early 20s, has been for the last year or two the vocalist with Big Brother and the Holding Company, a rock quintet of superior electric expertise. Shortly she will be merely Janis Joplin,
4914-534: A safety deposit box. He explained he discovered the tapes "when Beaver Productions moved its offices out of the Warehouse, Uptown into a building at the Riverbend. The Doors tape, along with a stack of other Warehouse show tapes, were cast off and left behind as debris during the move". Despite the confirmation of their existence, there has yet to be an official release of the recordings. I'm glad that L.A. Woman
5096-412: A short clip of the band performing " Crawling King Snake " was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 11, 1971, near the end of the mixing of L.A. Woman , Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson ; he had visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of residency, Morrison
5278-462: A single that did not sell well. After playing at a happening in Stanford in early December 1966, the band traveled back to Los Angeles to record ten tracks between December 12 and 14, 1966, produced by Bob Shad, which appeared on the band's debut album in August 1967. In late 1966, Big Brother switched managers from Chet Helms to Julius Karpen. One of Joplin's earliest major performances in 1967
5460-429: A teenager, Joplin befriended a group of outcasts, one of whom had albums by blues artists Bessie Smith , Ma Rainey , and Lead Belly , which Joplin later credited with influencing her decision to become a singer. She began singing blues and folk music with friends at Thomas Jefferson High School . In high school, she was a classmate of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson . Joplin stated that she
5642-466: A trio, releasing two more albums until disbanding in 1973. In 1978, they reformed for the album An American Prayer , which combined new music with Morrison's recitings of his poetry recorded in 1969 and 1970. They reunited again briefly in 1993 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , and for several one-off projects in the 21st century. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger, and Ian Astbury of
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5824-500: A vocalist singing folk rock on her first album as a single. Whatever she does and whatever she sings she'll do it well because her vocal talents are boundless. This is the way she came across in a huge, high-ceilinged roller skating rink without any acoustics but, thankfully a good enough sound system behind her. In a proper room, I would imagine there would be no adjectives to describe her. Later in October 1968, Big Brother performed at
6006-537: A year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle ) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on
6188-606: Is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and
6370-537: Is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go after being booked by Ronnie Haran, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison 's group Them . On their last night together the two bands joined up for " In the Midnight Hour " and a twenty-minute jam session of " Gloria ". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman , who
6552-667: The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by Peter Abram, co-owner of the Matrix. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at
6734-517: The Billboard 200 soon after its release. Joplin performed at Woodstock starting at approximately 2:00 a.m., on Sunday, August 17, 1969. Joplin had informed her band that they would be performing at the concert as if it were just another gig. On Saturday afternoon, before a helicopter transported her from the Holiday Inn, where she and other performers stayed, to the festival site, she
6916-680: The Festival Express train tour. Five singles by Joplin reached the US Billboard Hot 100 , including a cover of the Kris Kristofferson song " Me and Bobby McGee ", which posthumously reached number one in March 1971. Her most popular songs include her cover versions of " Piece of My Heart ", " Cry Baby ", " Down on Me ", " Ball and Chain ", and " Summertime ", as well as her original song " Mercedes Benz ", which
7098-590: The Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, the Doors gave the most controversial and consequential performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By
7280-585: The Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album around August 1966, at Sunset Sound Studios . The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single " Break On Through (To the Other Side) ". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang ,
7462-652: The Isle of Wight FestivaI that August. The set included "The Changeling" and "L.A. Woman" and closed with "When the Music's Over". The concerts were well received, proving the Doors were still a capable live act and leading to an extra performance in Louisiana. Audience recordings from the Doors' performances of "Love Her Madly", "The Changeling", "L.A. Woman", and the Morrison Hotel track "Ship of Fools" were included on
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7644-626: The L.A. Woman sessions with a few drum overdubs. The Doors' arrangement of the traditional "Crawling King Snake" dates back to their early tours, and was sometimes coupled with Morrison's poem " Celebration of the Lizard ". "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" is a reworking of Morrison's sample of poetry first appearing on the group's souvenir books in 1968. L.A. Woman also features " Hyacinth House ", with lyrics written by Morrison and music by Manzarek. The song shows Manzarek being influenced by
7826-615: The Monterey Pop Festival , where she was the lead singer of the then little-known San Francisco psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company . After releasing two albums with the band, she left Big Brother to continue as a solo artist with her own backing groups, first the Kozmic Blues Band and then the Full Tilt Boogie Band . She appeared at the 1969 Woodstock festival and on
8008-586: The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television . Morrison confided in Manzarek that he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone , "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang
8190-748: The University of Massachusetts Amherst and at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute , and played at the Syracuse War Memorial as part of Syracuse University's Fall Homecoming on October 11, with Janis joining openers the Butterfield Blues Band for their closing song. Aside from two 1970 reunions, Joplin's last performance with Big Brother was at a Chet Helms benefit in San Francisco on December 1 , 1968. After splitting from Big Brother and
8372-400: The " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time " and number 28 on its 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". NPR dubbed Joplin as the " Queen of Rock " and named her one of the " 50 Great Voices ". She remains one of the top-selling vocalists in the United States, with Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certifications of 18.5 million albums sold. Janis Lyn Joplin
8554-431: The 17-minute " Celebration of the Lizard " by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for
8736-462: The 1960s, as exemplified by Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays . The Stax-Volt R&B sound was typified by the use of horns and had a funky, pop-oriented sound in contrast to many of the psychedelic/hard rock bands of the period. By early 1969, Joplin was allegedly shooting at least $ 200 worth of heroin per day (equivalent to $ 1,662 in 2023) although efforts were made to keep her clean during
8918-423: The 2003 album Boot Yer Butt: The Doors Bootlegs . On December 12, the Doors played the Warehouse in New Orleans for what turned out to be their last live performance with Morrison. Midway through the set, a drunk Morrison began slurring the lyrics to " Light My Fire ", interrupted with speeches and jokes. He sat in front of the drum platform in between Krieger and Manzarek's solos, but did not stand up to finish
9100-517: The 2006 stereo remix done and mastered by Botnick at Uniteye. It also features seven alternate versions of songs, and two previously unreleased tracks, "She Smells So Nice" and "Rock Me". This remaster has been praised for leaving the original album "untouched". To accompany this release, a documentary titled Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman was distributed. The film includes interviews with all three remaining band members, as well as live and studio performances. Analogue Productions also reissued
9282-575: The 2007 Rhino Records CD remaster liner notes with producer Bruce Botnick's accompanying essay, and may differ from other sources. The Doors Additional musicians Technical Sales figures based on certification alone. Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison , keyboardist Ray Manzarek , guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore . They were among
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#17327976268519464-836: The Anderson Theater. On April 7, 1968—three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the last day of their East Coast tour—Joplin and Big Brother performed with Jimi Hendrix , Buddy Guy , Joni Mitchell , Richie Havens , Paul Butterfield , and Elvin Bishop at the Wake for Martin Luther King Jr. concert in New York. Live at Winterland '68 , recorded at the Winterland Ballroom on April 12 and 13, 1968, features Joplin and Big Brother and
9646-560: The Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified Gold LPs. According to
9828-535: The Cult , Travis Meeks , Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots , and Scott Stapp of Creed . On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records . It featured "Woman in the Window", a new song with a pre-recorded vocal performance by Morrison. Manzarek along with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex ( Sonny Moore ) recorded
10010-400: The Doors co-produce L.A. Woman with Botnick, the sound engineer who had worked with Rothchild on the band's previous recordings. The group and Botnick organized a makeshift recording studio at their private rehearsal space, the Doors' Workshop, a two-story building at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard. They could then record in a more comfortable and relaxed setting while avoiding the expenses of
10192-493: The Doors disbanded in 1973. The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer , was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it ultimately lost to John Gielgud 's The Ages of Man . An American Prayer
10374-414: The Doors entered Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles to record early versions of the songs " L.A. Woman ", " Riders on the Storm " and " Love Her Madly ". The new songs were a departure from the heavily orchestrated pieces on the earlier album The Soft Parade , which burdened the group with long, drawn-out recording sessions. The simplified and straightforward style, progressing from Morrison Hotel ,
10556-526: The Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open . A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City,
10738-422: The Doors sounded ragged, bleary. It's one of those early-'70s records that comes off like a beleaguered hangover from the end of the '60s." Online newspaper The Independent cited L.A. Woman the twelfth best album of 1971, while Ultimate Classic Rock included it among the 100 top rock albums of the 70s. In 1988, L.A. Woman was digitally remastered by Botnick and Paul A. Rothchild at Digital Magnetics, using
10920-484: The Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals, as well as her "electric" stage presence. In 1967, Joplin rose to prominence following an appearance at
11102-515: The Doors with Morrison recorded and released six studio albums in five years, some of which are generally considered among the greatest of all time, including their debut The Doors (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). Dubbed the "Kings of Acid Rock", they were one of the most successful bands of their time and by 1972, the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as
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#173279762685111284-688: The Doors with a seal of legend and immortality. There was no opportunity for the band to go into the seventies intact. Perhaps that's a good thing. I can't imagine the Doors in the era of disco . L.A. Woman ' s follow up album, Other Voices , was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them finish the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices
11466-577: The Doors' forthcoming album. Released in July 1969, The Soft Parade was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening to many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Both jazz-influenced Densmore and Manzarek agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy . While
11648-406: The Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the concert, Densmore, Manzarek and Krieger came to
11830-750: The Fish . The pair lived together as a couple for a few months in her Lyon Street apartment. A driver's license, issued to Joplin in 1967, shows her residence as 122 Lyon Street No. 3, in San Francisco. Joplin and Big Brother began playing clubs in San Francisco, at the Fillmore West , Winterland , and the Avalon Ballroom . They also played at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, as well as in Seattle, Washington; Vancouver, British Columbia;
12012-534: The German show Beat-Club . Like Other Voices , Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the usual Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had lapsed
12194-615: The Holding Company at the height of their mutual career working through a selection of tracks from their albums. A recording became available to the public for the first time in 1998 when Columbia/ Sony Music Entertainment released the compact disc. One month after the Winterland concert, Owsley Stanley recorded them at the Carousel Ballroom, released in 2012 as Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 . On July 31, 1968, Joplin made her first nationwide television appearance when
12376-463: The Holding Company, Joplin formed a new backup group, the Kozmic Blues Band, composed of session musicians like keyboardist Stephen Ryder and saxophonist Cornelius "Snooky" Flowers, as well as former Big Brother and the Holding Company guitarist Sam Andrew and future Full Tilt Boogie Band bassist Brad Campbell. The band was influenced by the Stax-Volt rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul bands of
12558-515: The Lovin' Spoonful 's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live , which peaked at No. 8 position on the charts. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes
12740-641: The Mamas & the Papas seated in the audience during Joplin's performance of "Ball and Chain", one in the middle of the song as her eyes, covered by sunglasses, are fixed on Joplin, and also a shot during the applause as she silently mouths "Oh, wow!" and looks at the person seated next to her. Elliot and the audience are seen in sunlight, but Sunday's Big Brother performance was filmed in the early evening. An explanation came from Big Brother's road manager John Byrne Cooke , who remembers that Pennebaker discreetly filmed
12922-438: The Matrix 1967 , on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U , performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and Morrison is lip-synching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It
13104-536: The Plangent Process and includes the original stereo mix and two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes. Rhino released on April 23, 2022 (as a RSD exclusive) the studio outtakes from the 50th Anniversary three-CD/one-LP set as a special edition quadruple vinyl entitled L.A. Woman Sessions . All songs written by the Doors, except where noted. Details are taken from the 1971 Elektra Records album and may differ from other sources. Details are taken from
13286-605: The Polish composer Frédéric Chopin 's Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 , during its organ solo. The final track was " Riders on the Storm ", a collective effort by the Doors. Based on the arrangement " Ghost Riders in the Sky " and the line "delicate riders of the storm", taken from Hart Crane 's poem "Praise for an Urn", the track melded Morrison's hitchhiker imagery from his own poetry projects. The faint, ghostly backdrop heard throughout
13468-491: The Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz , rock, blues , and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from
13650-733: The Psychedelic Supermarket in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Golden Bear Club in Huntington Beach, California. The band's debut studio album, Big Brother & the Holding Company , was released by Mainstream Records in August 1967, shortly after the group's breakthrough appearance in June at the Monterey Pop Festival . Two tracks, "Coo Coo" and "The Last Time," were released separately as singles, while
13832-586: The RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time . The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone , which ranked them 41st on its list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time ". The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized each other as they had both attended
14014-548: The Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged
14196-601: The Sun became their first and only album to reach number 1 on the US charts, and the single " Hello, I Love You " (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks ' 1964 hit " All Day and All of the Night " announced they were planning legal action against
14378-664: The Sunday set, "Combination of the Two" and a version of Big Mama Thornton 's " Ball and Chain ," appear in the DVD and Blu-ray boxed set of D. A. Pennebaker 's documentary Monterey Pop released by The Criterion Collection . She is seen wearing an expensive gold tunic dress with matching pants. They were created for her by San Francisco clothing designer Colin Rose. Documentary filmmaker Pennebaker inserted two cutaway shots of Cass Elliot of
14560-537: The UK chart. The album received mostly positive reviews. Rolling Stone ' s Robert Meltzer was impressed by the sense of fun and the togetherness of the band, saying it was "the Doors' greatest album" and the best album of the year. Reviewing in New Musical Express , critic Roy Carr called it "one of their best in sometime," praising it as having "great depth, vigour and presence." Melody Maker wrote
14742-468: The UK, spending four weeks on the UK Albums Charts . The first cover pressing had a burgundy-colored, curved-corner cardboard cutout sleeve, framing a clear embossed cellophane insert, glued in from behind. Photography was credited to Wendell Hamick. According to Jac Holzman , chief executive officer of Elektra Records: "I wasn't sure there would be another album ever, so I had Bill Harvey create
14924-511: The United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian , Shawn Phillips , Lighthouse , Joni Mitchell , Tiny Tim , Miles Davis , Ten Years After , Emerson, Lake & Palmer , the Who , Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie ; the performance was the last captured on
15106-495: The album is heavily influenced by blues . It was recorded without producer Paul A. Rothchild after he quit the band over the perceived lack of quality in their studio performances. Subsequently, the band co-produced the album with longtime sound engineer Bruce Botnick . " Love Her Madly " was released as a single in March 1971, preceding the album's release, and reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Upon release,
15288-409: The album launched Joplin as a star. Cheap Thrills reached number one on the Billboard 200 album chart eight weeks after its release, and was number one for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks. The album was certified gold at release and sold over a million copies in the first month of its release. The lead single from the album, " Piece of My Heart ", reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in
15470-530: The album on hybrid SACD (2013) and double 45 RPM vinyl (2012), both editions were mastered by Doug Sax and Sangwook Nam at The Mastering Lab; the CD layer of the Super Audio CD contains the original stereo mix while the SACD layer contains Botnick's 2006 5.1 surround mix. To commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary, Rhino released a three-CD/one-LP set on December 3, 2021. It was remastered by Botnick using
15652-705: The album peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200 and reached number 28 on the UK Albums Chart . The track " Riders on the Storm " also achieved chart success. Critics including Richie Unterberger and David Quantick have called L.A. Woman one of the Doors' best albums, citing Morrison's vocal performance and the band's stripped-down return to their blues-rock roots. The Doors had achieved commercial and critical success by 1969, but for much of that year they were blacklisted from radio playlists and their concert bookings dwindled after singer Jim Morrison had been charged with profanity and indecent exposure at
15834-423: The audience (including Elliot) during Big Brother's Saturday performance when he was not allowed to point a camera at the band. The prohibition of Pennebaker from filming on Saturday afternoon came from Big Brother's manager Julius Karpen. The band had a bitter argument with Karpen and overruled him as they prepared for their second set that the festival organizers had added on the spur of the moment. Backstage at
16016-510: The band performed on This Morning , an ABC daytime 90-minute variety show that was hosted by Dick Cavett . Shortly thereafter, network employees wiped the videotape, though the audio survives. In 1969 and 1970, Joplin made three appearances on Cavett's prime-time program. Video clips from all three telecasts have been featured in numerous Joplin documentaries and YouTube uploads. Audio of Big Brother’s 1968 appearance on This Morning with Cavett has not circulated since then. Sometime in 1968,
16198-472: The band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer reacted by taking Morrison's hat and throwing it in the same direction. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he
16380-428: The band took the stage very late. According to music journalist Gillian G. Gaar, the police still did not consider the issue resolved and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song about his experience with the "little man in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding
16562-511: The band was trying faintly to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm , individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song " Tell All the People ". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and
16744-511: The band's Roadhouse Blues Tour . On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During
16926-427: The band's billing was changed to "Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company," and the media coverage given to Joplin generated resentment within the band. The other members of Big Brother thought that Joplin was on a "star trip", while others were telling Joplin that Big Brother was a terrible band and that she ought to dump them. Time magazine called Joplin "probably the most powerful singer to emerge from
17108-527: The band's performance of "Combination of the Two" for the first time in 2002 when The Criterion Collection released the boxed set. For the remainder of 1967, even after Big Brother signed with Albert Grossman, the band performed mainly in California. On February 16, 1968, the group began its first East Coast tour in Philadelphia, and the following day gave their first performance in New York City at
17290-406: The band's sloppiness. Simon was replaced by Elliot Mazer who fixed the songs by overdubbing certain parts. The album featured a cover design by counterculture cartoonist Robert Crumb . Although Cheap Thrills sounded as if it consisted of concert recordings, like on "Combination of the Two" and "I Need a Man to Love", only "Ball and Chain" was actually recorded in front of a paying audience;
17472-479: The bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work " The End " and " Light My Fire " into the pieces that would appear on their debut album . Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that
17654-684: The campus. Joplin cultivated a rebellious manner and styled herself partly after her female blues heroines and partly after the Beat poets . Her first song, " What Good Can Drinkin' Do ", was recorded on tape in December 1962 at the home of a fellow University of Texas student. She left Texas in January 1963, "Just to get away," she said, "because my head was in a much different place", hitchhiking with her friend Chet Helms to North Beach, San Francisco . Still in San Francisco in 1964, Joplin and future Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen recorded
17836-428: The crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and "You’re all a bunch of slaves!" while screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing
18018-449: The crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $ 500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested
18200-669: The expected audience levels, and he was unable to pay them. In the unfortunate circumstances the band signed with Bob Shad 's record label Mainstream Records ; recordings for the label took place in Chicago in September, but these were not satisfactory, and the band returned to San Francisco, continuing to perform live, including at the Love Pageant Rally . The band recorded two tracks, "Blindman" and "All Is Loneliness", in Los Angeles, and these were released by Mainstream as
18382-713: The fall of 1968. The band made another East Coast tour during July–August 1968, performing at the Columbia Records convention in Puerto Rico and the Newport Folk Festival . After returning to San Francisco for two hometown shows at the Palace of Fine Arts Festival on August 31 and September 1, Joplin announced that she would be leaving Big Brother. On September 14, 1968, culminating a three-night engagement together at Fillmore West, fans thronged to
18564-533: The festival, the band became acquainted with New York-based talent manager Albert Grossman but did not sign with him until several months later, firing Karpen at that time. Only "Ball and Chain" was included in the Monterey Pop film that was released to theaters throughout the United States in 1969 and shown on television in the 1970s. Those who did not attend the Monterey Pop Festival saw
18746-403: The first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City 's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in
18928-529: The first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer . That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X , Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters , Stone Temple Pilots ' Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction 's Stephen Perkins , Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara , Andrew Watt , among others. After Morrison died in 1971, Densmore and Krieger went to London looking for
19110-696: The group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse . The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV 's The Doors Are Open , later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane , including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after
19292-410: The group were unable to follow through with the threat, so they continued rehearsing the new material. Record producer Paul A. Rothchild , who worked with the band on their first five albums, attended the early sessions but quit following friction with the band. This included his dissatisfaction with the song "Love Her Madly", which "drove [him] out of the studio." He felt that recording the composition
19474-435: The group's decision in favor of " Love Her Madly " and the non-album B-side "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further". Morrison also contributed " Been Down So Long ", a song inspired by folk singer Richard Fariña 's book Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me and Furry Lewis 's tune, "I Will Turn Your Money Green". A conventional blues song reminiscent of Morrison's potential imprisonment from earlier Doors performances,
19656-424: The human experience. Manzarek explained the band did not "approach the album with one vision, but after we started working on the songs, we realized that they're talking about L.A. They're about men, women, boys, girls, love, loss, lovers-lost, and lovers-found in Los Angeles". The album, as a whole, demonstrated Morrison's songwriting abilities, combined with his poetic phrasing and enthusiasm for Los Angeles but still
19838-457: The impression Austin was her final destination and it was the location of the rock band she was joining. Joplin joined Big Brother on June 4, 1966. Her first public performance with them was at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. Soon after that, her parents received a letter from her, and that was how they learned she was in San Francisco, not Austin. In June 1966, Joplin was photographed at an outdoor concert in San Francisco that celebrated
20020-525: The incredible range of her voice." Columbia Records released " Kozmic Blues " as a single, which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, and a live rendition of "Raise Your Hand" was released in Germany and became a top ten hit there. Containing other hits like "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)", " To Love Somebody ", and " Little Girl Blue ", I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! reached number five on
20202-461: The introduction impersonates the sound of an accelerated automobile engine. In addition to "The Changeling", the Doors chose to incorporate three other compositions written before 1971: "L' America", " Crawling King Snake ", and "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)". "L'America" was intended for the soundtrack of director Michelangelo Antonioni 's 1970 counterculture film Zabriskie Point , but ultimately rejected. Manzarek recalled, "Antonioni
20384-582: The lyrics showed depression, liberation, and sexuality. Additionally, Morrison wrote the blues number "Cars Hiss by My Window". Unlike most of the other tracks, it was composed in the studio. Manzarek recalled that "Jim said it was about living in Venice [Beach], in a hot room, with a hot girlfriend, and an open window, and a bad time. It could have been about Pamela Courson". Of the remaining self-written material on L.A. Woman , Krieger wrote " Love Her Madly ", which echoed his songs of romance and insecurity. He wrote
20566-519: The middle of " Back Door Man ", the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days , experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days
20748-529: The most influential and controversial rock acts of the 1960s, primarily due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona and legal issues. The group is widely regarded as an important figure of the era's counterculture . The band took its name from the title of the English writer Aldous Huxley 's book The Doors of Perception , itself a reference to a quote by the English poet William Blake . After signing with Elektra Records in 1966,
20930-496: The music business. She also said that if she were to avoid singing professionally, she would have to become a keypunch operator, as she had done a few years earlier, or a secretary, and then a wife and mother, and she would have to become similar to all the other women in Port Arthur. Approximately a year before Joplin joined Big Brother and the Holding Company , she recorded seven studio tracks with her acoustic guitar. Among
21112-831: The nascent hippie community in Haight-Ashbury . She was recruited to join the group by Chet Helms , a promoter who was managing Big Brother and with whom she had hitchhiked from Texas to San Francisco a few years earlier. Helms sent his friend Travis Rivers to find her in Austin, Texas, where she had been performing with her acoustic guitar, and to accompany her to San Francisco. Aware of her previous nightmare with drug addiction in San Francisco, Rivers insisted that she inform her parents face-to-face of her plans, and he drove her from Austin to Port Arthur (he waited in his car while she talked with her startled parents) before they began their long drive to San Francisco. She gave her parents
21294-439: The new band was a "drag" and Joplin should "scrap" her new band and "go right back to being a member of Big Brother ... (if they'll have her)." Other reviewers, such as reporter Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post , devoted entire articles to celebrating the singer's magic. Bernstein's review said that Joplin "has finally assembled a group of first-rate musicians with whom she is totally at ease and whose abilities complement
21476-554: The night of July 18, 1969, Joplin and her band performed "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" as well as " To Love Somebody ". Released in September 1969, the Kozmic Blues album was certified gold later that year but did not match the success of Cheap Thrills . Reviews of the new group were mixed. Some music critics, including Ralph J. Gleason of the San Francisco Chronicle , were negative. Gleason wrote that
21658-461: The opening words of " Moonlight Drive ": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was then in an unsuccessful band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with
21840-413: The original master tapes. DCC Compact Classics reissued the album on 24kt gold CD in 1993 and on 180g vinyl in 1998, both versions were mastered by Steve Hoffman . It was remastered again in 1999 for The Complete Studio Recordings box set by Bernie Grundman and Botnick at Bernie Grundman Mastering, using 96khz/24bit technology; it was also released as a standalone CD release. This was followed by
22022-475: The others for future recording after he returned from Paris. The album was accompanied by the "Love Her Madly" single, which was released in March and charted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a stay of 11 weeks, but failed to chart in the UK. An additional single, "Riders on the Storm", was edited and released in June, and reached number 14 on the Billboard chart, while managing to peak at number 22 in
22204-452: The possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. Morrison, who was increasingly distancing himself from the music, announced to the other Doors members his intention to quit the group; Manzarek convinced him to stay for six more months, ahead of completing The Soft Parade ,
22386-459: The production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles (" Love Her Madly " and " Riders on the Storm ") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions,
22568-492: The program's producer told the band they would never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show . Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set, in
22750-403: The record's success to "a stripped-down yet full sound, a developed mysticism tied tightly to the band's brand of rock, and confidence born of having been a functioning unit for several years". Richie Unterberger , writing for AllMusic , described L.A. Woman as "uneven", but noted that the album contains compositions that "rate among their finest and most disturbing work". In 2003, L.A. Woman
22932-466: The recording of I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! Gabriel Mekler, who produced the album, told publicist-turned-biographer Myra Friedman after Joplin's death that she had lived in his Los Angeles house during the June 1969 recording sessions at his insistence so he could keep her away from drugs and her drug-using friends. Joplin's appearances with the Kozmic Blues Band in Europe were released in theaters, in multiple documentaries. Janis , which
23114-413: The recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel , in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see
23296-489: The rest of the tracks were studio recordings. The album had a raw quality, including the sound of a drinking glass breaking and the broken shards being swept away during the song "Turtle Blues". Cheap Thrills produced popular hits with " Piece of My Heart " and " Summertime ". Together with the premiere of the documentary film Monterey Pop at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on December 26, 1968,
23478-529: The same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar , Harvey Brooks , Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack , Jerry Scheff , Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut , which ended abruptly when Morrison
23660-453: The second of Big Brother's two sets at Monterey, which they played on Sunday, were filmed (their first set, which was on Saturday, was not filmed, though it was audio-recorded). Some sources, including a Joplin biography by Ellis Amburn, claim that she was dressed in thrift store hippie clothes or second-hand Victorian clothes during the band's Saturday set, but still photographs do not appear to have survived. Digitized color film of two songs in
23842-548: The song " Strange 2013 ", appearing on his album Something Else , which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song " Strange Days ". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford 's album Look Each Other in the Ears . On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for
24024-529: The song was the last recording of Morrison as a member of the Doors. After Morrison recorded poetry at Village Recorders on December 8, 1970, he felt encouraged to play some L.A. Woman material on tour. On December 11, the Doors performed in front of two sold-out audiences at the State Fair Music Hall in Dallas. The band opened the first concert with an extended "Love Her Madly", but struggled on older material as they had not played live since
24206-413: The song, at his house, to alleviate his boredom during Morrison's trial. L.A. Woman closes its first side with the title track , the lengthiest song on the album. Thought of as Morrison's final goodbye to Los Angeles, it communicated his mixed feelings of passion and disdain for "the city of night". The lyrics feature an anagram for Jim Morrison: "Mr. Mojo Risin ' ". Krieger's electric guitar effect at
24388-411: The song. After prompting by Densmore, he tried to sing, before bashing the mic stand into the stage until its wood splintered. The Doors agreed to stop touring and focus on completing L.A. Woman . For years, fans speculated over the possible recordings of the New Orleans concert. In 2011, George Friedman, a stage manager of the Warehouse, revealed he had a reel to reel recording of the gig secured in
24570-480: The songs she recorded were her original composition of "Turtle Blues" and an alternate version of "Cod'ine" by Buffy Sainte-Marie . These tracks were later released as an album in 1995, titled This is Janis Joplin 1965 . In 1966, Joplin's bluesy vocal style attracted the attention of the San Francisco-based psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, which had gained some renown among
24752-457: The songs that would comprise Big Brother and the Holding Company's second album, Cheap Thrills . Producer John Simon tried recording the band in concert, to capture their energy in a live album, but several attempts showed the band was prone to mistakes. Their imprecision was not helped by moving the sessions to a recording studio. Joplin sang take after take of the same song, with her performances consistently good, and she grew frustrated with
24934-460: The spot, either by jamming or talking through ideas. In a 1994 interview, guitarist Robby Krieger stated, "Rothchild was gone, which is one reason why we had so much fun. The warden was gone." Despite its troubled beginnings, L.A. Woman contains some of the Doors' most critically acclaimed songs, as well as some of their most blues -oriented. Lyrically, the album deals with contemporary topics such as love, life in Los Angeles, and complex aspects of
25116-505: The spring of 1965, after Joplin's parents noticed her weight of 88 pounds (40 kg), she changed her lifestyle. She avoided drugs and alcohol, adopted a beehive hairdo, and enrolled as an anthropology major at Lamar University in nearby Beaumont, Texas. Her sister Laura said in a 2016 interview that social work was her major during her year at Lamar. During her time at Lamar University, she commuted to Austin to sing solo, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. One of her performances
25298-438: The stage. Later, the police lieutenant approached Morrison, during which Morrison thrust the microphone against his mouth and remarked, "Say your thing, man." The concert came to an abrupt end when Morrison was dragged from the stage by the police. The audience, already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting
25480-465: The studio with little consumption of alcohol. For recording, Elvis Presley 's bassist Jerry Scheff and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno were brought in to provide additional backing. Densmore characterized Scheff as "an in-the-pocket man" for his steady supportive role, and praised how Scheff "allowed me to communicate rhythmically with Morrison, and he slowed Ray down, when his right hand on the keyboards got too darn fast". By all accounts, Morrison –
25662-453: The summer and later the University of Texas at Austin (UT), though she did not complete her college studies. The campus newspaper, The Daily Texan , ran a profile of her in the issue dated July 27, 1962, headlined "She Dares to Be Different." The article began, "She goes barefooted when she feels like it, wears Levis to class because they're more comfortable, and carries her autoharp with her everywhere she goes so that in case she gets
25844-441: The summer solstice. The image, which was later published in two books by David Dalton, shows her before she relapsed into drugs. Due to persistent persuading by keyboardist and close friend Stephen Ryder, Joplin avoided drugs for several weeks. She shared an apartment with Travis Rivers upon their arrival in San Francisco, and made him promise that using needles would not be allowed there. When bandmate Dave Getz accompanied her from
26026-503: The time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental acting company the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted
26208-522: The title of Aldous Huxley 's book The Doors of Perception , itself derived from a line in William Blake 's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell : "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog , appearing on
26390-502: The tracks from the previous single, "Blindman" and "All Is Loneliness", were added to the remaining eight tracks. When Columbia Records took over the band's contract and re-released the album, they included "Coo Coo" and "The Last Time", and put "featuring Janis Joplin" on the cover. The debut album spawned four minor hits with the singles " Down on Me ", a traditional song arranged by Joplin, "Bye Bye Baby", "Call On Me" and "Coo Coo", on all of which Joplin sang lead vocals. Two songs from
26572-449: The two together formed a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century . Due to legal battles with Densmore and the Morrison estate over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name " Manzarek–Krieger " or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore announced he would not reunite with
26754-484: The urge to break into song, it will be handy. Her name is Janis Joplin." While at UT she performed with a folk trio called the Waller Creek Boys and frequently socialized with the staff of the campus humor magazine The Texas Ranger . According to Freak Brothers cartoonist Gilbert Shelton , who befriended her, she used to sell The Texas Ranger , which contained some of Shelton's early comic books, on
26936-640: The wedding. De Blanc, who traveled frequently, ended the engagement soon afterward. In 1965 and 1966, Joplin commuted from her family's Port Arthur home to Beaumont, Texas, where she had regular sessions with a psychiatric social worker named Bernard Giarritano at a counseling agency that was funded by the United Fund, which, after her death, changed its name to the United Way . Interviewed by biographer Myra Friedman after his client's death, Giarritano said Joplin had been baffled by how she could pursue
27118-471: The white rock movement", and Richard Goldstein wrote for the May 1968 issue of Vogue magazine that Joplin was "the most staggering leading woman in rock...she slinks like tar, scowls like war...clutching the knees of a final stanza, begging it not to leave.... Janis Joplin can sing the chic off any listener." For her first major studio recording, Joplin played a major role in the arrangement and production of
27300-469: The word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan , canceled another six shows that had been planned. After
27482-404: Was a step backwards artistically, calling it " cocktail music ." Rothchild has denied a popular rumor that claimed he directed the remark toward "Riders on the Storm", explaining that he thought that song and "L.A. Woman" were "excellent in rehearsal". He maintains that his cocktail music comment was said to "make [the group] angry enough to do something good." Rothchild was frustrated that the group
27664-530: Was approached in the Holiday Inn lobby by reporters asking her questions. She referred them to her friend and occasional lover Peggy Caserta as she was too excited to speak. Soon after that, Joplin was flown by helicopter with the pregnant Joan Baez and Baez's mother to the festival site. During the helicopter ride, she saw the enormous crowd and instantly became extremely nervous and giddy, as Baez recalled. Other helicopters flew her band musicians and Caserta. In Caserta's memoir I Ran Into Some Trouble that
27846-469: Was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a live performance. Prior to the start of the concert, Morrison was either having a private conversation with or kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out
28028-467: Was arrested in San Francisco for shoplifting. During the two years that followed, her drug use increased and she acquired a reputation as a "speed freak" and occasional heroin user. She also used other psychoactive drugs and was a heavy drinker throughout her career; her favorite alcoholic beverage was Southern Comfort . In May 1965, Joplin's friends in San Francisco, noticing the detrimental effects on her from regularly injecting methamphetamine —she
28210-422: Was at a benefit by local musicians for Texas bluesman Mance Lipscomb , who was suffering with ill health. Joplin became engaged to Peter de Blanc in the fall of 1965. She had begun a relationship with him toward the end of her first stint in San Francisco. Now living in New York where he worked with IBM computers, he visited her to ask her father for her hand in marriage. Joplin and her mother began planning
28392-681: Was at the Mantra-Rock Dance , a musical event held on January 29 at the Avalon Ballroom by the San Francisco Hare Krishna temple . Janis Joplin and Big Brother performed there along with the Hare Krishna founder Bhaktivedanta Swami , Allen Ginsberg , Moby Grape , and the Grateful Dead , donating proceeds to the Krishna temple. In early 1967, Joplin met Country Joe McDonald of the group Country Joe and
28574-519: Was at the O'Keefe Centre stems mostly from the title, as the venue shown in the video has a dance floor, which the Centre didn't have. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show . According to Manzarek, network executives asked that
28756-586: Was based on one that Morrison had written and recorded in early 1969, providing both vocals and piano. The Doors reunited at the turn of the century to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. Following the sessions, band members reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1 Storytellers . For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction , Pat Monahan , Ian Astbury of
28938-614: Was born in Port Arthur, Texas , on ( 1943-01-19 ) January 19, 1943, to Dorothy Bonita East (1913–1998), a registrar at a business college, and her husband, Seth Ward Joplin (1910–1987), an engineer at Texaco . She had two younger siblings, Laura and Michael. The family attended First Christian Church of Port Arthur, a church belonging to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination. Her parents felt that Janis needed more attention than their other children. As
29120-525: Was described as "skeletal" and "emaciated"— persuaded her to return to Port Arthur. During that month, her friends threw her a bus-fare party so she could return to her parents in Texas. Five years later, Joplin told Rolling Stone magazine writer David Dalton the following about her first stint in San Francisco: "I didn't have many friends and I didn't like the ones I had." Back in Port Arthur in
29302-472: Was disappointed with "Been Down So Long" and "L'America". In his 1994 book The Complete Guide to the Music of The Doors , Peter K. Hogan describes the album as an expansion on the style from Morrison Hotel , but in a more coherent form. He also believed L.A. Woman was a fitting swan song for Morrison, who was pleased to finally record a blues-oriented album. Sal Cinquemani, reviewing the album for Slant Magazine , considers L.A. Woman to be "the sound of
29484-479: Was dubbed with a voiceover in the German language for broadcast on television in West Germany. John Byrne Cooke, road manager for Joplin and the Kozmic Blues Band, wrote a book published in 2014 in which he discussed her knowledge of the risks of her ongoing use of narcotics, particularly when she was outside the United States. On the episode of The Dick Cavett Show that was telecast in the United States on
29666-568: Was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall on November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium on November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place
29848-407: Was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the cause of death was listed as heart failure. He was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club . In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. Morrison's passing stamped
30030-467: Was her final recording. Joplin died of a heroin overdose in 1970, at the age of 27 , after releasing three albums (two with Big Brother and the Holding Company and one solo album). A second solo album, Pearl , was released in January 1971, three months after her death. It reached number one on the Billboard 200 . She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Rolling Stone ranked Joplin number 46 on its 2004 list of
30212-527: Was interested in using it in Zabriskie Point . So we played it for him, and it was so loud, it pinned him up against the wall. When it was over, he thanked us and fled. So he turned to Pink Floyd , as European filmmakers tend to do when they want rock & roll." Previously titled "Latin America", it was originally written and recorded during the sessions for Morrison Hotel , and the only work during
30394-415: Was made available with or without an accompanying DVD that features the 5.1 surround sound version of the album along with Doors' rehearsal footage. This remix series has been criticized because "the band chose to remix and tinker with [the albums], adding and cutting from a few tracks and including unused instrumental parts." For example, "Cars Hiss By My Window" features an extra verse and other additions for
30576-400: Was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single " People Are Strange " inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange . Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days
30758-597: Was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. The Doors made their international television debut on October 16, 1967, performing a live version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at their Parliament Street Colour Studio in Toronto. It was recorded in September when they were in Toronto and transmitted on the show O'Keefe Centre Presents . The misconception that it
30940-543: Was ostracized and bullied in high school. As a teen, she became overweight and suffered from acne, leaving her with deep scars that required dermabrasion . Other kids at high school would routinely taunt her and call her names like "pig," "freak," " nigger lover," or "creep." She said, "I was a misfit. I read, I painted, I thought. I didn't hate niggers." Joplin graduated from high school in 1960 and attended Lamar State College of Technology in Beaumont, Texas , during
31122-439: Was our last album ... It really captured what we were all about. The first record did, too, but L.A. Woman is more loose, it's live – it sounds almost like a rehearsal. It's pure Doors. – Robby Krieger reflecting on the album during a 2012 interview L.A. Woman was released on April 19, 1971. It reached number nine on the Billboard 200 , remaining on the charts for 36 weeks, and reached number 28 in
31304-402: Was over my head and I tried to calm her down. I said, 'They're just doing mescaline,' because that's what I thought it was. She said, 'You don't understand! I can't see that! I just can't stand to see that!'" A San Francisco concert from that summer (1966) was recorded and released on the 1984 album Cheaper Thrills . In July, all five bandmates and guitarist James Gurley 's wife Nancy moved to
31486-401: Was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, 'Holy shit, that's strong'." Manzarek formulates, "Basically, it's a variation on ' Milestones ', by Miles Davis , and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called " Breakn' a Sweat ", was recorded for Skrillex's EP Bangarang . In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for
31668-617: Was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee , whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick . The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of
31850-423: Was published in 2018, she says she was the only passenger in a helicopter that Joplin arranged specifically for her. Initially, Joplin was eager to get on the stage and perform, but was repeatedly delayed as bands were contractually obliged to perform ahead of Joplin. Faced with a ten-hour wait after arriving at the backstage area, Joplin spent some of that time shooting heroin and drinking alcohol with Caserta in
32032-441: Was ranked number 362 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ". When the list was revised in 2012, to accommodate a number of albums released since 2003, the album was repositioned at number 364. Both Ultimate Classic Rock and Stereogum named it the Doors' second best album, with the latter's Ryan Leas adding in the website, "It traveled the same raw blues-rock lane as its predecessor, but now
32214-449: Was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In the ceremony, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set , the surviving members of the Doors reconvened to complete "Orange County Suite". The track
32396-704: Was reviewed by The Washington Post on March 21, 1975, shows Joplin arriving in Frankfurt by plane and waiting inside a bus next to the Frankfurt venue, while an American female fan who is visiting Germany expresses enthusiasm to the camera. No security was used in Frankfurt, so by the end of the concert, the stage was so packed with people the band members could not see each other. Janis includes interviews with Joplin in Stockholm and from her visit to London , for her gig at Royal Albert Hall . The London interview
32578-454: Was slow in developing new material, especially as the band contained three songwriters. He was unable to persuade Morrison to consistently attend rehearsals. As Bruce Botnick revealed in the book Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre , another issue that led to Rothchild's leaving was the emotional devastation he felt at the death of Janis Joplin , having worked with her on Pearl . Rothchild left before any master takes were complete, recommending that
32760-476: Was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to
32942-462: Was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglas Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on
33124-473: Was well-received, noted by Jazz & Pop magazine as "a return to the tight fury of early Doors' music". The band conflicted with their record company, Elektra Records , who released the Doors' first compilation album, 13 , to have a product for the Christmas market. It was released without the band's input, and featured a large image of a younger Morrison, upsetting him enough to threaten signing with another label. As their contract required one more album,
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