THE DOORS LIVE IN ANN ARBOR: NOT JUST A FLOP

20 October 1967: not even a month has passed since the release of The Doors' wonderful second album, "Strange Days" (25 September 1967).

The group had already become famous thanks to the single "Light My Fire" and their debut album, "The Doors".

That evening, the band played in Ann Arbor, Michigan, near Detroit. The venue was packed, and Jim Morrison arrived in a terrible state due to the large amount of alcohol he had consumed.

When the other three band members — Robby Krieger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek — started the first song, "Soul Kitchen", Morrison was not on stage.

After a few minutes marked by the electric organ intro, the singer still wasn’t on stage. The band then stopped the show and found Morrison, bringing him in front of the crowd. They then started again with the first song.

Unfortunately, Morrison was in no condition to perform, slurring incoherent words over the music the other band members kept on playing. Soon, the audience started to complain and several people began to leave.

Exasperated by the situation, the drummer and guitarist also left the stage, unwilling to continue under these conditions.

However, Manzarek remained on stage with Morrison, picked up Krieger's electric guitar and tried to accompany Morrison's singing with some blues chords (check out the infamous photo that captures this moment!).

It was not The Doors' lucky night, and even then, their frontman could not regain the inspiration that usually made his live performances great.

The audience was disappointed, and the quartet made one last attempt to play. By this point, only a few people remained in the room.

Despite the musical disaster, the Ann Arbor show remains a meaningful concert that transcends Morrison's excesses.

By stepping completely outside the box and defying audience expectations, the frontman added a dimension of authenticity and transgressive originality to rock music.

This became a defining feature of the genre and constituted its flamboyant, provocative and rebellious side.

All of this also contributed to the myth of Jim Morrison's brilliant rebelliousness, as well as to the fame he gained for undermining conformist rules. Although not successful, this performance by The Doors also had another important effect on music history.

In fact, a 20-year-old boy named James Osterberg attended the show that evening. Fascinated by what he saw and heard, he formed his own band a few months later.

He would adopt the stage name Iggy Pop and found a band called The Stooges.

Even when their performance did not live up to their great abilities, The Doors were able to capture people’s imagination with their art.

By inspiring a great artist and creating paradigms that are still inextricably linked with rock music today, The Doors, and Morrison in particular, made history in Ann Arbor once again.

My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is available on Amazon.com, .uk, .mx, .ca, .it, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”