THE DOORS AT "AMERICAN BANDSTAND" (12 JULY '67): REACHING FAME

On 12 July 1967, The Doors made their first appearance on a national television show. They were guests on "American Bandstand", a well-known music program that was widely watched by a young audience.

Following the release of their debut album, "The Doors", and their first single, "Break on Through (To The other Side)", in January 1967, the Californian band had yet to receive any significant market response.

In March, the second single, "Light My Fire" (in its abbreviated version), was released. This time, the song began to climb up the charts and eventually reached #1 by the end of July (link here).

By 12 July 1967, the growing success of “Light My Fire” had considerably increased The Doors' fame, and they were recording another LP, “Strange Days” (released in September 1967).

Against this backdrop, the band appeared on Dick Clark's show, "American Bandstand", which was recorded in Los Angeles and broadcast ten days later, on 22 July (link here).

This appearance marked a turning point in the band's career, and from then on they would become a national and, a year later, international musical phenomenon.

The part of the show featuring The Doors began with the host announcing the group and their song, "The Crystal Ship", to the audience.

As well as being included on the first LP, this wonderful song was also used as the B-side of the aforementioned single, "Light My Fire". Here, the performance is lip-synced, and Jim Morrison appears subdued, as he almost always did on television or when concerts were filmed.

After the song, all the band members were interviewed.

Manzarek preferred not to define the genre of The Doors' music, leaving that task to listeners.

Morrison seized the opportunity of this brief interview to share one of his most memorable quotes with America: "The West is the best".

While John Densmore revealed that the band were working on their second LP, Morrison announced its title, "Strange Days", adopting a tone that was somewhere between aloof and enthusiastic.

Robby Krieger, on the other hand, announced a UK tour that actually would not take place for another year and two months.

After this talk, the music returned and, this time, the hit of the moment, “Light My Fire”, was played lip-syncing. By that time, the song had already entered the top ten of the best-selling singles and was set to climb rapidly up the charts.

In the song, Morrison sang the word "higher" without any hesitation. About a month later, this same word would cause The Doors no small amount of inconvenience on the "Ed Sullivan Show" (also on television).

The television appearance on "American Bandstand" finally allowed the group to break the ice with the American public and expose themselves and their music to a young generation in the midst of cultural and social change.

With the help of music and television, The Doors achieved star status in mid-July 1967 and were ready to use their fame and amazing music to challenge the established certainties of a predominantly traditional society.

P.S.: 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, .it, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”