Editing The Doors (section)

=== Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) ===
[[File:The Doors Logo.png|right|thumb|The Doors logo, designed by an [[Elektra Records]] assistant, first appeared on their 1967 debut album.]]
The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances [[Jim Morrison]] and [[Ray Manzarek]] on [[Venice,_Los_Angeles#Venice_Beach|Venice Beach]] in July 1965. They recognized each other as they had both attended the [[UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television]]. Morrison confided in Manzarek that he had been writing songs.{{sfn|Manzarek|1998|p=94}} As Morrison would later relate to [[Jerry Hopkins (author)|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."{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=75}} With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang 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.<ref name=NPRRay>{{cite web|last=Rogers|first=Brent|title=NPR interview with Ray Manzarek|website=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/05/24/185827139/remembering-ray-manzarek-keyboardist-for-the-doors|publisher=[[NPR]] – Publicly accessed|access-date=June 5, 2013}}</ref>

Manzarek was then in an unsuccessful band called [[Rick & the Ravens]] with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer [[John Densmore]] was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes.{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=show 43}} Densmore joined the group later in August 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from [[jazz]], rock, [[blues]], and [[folk music]] idioms.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jon |last1=Pareles |first2=Mickey |last2=Vallee |chapter=The Doors |title=The Grove Dictionary of American Music |title-link=The Grove Dictionary of American Music |publisher=[[Oxford Music Online]] |edition=2nd |date=July 10, 2012}}</ref> The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan,{{refn|group=nb|Patty Sullivan was later credited using her married name Patricia Hansen in the Doors' 1997 [[The Doors: Box Set#Disc 1: Without a Safety Net|''Box Set'' CD release]].{{sfn|Weidman|2011|p=88}}<ref name="liner" />}} and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles.{{refn|group=nb|These recordings were officially available much later in October 1997, on the Doors' ''Box Set'' CD release. This has circulated widely since then as a [[bootleg recording]].<ref name="liner">{{cite AV media notes |title=The Doors: Box Set |title-link=The Doors: Box Set |others=The Doors |type=Liner notes & CD booklet|year=1997 |publisher=[[Elektra Records]] |id=62123-2}}</ref>}} The band took their name from 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".<ref name="Documentary">{{cite AV media |title=[[When You're Strange]] |year=2010 |people=The Doors |type=Documentary |publisher=[[Rhino Entertainment]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Densmore|1990|p=53}} In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist [[Robby Krieger]] joined.{{sfn|Manzarek|1998|p=139}}

[[File:Whisky a Go-Go.jpg|left|thumb|[[Whisky a Go Go]]]]
From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club [[London Fog (nightclub)|London Fog]], appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer".{{sfn|Weidman|2011|pp=120–121}} 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 (The Doors song)|The End]]" and "[[Light My Fire]]" into the pieces that would appear on their [[The Doors (album)|debut album]].{{sfn|Weidman|2011|pp=120–121}} Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness&nbsp;... that is where the magic began to happen."{{sfn|Weidman|2011|pp=120–121}} The group soon graduated to the more esteemed [[Whisky a Go Go]] after being booked by Ronnie Haran,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Grow |first=Kory |date=2016-12-16 |title=The Doors Reflect on Earliest Concerts, Jim Morrison's Genius |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-doors-reflect-on-earliest-concerts-jim-morrisons-genius-121497/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including [[Van Morrison]]'s group [[Them (band)|Them]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.creemmagazine.com/_site/BeatGoesOn/NiteCity/DarkSideOfLA001.html |last=Goldstein |first=Patrick |title=Nite City: The Dark Side of L.A. |date=September 1977 |magazine=[[Creem]] |access-date=March 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709054645/http://www.creemmagazine.com/_site/BeatGoesOn/NiteCity/DarkSideOfLA001.html |archive-date=July 9, 2008}}</ref> On their last night together the two bands joined up for "[[In the Midnight Hour]]" and a twenty-minute jam session of "[[Gloria (Them song)|Gloria]]".{{sfn|Weidman|2011|p=128}}{{sfn|Gaar|2015|p=26}}

On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by [[Elektra Records]] president [[Jac Holzman]], who was present at the recommendation of [[Love (band)|Love]] singer [[Arthur Lee (musician)|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&nbsp;— 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 the [[Greek myth]] of [[Oedipus]] during "The End".{{sfn|Cherry|2013|p=13}}
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