10 Hard Rock Albums MUCH Better Than You Remember

10. Waiting for the Sun - The Doors

Towards the end of the '60s, rock was beginning to sound a lot more dangerous. With the emergence of heavier songs from the Beatles and the Stones infiltrating the airwaves, the time was just right for the Doors to come through with their psychedelic freakouts like Light My Fire and People Are Strange. So since their self-titled debut and Strange Days get all of the glory, why does Waiting For the Sun get treated like a stop gap?

Even though this record did have an ace in the hole with the Kinks-like single Hello I Love You, that drastically undersells the wild experimentation that goes on across the rest of this album. Leaning into their experimental side for the first time, Ray Manzarak and Robby Krieger have a field day with their instrumentation, from the off-kilter pop of Love Street to the weird flamenco guitar noodlings going on in Spanish Caravan.

Jim Morrison is no slouch either, with some of the most charismatic performance he has ever committed to tape, both restrained like on Yes the River Knows and chaotic on the acappella My Wild Love.

However, the magic doesn't truly reach its full potential until Not to Touch the Earth, whose weird aura and original drone-y structure combines everything dark about the Doors into one neat package. Though this album is a clear snapshot of the Summer of Love, the reception should have been a bit better than just a throwaway.