10 Best Hard Rock Albums Of The 1960's
3. The Doors - the Doors
Whenever people talk about the idealistic 60's scene, more often than not they turn to San Francisco. Being ground zero for the hippie movement, every suburban kid seemed to dream of living in the beautiful sunshine of California. Once you hit LA, The Doors were seizing control of something much heavier than the typical Flower Power movements.
Formed by college dropouts Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarak, the Doors sound came together by combining blues, pop, and jazz into an electrifying rock concoction. Though the band have been known for their psychedelic tendencies, the message behind the tunes on their debut were much greater than a drug-fueled utopia. Jim Morrison's lyrics read like poetry as he describes everything from love to danger in his captivating baritone. Even more eclectic cuts like "Alabama Song" are absolutely dripping with menace, almost as if the band are trying to take all the innocence out of this showtune.
Being cut mostly live, this is the record that shows the band at their rawest, which worked wonders given Morrison's more theatrical stage behavior. For every beautiful passage like "Crystal Ship," something like "The End" is around the corner to completely fry your brain. In just one record, the Doors turned the psychedelic movement into something much more dangerous and shook the rock world to its core.