10 Greatest Keyboardists In Hard Rock

After the allure of the British Invasion gave way to the hippie movement, a lot of people were turning to psychedelia to soothe their rock buzz. Compared to the folk rock traditional movement that was underway around the same time, most bands were grabbing fuzz boxes and cranking up the distortion to create acid-infused odes to the rock and roll lifestyle. Though most acts found their calling with distorted guitars, the Doors got their warped energy from a completely different place.

When putting together the building blocks of the group, Jim Morrison actually formed the Doors' with schoolmate Ray Manzarak, who's piano gave a nice new flavor to the traditional '60s sound. Though they would eventually land an equally competent guitarist in Robbie Krieger, Ray was really the star of the show alongside Morrison, making Beethoven-by-way-of-Elvis on songs like Light My Fire. Oftentimes live, Manzarak would also do double duty by playing the piano bass, since the Doors never had a set bass player in the group throughout their tenure.

Even with all of the psychedelic hellscapes generated by Morrison's poetry, Manzarak always found a way to make his keyboard actually work in a rock context, from the off-kilter honky tonk sound of People Are Strange to the raindrops falling on Riders on the Storm. Though there are plenty of guitar heroes in the world, Manzarak may be the one keyboardist who could be considered as essential as any six-stringer.