10 Rock Bands That Destroyed Their Own Legacies

The Doors are essential listening for anyone remotely interested in rock music. Their mix of blues, jazz, rock, and avant garde opened the doors for bold new musical ventures down the road. At the heart of all the chaos was always the booming voice and captivating stage presence of Jim Morrison.

So how do you squander the potential of one of the greatest groups in rock and roll? Simple: strip them of what made them great in the first place. After the band's great blues swansong LA Woman, Jim Morrison moved to Paris, where he wrote poetry and spent time him with his girlfriend before his sudden death from heart failure. Rather than call it quits, the band decided to continue playing the same music they had always played.

It's completely understandable for these guys to still grow as musicians, but the following albums they released under the Doors name really put a damper on the band's stellar album run. Whereas most of the early Doors records felt primal and dangerous, these albums were bland caricatures of the music that made the 60's great. The band eventually folded and occasionally reunited to celebrate their early work, but the last days of the Doors made America's most notorious band sound tame.