10 Underrated Musicians In Legendary Bands

When putting together the ideal rock band setup, there are certain things that need to be checked off the list. As much as the singer is at the forefront of every single track, you also need to focus on having a guitar player who can really make the guitar wail. Even at a time when rock and roll was first discovering itself, the Doors had a weird setup with the center of attention being on the keyboardist.

Then again, Ray Manzarak's resume goes into more than just the typical rock and roll piano player, putting together textures of musical fragments like the classical tinged opening to Light My Fire or the falling raindrop sounds at the beginning of Riders on the Storm. From the sound of these little moments, you can tell that Ray is the most musically informed member of the group, having actually been trained in more classical composers along with the blues, jazz and rock in the Doors' world.

In fact, Manzarak actually played double duty when the Doors performed live, playing all of the bass parts with his left hand since the group never had a steady bass player throughout their tenure. While many bands can get by with drums, guitar, and vocals, if you take the keyboardist out of the Doors' equation, everything starts to fall apart.