The Doors (album)

The Doors is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released on January 4, 1967, by Elektra Records. Recorded in August 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California, the album was produced by Paul A. Rothchild. It contains the full-length version of the group's breakthrough single "Light My Fire" and concludes with "The End", noted for its improvised Oedipal spoken-word section.^[4]

The Doors developed much of the material for their debut during live performances in 1966, particularly at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. After being dismissed from the venue, they signed with Elektra and began recording sessions. Musically, the album incorporates a wide range of styles, including jazz, blues, classical, pop, and R&B, all anchored in a rock foundation.^[5] The Doors has since been recognized as a landmark of psychedelic rock and one of the most influential albums of the 1960s, inspiring numerous subsequent artists and recordings.^[6]

The album was a commercial and critical success, establishing the Doors as a leading rock act of their era. Both The Doors and "Light My Fire" have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[7] As of 2015, the album has sold over 13 million copies worldwide, making it the Doors’ best-selling record.^[8][9]

Widely considered one of the greatest debut albums in rock history, The Doors has also been consistently ranked among the greatest albums of all time by various publications, including the BBC and Rolling Stone. The latter placed it at number 42 on its 2003 and 2012 lists of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and at number 86 in the 2020 update.^[10][6]