With his skintight leather pants, come-hither looks and sex appeal, The Doors frontman, Jim Morrison, was the quintessential rock god of the late 1960s. And on July 29, 1967, acolytes of the Los Angeles band propelled The Doors’ first hit on Elektra Records, “Light My Fire,” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
More hits would follow – as would erratic behavior. Most notoriously, Morrison was convicted of public profanity and indecent exposure stemming from a March 1, 1969 concert in Miami. Little more than two years later, he was found dead in a bathtub on July 3, 1971 in Paris. The 27-year-old died of heart failure, according to officials, despite rumors of a heroin overdose. (No autopsy was performed.)
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With Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek sharing vocal duties, the surviving members made three albums – one featuring spoken-word poetry previously recorded by Morrison – before disbanding in 1973. But The Doors – and Morrison’s – legacy lives on. Eleven of their 15 charting singles preceded Morrison’s death, while 20 of 28 charting albums followed it. (Most were compilations, live sets or archival recordings.) Oliver Stone chronicled their story in the 1991 film The Doors, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2007.