The 25 Best Doors Songs, from Break On Through to Riders on the Storm

What is the most famous song by The Doors?

"Light My Fire" is the most famous song by The Doors, a 1967 number one with a long, hypnotic organ and guitar solo. "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", "People Are Strange", "Roadhouse Blues" and "Riders on the Storm" are their other classics.

The Doors songs from their 1967 debut

1. "Break On Through (To the Other Side)": their first single and the album's explosive opener.
2. "Light My Fire": their breakthrough number one, written mostly by Robby Krieger.
3. "The Crystal Ship": a dreamy, romantic ballad.
4. "Twentieth Century Fox": a swaggering rocker.
5. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)": a cover of a Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill song.
6. "Back Door Man": a heavy take on the Willie Dixon blues.
7. "Soul Kitchen": a funky, organ-driven favorite.
8. "The End": an 11-minute epic later used in Apocalypse Now.

The Doors songs from Strange Days (1967)

9. "People Are Strange": a short, eerie hit about feeling like an outsider.
10. "Love Me Two Times": a bluesy rocker with a harpsichord-like solo.
11. "Strange Days": the moody title track.
12. "Moonlight Drive": one of the first songs Morrison wrote.
13. "When the Music's Over": an 11-minute centerpiece.

Songs from Waiting for the Sun and The Soft Parade (1968 and 1969)

14. "Hello, I Love You": their second number one.
15. "Spanish Caravan": flamenco guitar meets rock.
16. "The Unknown Soldier": an anti-war song with a dramatic video.
17. "Five to One": a heavy, menacing rocker.
18. "Touch Me": a horn-driven hit from The Soft Parade.
19. "Wild Child": a hypnotic, Middle Eastern-flavored track.

The Doors songs from Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman (1970 and 1971)

20. "Roadhouse Blues": a bar-band classic with harmonica.
21. "Peace Frog": a funky, wah-wah driven song.
22. "Waiting for the Sun": the title track that finally appeared on Morrison Hotel.
23. "Love Her Madly": an upbeat single.
24. "L.A. Woman": a driving love letter to Los Angeles.
25. "Riders on the Storm": a moody masterpiece with rain and thunder effects.

Who were The Doors?

The Doors formed in Los Angeles in 1965, when film students Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek met again on Venice Beach and decided to start a band, joined by guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They took their name from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception. The band had no bass player in concert: Manzarek played the bass lines on a keyboard bass with his left hand. Between 1967 and 1971 they released six studio albums with Morrison, who died in Paris in 1971 at the age of 27. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

The story behind Light My Fire

Robby Krieger wrote most of "Light My Fire", one of the first songs he ever wrote, and the band shaped it in rehearsal with Manzarek's famous organ intro. The full album version runs about seven minutes with long solos, and a shortened single edit topped the chart in 1967. When the band played it on The Ed Sullivan Show, Morrison ignored a request to change one line, and they were never invited back.

The story behind Riders on the Storm

"Riders on the Storm" was one of the last songs The Doors recorded with Jim Morrison, for L.A. Woman. Manzarek's electric piano, the sound of rain and thunder and Morrison's whispered vocal created a haunting mood, and the song was a hit shortly after Morrison's death. See our songs about rain for more stormy classics.

The Doors on film

"The End" opens Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), one of the most famous uses of a rock song in cinema. In 1991, Oliver Stone's film The Doors, with Val Kilmer as Morrison, introduced the band to a new generation and sent their albums back up the charts.

Which Doors album to start with

For newcomers, the 1967 debut The Doors is the essential starting point, with "Break On Through", "Light My Fire" and "The End". L.A. Woman (1971) shows the band at its bluesy best, and Strange Days (1967) is a favorite of longtime fans. A good greatest hits collection covers the singles, but the long album tracks are where the band's improvising shines.

The Doors songs for a road trip or a party

For a drive, "Roadhouse Blues", "L.A. Woman", "Peace Frog" and "Love Her Madly" keep the miles rolling, and "Riders on the Storm" is perfect after dark. For a 60s-themed party, mix "Light My Fire", "Hello, I Love You" and "Touch Me" with other classics from the decade. See our road trip songs for more.

A rock song with a poet's soul

For a Doors fan, a personalized rock song can capture that moody, poetic spirit with their own story: their name, the places they love and the moments that shaped them. It makes a memorable birthday gift, and our gift ideas for rock music lovers have more ideas.

How to create a personalized rock song

1. Choose a style from 14 genres: rock, acoustic, ambient and more.
2. Add their name.
3. Share three memories or details about them.
4. Review the lyrics and edit or regenerate them for free before any music is made.
5. Listen to 4 free 45-second previews and choose your favorite.

The full 3 to 4 minute song costs $35.99, or $40.99 for Premium with four full versions and editable lyrics. You get the MP3, a gift page and the lyrics as a PDF.

Give them a song of their own: create a song and hear four previews for free.