The Doors Prove Strange Days Are Still With Us

By NPR Staff

Published December 3, 2011 at 4:40 PM EST

Founded in Los Angeles in 1960s, <a href="http://www.npr.org/artists/15446942/the-doors">The Doors</a> (left to right: drummer John Densmore, keyboard player Ray Mansarek, vocalist Jim Morrison and guitarist Robby Krieger) took their name from Aldous Huxley's 1954 book, <em>The Doors of Perception</em>. — Founded in Los Angeles in 1960s, The Doors (left to right: drummer John Densmore, keyboard player Ray Mansarek, vocalist Jim Morrison and guitarist Robby Krieger) took their name from Aldous Huxley's 1954 book, *The Doors of Perception*.

To this day, Jim Morrison is one of the most significant frontmen to grace the rock stage. His band, The Doors, was unpredictable, mysterious, thrilling — even frightening.

In his new book,The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years, music writer Greil Marcus explores how the rock group came to define an era yet remain relevant today.

Even after all these years, people are still drawn to the band. It's definitely because of the music, Marcus tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin, and, of course, Morrison himself. Yet what really made the band magnetic, he says, was something deeper.

"There was a sense of dread all through their music," Marcus says. "A sense of running away from anything that smelled of a happy ending, because that was false — they caught that current that everyone felt under their skin."