One of my top three favorite bands would have to be the legendary psychedelic Rock band The Doors. They were actually originally psychedelic rock then changed into more of a soft rock type genre but still staying true to their original roots then developing into a blues rock genre. The band originated in Los Angeles California in 1965 with The infamous Jim Morrison singing lead vocals, Robby Krieger on Guitar, Ray Manzarek playing the keyboard, and John Densmore on the drums. The band lacked a bassist but with the style of the music they were playing and Ray Manzarek's discovery of a piano bass it worked out beautifully. There self titled debut album The Doors was a huge success. The album was basically a compilation of all their songs they performed live in clubs especially the whiskey a go go which was an extremely popular club for up and coming musicians at the time. The whole album was exceptional but the most popular songs would be Break onThrough (To The Other Side), The Crystal Ship,Alabama Song The bands first number one hit and probably their most popular song Light My Fire from The Doors really launched their career and even though Morrison wrote the lyrics of the songs light my fire was written by the guitarist Robby Krieger. The Doors were notorious for their unique sound, also they became popular in the mid 60 's and while The Beatles were singing about love being the only thing you need Morrison was singing about Death, The end and psychedelic eerie topics, drug influenced and drug related songs.Their second album strange days that featured peculiar album cover. This album was also a big success with the hit single strange days that was the epitome of psychedelic/acid rock.Love Me Two Times, People are Strange, Moonlight Drive, When The Music's Over are also terrific songs from strange days. The album Waiting For The Sun was probably their least successful one. The song Waiting for the sun was a good number but didn't really achieve a high status on the charts. Although most of my favorite Doors songs are on this album including Love Street, The Unknown Soldier, and Spanish Caravan. They changed the theme and tone of their music and came out with the album The Soft Parade which featured trumpets, violins, trombones and other orchestral instruments. Some fans didn't like this album because they weren't staying true to their original style and therefore selling out. That didn't stop the band from producing more hit songs with there release of Morrison Hotel. Popular songs from this album include Roadhouse Blues, Waiting For The Sun, and Peace Frog. My favorite has to be L.A. Woman is album was actually rejected by the recording studio before even starting recording. The producer told the band that the material was boring and refused to record it. So instead of not recording the album at all they used someone's apartment and set up a homemade recording studio. With the band in one room and Jim Morrison drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes in the bathroom with the wire trailing from the main room. I love this album because it's very different from their other albums. It is blues rock and the hit single L.A. Woman is without a doubt my favorite doors song. When the band broke up in 1973 and the band went their separate ways. Although the band pretty much stayed together and kept recording music without their legendary singer. Morrison moved to Paris with his dear beloved girlfriend Pam. Anyone who knew Morrison at the time could tell that he was falling hard. Sporting a full grown man of the mountain beard and a beer gut. He was drinking heavily as he always did and smoking three packs a day. There are many theories of how Jim Morrison died most people we Pamela had a terrible heroin habit Most people were convinced that he asked his own death trying to hide from the overwhelming fame others thought he developed a heroin habit and overdosed. It was even believed by some people that he was murdered by Pamela. After reading No One Here Gets Out Alive: The biography of Jim Morrison it is clear that one night in Paris Jim was belligerently drunk as usual and both Jim and Pam shot up heroin, Jim was not a user this must. Have been one of his first times shooting up. But when you mix alcohol and heroin it is very bad because both drugs are depressants and combine to make a high chance of heart attack and that is exactly what happened. Pamela discovered Jim Morrison's corpse in the bathtub in their Paris home. The actual cause of his death was released years after the tragic event. Jim Morrison was buried in a graveyard in Paris only to be moved back to America because people essentially partying next to his grave and causing disturbances so they were forced to transport his body. As for the rest of the band members, they released a good amount of other albums including An American Prayer which was a spoken word album consisting of the bands recorded music with Morrison's poetry which he had recorded years prior. The album was a success and The Ghost Song off of An American Prayer remains one of my favorite Doors songs. In my mind the doors are one of the few greatest original Rock n' Roll bands to ever exist and Jim Morrison is the American poet.

Pop Punk Legend

The band Green Day to me is a punk legend the music they play with their unmistakable sound is so driven. Billie Joe Armstrong the lead vocalist and guitarist, bassist Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool on drums all brought the ideal specific traits of a successful punk band. Armstrong’s distinctive range, voice and steady heavy power chords are the foundation of the band. Although Mike Dirnt is an absolutely superb bassist, and Tre Cool has so much soul and energy into his playing that intensifies the sound.

I am not very fond Green Day’s later albums such as American Idiot but I do enjoy certain songs on that album. 21st Century Breakdown unfortunately not very appealing. They almost lost their originality, but the controversy with the band selling out is not a topic to care about. One of their first studio recording albums Kerplunk had minimal success. The album Dookie was released in 1994 and is where the band really took off and is widely considered their greatest album of their career and is my favorite. Most people know or have heard songs from this album like “Longview” with the pumping bass intro and Billy Joe’s tales of loneliness and boredom told through as traditional punk/grunge style starting with a slow soft verse followed by an overdriven up tempo chorus and repeating. Two other singles off Dookie that largely contributed to its success are “Basketcase” and “When I come around”. The songs that really stand out to me on this album are burnout with the first lyrics I‘m not growin up! im just burnin out! And I step in line to walk amongst the dead and the jumbled confusing order makes it a excellent punk song. “Chump” is the song that actually interludes into “Longview” and is only about a minute of lyrics and music but is very cool. Three others are “Pulling Teeth” “She” and “Sassafras Roots”.

Insomniac released in 1995 is their harder punk album you could say. Top kicks from this album are “Geek Stink Breath”, Bab’s Uvula Who?, and “Walking Contradiction”. Top Picks from Nimrod released in 1997 are “The Grouch”, “Redundant”, “Uptight”, “Walking Alone”, and King For Day. This album is longer with 18 songs while Dookie and Nimrod have both have 14 songs. Green Day’s most acknowledged and famous song that you have definitely heard unless you live under a rock is “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”. It is completely different than almost all of their music with nothing but Billie Joe’s voice, his acoustic guitar and serenading violins.