If nothing else, the Doors can stand as a representative sample of the music industry's adage, 'sex, drugs & rock 'n roll.' Conveniently, Doors front man Jim Morrison could take care of the 'drugs' part all by himself. Though it would be easy to dismiss the band and their music as more notorious than talented, the Doors did have a lasting and enormous influence on the rock scene.

You can't accuse Jim Morrison of being shallow, at least. The young UCLA student had genuine intellectual curiosity about the world, art and his own consciousness. Ray Manzarek, a fellow student, liked the songs Morrison had penned between classes and visits to the beach  and invited him to join his band.

The first sessions didn't turn out well but soon departing band members were replaced with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. Manzarek played keyboards and Morrison sang lead. After performing at local clubs, the newly dubbed Doors (a reference to Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, which in turn was a reference to poet William Blake) became the house band for L.A.'s famed Whiskey a Go Go club.

The band didn't have a bass guitar in their line up but Manzarek played bass keyboards with one hand and other keyboards with the other. Combined with Krieger's versatile guitar playing and Densmore's jazz drumming, the Doors produced a unique and intricate sound to back Morrison's poetic lyrics.

The Doors later signed with Elektra Records and started releasing hit after hit like "The End," "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire," all included in their self-titled debut album. Fame came on like a steamroller and the band became superstars with legions of fans and groupies.

The band's first transatlantic hit came with "Hello, I Love You" from the album Strange Days. Other albums of the late 60s included Waiting for the Sun and The Soft Parade.

Meanwhile, Jim Morrison's behavior was becoming more erratic and controversial. Arrests for drug possession, harassment and lewd conduct plagued the singer and his band, culminating in a notorious Miami concert where police arrested Morrison on stage for indecent exposure.

The 1970 album Morrison Hotel was a huge hit for the Doors but Jim was becoming more and more disillusioned with his music career. He gradually retreated from the rest of the band, opting to work on his poetry instead, even moving to Paris in 1971 to concentrate on that. Paris was where the talented and troubled young man met his end at the age of 27, after overdosing on heroin. The details of his death are still hotly disputed today but it's certain that drug and alcohol excesses were the cause.

The Doors never lost their huge following, which increased exponentially with the release of Francis Ford Coppola's biographical film The Doors. They are one of the best selling bands in the last 50 years and their work remains hugely influential today.