Ray Manzarek

Opening Doors 1997

Ray Manzarek, LA 1997

What is the major difference between recording in the ’60s and now?

More tracks. Nothing has really changed in the creation of music since that first guy started beating on a log and that woman found a reed with holes and blew in it and got a whistling sound. The art of making music has always been exactly the same. You immerse yourself in the energy of the universe and pluck your note. How you actually physically record it—who cares?

Why has the music of The Doors endured?

The Doors represent a kind of freedom, an alternative to today’s restricted world that we live in. After the explosion of consciousness in the ’60s, in which we were able to bring our consciousness up and see things outside of ourselves, we’re now locked up inside ourselves again as individuals and as a society. The Doors were free and The Doors hint that you can be free.