13

The success and continued popularity of 13 over the years was a perfect illustration of the way in which the Doors (and their record label) successfully manipulated the group's image in two distinctly different directions. 13 presented the Doors' most accessible, AM radio-friendly music, even bypassing their rather daring debut single, "Break On Through," in favor of the much more popular "Light My Fire" -- anyone hearing this stuff would perceive the band as an edgy pop/rock outfit with the most intensely brooding vocals this side of Elvis Presley and lots of great tunes and better playing. The reality was a lot more complicated -- the Doors were a challenging, often disturbing, and very serious musical entity, and a big chunk of their work, especially in concert (which was arguably what they were really about), was much more R-rated than the material on 13 would lead you to expect, trading in fierce sexual imagery, sophisticated philosophical ideas, and coarse, even ribald sensibilit