\n\t \n\t\u201cWhen I was a kid, 60 years old seemed like, \u2018Well, you\u2019ll be dead any minute,’\u201d Densmore tells Billboard<\/em> with a laugh. \u201cAnd here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe group\u2019s 60th anniversary celebration is upon us, too \u2014 starting next month with some key archival releases. Arriving Nov. 22 via Rhino\u2019s High Fidelity audiophile vinyl series is The Doors 1967-1971, <\/em>a limited edition (3,000 copies) six-LP set that houses the six studio albums the band released during late frontman Jim Morrison\u2019s lifetime. A week later, for Record Store Black Friday, Rhino will release a four-disc remastered vinyl edition of Live in Detroit,<\/em> taken from a May 8, 1970, concert at the city\u2019s famed Cobo Arena. The 25-song set is the longest concert the Doors ever performed, according to band manager Jeff Jampol of JAM Inc.<\/p>\n \n\tFollowing those, in early 2025, will be Night Divides the Day,<\/em> a 344-page book from Britain\u2019s Genesis Publications that includes new interviews with Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger, archival material from Morrison and the late keyboardist Ray Manzarek, commentary from other colleagues, friends and admirers, a treasure trove of photos, a foreword by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and an afterward by conductor and composer Gustavo Dudamel (a recent Billboard cover subject<\/a>). The 2,000 numbered box sets will be signed by Krieger and Densmore and come with rare demo recordings of \u201cHello, I Love You\u201d and \u201cMoonlight Drive\u201d on a 7-inch vinyl disc. It\u2019s available for pre-order here.<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThese are just the beginning of the Doors\u2019 60th festivities, according to Jampol. \u201cHere we are 60 years later talking about them, and they\u2019re just as relevant and the music is more relevant than ever, and the message,\u201d Jampol, who also represents the Morrison estate, tells Billboard<\/em>. \u201cI want to preserve it because I think it\u2019s relevant for new generations. We\u2019re trying to do two things here. We want to do interesting things and fun things for Doors fans, who are great \u2019cause they\u2019ve always been here with us and they\u2019ll support whatever it is we\u2019re doing, and they\u2019re excellent passers-on of the baton. Then we also want to expose the Doors to people who are not as familiar\u2026this group of potential new fans, which is thousands of times larger. So we\u2019re trying to serve those two distinct fan bases.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tJampol is confident that either constituency will be impressed by the remastered sound quality of the upcoming vinyl releases, while the book, he adds, is \u201ca thing of beauty\u201d that came in the wake of The Collected Works of Jim Morrison<\/em>, another Genesis project that came out during 2021. \u201cWe started working on this three years ago,\u201d Jampol says, promising that, \u201cthere\u2019s some stuff in that book no one\u2019s talked about, photos I\u2019ve never seen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDensmore, meanwhile, was particularly flattered by Dudamel\u2019s glowing assessment of the Doors\u2019 creativity in his afterward.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe talks about my rhythms and said, \u2018Oh, a few hundred years down the road the Doors will be remembered like Beethoven and Mozart,’\u201d Densmore says. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Holy sh-t! I feel a whole lot of helium rising up in my skull now.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDensmore himself has written a couple of books about the Doors \u2014 a memoir and another focused on his legal issues with Krieger and Manzarek after they began playing together again during the early 2000s \u2014 while Krieger has also published an autobiography. Both are clear about why interest remains so high in the Doors 52 years after its last album of original material.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen you get right down to it, it\u2019s the songs. We had great songs,\u201d Krieger told Billboard<\/em> a couple of years ago. \u201cA lot of kids come up to me, like 10-year-old kids, \u2018Yeah, I love the doors. You guys are amazing.\u2019 I don\u2019t think they even know about the Jim Morrison myths and all that as much as they love the music. And I think that\u2019s what is gonna carry it for the next 50 years, or more.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI hoped we would last 10 years and pay the rent: \u2018That\u2019d be cool,’\u201d Densmore says with a laugh. \u201cI knew the ingredients were unique. It was a wonderful, blessed few years. And that we\u2019re still talking about it? Come on, man!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOther 60th anniversary plans for 2025 are still being finalized, including museum exhibitions and art installations and possibly additional archival releases. Densmore \u2014 who played with Krieger during February of 2016 in Los Angeles for a Stand Up to Cancer benefit on what would have been Manzarek\u2019s 77th birthday \u2014 says he\u2019d also like to see some sort of performance be part of the celebration.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe Doors 60th at the Hollywood Bowl would be quite wonderful,\u201d Densmore says of the venue where the group recorded and filmed a concert during July 1968 (and returned in 1972, after Morrison\u2019s death in 1971). \u201cWillie Nelson did his 90th birthday at the Bowl, so it\u2019d be wonderful to have something like that \u2014 me and Robby would play a little bit here and there, and there\u2019d hopefully be lots of wonderful artists that would show up for that. I\u2019d love to see something like that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Doors<\/a> will turn 60 next year \u2014 something drummer John Densmore says the kids who formed the legendary rock group in Los Angeles could never have imagined.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ndtd-doors-collector-full-pack-shot-2024-billboard-1240.jpg?w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ndtd-doors-collector-book-2024-billboard-1240.jpg?w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/the-doors-hi-fi-box-2024-billboard-1240.jpg?w=1024\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n