Riders on the Storm: The Doors' Darkest Moment 

The Doors were one of the most short-lived yet impactful bands of the 20th century

Manzarek is seriously so underrated for all he contributed to rock and especially burgeoning post punk

Who needs a bassist when you have Ray Manzareks left hand?

This was great, it would be awesome if you did a video on The End

I've listened to the Doors since i was a kid and have never noticed the whisper track, i always thought i was just a ton of reverb

The Doors have always been one of the more complex and deep bands I always took the dive into! One of the most shortlived bands, but easily one of the most influential with a legacy still strong.

The doors have to be the coolest band ever.

This song used to scare the absolute f%ck out of me as a kid. Actually it still does now...

I fucking love how subtly cryptic Morrison's lyrics were. There was so much ambiguity to them, but he never overdid it. Hyacinth House is just one great example.

2019 Criminally Underrated LA Band! The Doors is Jim, Robbie, Ray & John. The Doors is NOT Jim alone. Peace.

This song will always remind me of my childhood playing Need For Speed Underground 2, it was always the first song played and it always mesmerized me. Especially when driving around at night in the rain in game.

Holy crap I've heard this song a thousand times and I was not aware of the whispering track overlayed on the vocal. As someone who still owns the Doors on original vinyl from when it was released i always considered myself a day-one fan. Although this was never one of my favorite Doors songs, this is crazy! Time to get the old headphones out and re-listen. Great video. Thanks.

As a LA native, I can’t begin to describe how much the Doors mean to me

As a kid I used to get guitar lessons at a music school, which also formed bands and organised gigs for these bands. Riders on the Storm was the very first song I ever performed in front of an audience. Memories!

The Doors were one of the first bands to evoke the darkness that is now commonplace in rock 'n' roll.

Finally the Doors video i've waited for so long.

"Hold my beer" - Not To Touch The Earth

Well done analysis especially linking Heidegger’s idea of throwness with ROTS lyrics. The Doors are arguably one of the best if not the best rock band to come out of the US. Every once in a while with a little luck ingredients come together to mesh into a synergistic whole greater than the sum of its parts. One example is The Doors Robby Kreiger is an underrated guitarist and somgwriter. John Densmore is an overlooked drummer who gave such a steady beat and texture to the Doors songs. Ray Manzarek was integral in creating the Doors atmospheric and ominous sound with his organ and keyboard playing. Jim brought everything together. The beautiful Dionysian Shaman front man who played words in the band. He is wholly underrated as a singer. He is up there with Sinatra IMAO. The Doors basically lasted from 1966-1971 with Morrison. Think about how many songs and albums they accomplished in that time. It’s insane. Jim was misunderstood too. He might have had some demons and self-destructive behaviors but he wasn’t a smug asshole. He was a kind and gentle soul really. It sucks Jim, Jimi, Kurt and Janis were all taken from us too soon. Jim would be 77 now I believe. Wish he was still here. RIP Ray RIP Jim and Pamela

Imo ray manzarek is the best ever rock keyboardist, and that’s coming from a Led Zeppelin guy who knows John Paul Jones is a damn good keyboardist.

Riders is a great dark song by The Doors, but it isnt as dark as the Oedipal part of The End....and neither of those is as dark as singing the "breakfast where the news is read...television children fed...unborn living, living dead, bullet strikes the helmet's head" part of The Unknown Soldier. Imagine those lyrics coming out during the HEIGHT of the Summer of Love and only 3 years into the US involvement in the Vietnam War. Nothing else was that dark at that time...in an era of hippie folk songs and people copying Paul McCartneys love songs in one manner or another. The Unknown Soldier isnt just the darkest Doors song...it was the darkest song of the time.

One Of My Most Favorite Songs Is One Of The Darkest.... *Neat*

I've been waiting for a Doors video. Thanks

The reason why I love this channel is not necessarily the explanation of the background to the songs but why the songs work. I've always loved this song but couldn't explain why it works so well and then you give words to how I feel about a song and I love it.

Watching this actually gave me chills.... Really cool how you were able to capture the haunting atmosphere of this song with your visuals!

Ian Curtis & Joy Division were listening. Through no fault of its own , the song reminds one of the Manson Tate/Labianca murders. The end of the innocence.

Brilliant analysis of the lyrics, musicianship, and history behind this song. Really excellent job!

One of my all time favorite songs! Thanks for giving it some love.

YES! I’ve been waiting for you to do The Doors 🤘🏼

There is a video on RU-vid of Ray Manzarek explaining how they made this song. It is one of my top 3 Vids on RU-vid.

dude i dont know how you make these videos so amazing i wish i could meet you because i adore your videos and the effort shows.

Omg how did I miss this it’s a week old Thanks for this video there aren’t many on RU-vid that discuss the doors in a video essay like this! Appreciate it and keep up the great work my man!!

Wow! I have been down a Morrison rabbit hole all day and here you come along polyphonic with this video! Nicely done.

Brilliant. One of my all time favorite songs.

THIS IS AMAZING!!! Please do more videos on the Doors!!!!

Absolutely love this song so much. Thank you for doing a video on it!

Yesssss !!!! I can die happy now. Thank you polyphonic x

Imagine riders on the storm in apocalypse now instead of the end

Absolutely loved this video man. The Doors are my 2nd favorite band behind The Rolling Stones. Jim Morrison is someone who fascinates me. A young mind with a deep thinking on the world.

FINALLY! Been waiting for a Doors video forever.

The video is so on point man. The doors are pure magic and riders on the storm is a scary musical trip

Oh Polyphonic, you never fail to not disappoint

"The End" be more dark... but "Riders..." has that lost soul quality and the impermanence of all with a violent edge.

The Doors are one of the few bands to truly create an atmosphere every time they played that was uniquely theirs. Amazing video!

One of my favorite songs of all time. Planning on having it played at my funeral, one day, in no rush..

My dad would play this song every time it rained when we’d have long drives. It still gets to me

The Doors changed my life for the better ♥️

Thanks for this video!

Yes the doors, thank you so much polyphonic

My first childhood memory of Rock 'N' Roll is this song ... still a favorite almost 50 years later ... thank you for posting ...

This was amazing. I love how you analysed the song and the philosophical meaning it has as well

I really love this channel, keep it up

Thank you Polyphonic for this great analysis of one of the greatest works of art ever made

When my musical buddies aren’t around to talk about music. I come here ^-^ Love this channel!

LOVE your videos!

just saw this video, man I'm in love with the amount of thought and research you put into these videos!

Anji by Davey Graham and Blues Run the Game by Jackson C Frank are two great acoustic tracks that have been covered a number of times including Simon & Garfunkel covering both. They're also both clear influences on Nick Drake.

Jim Morrison should be counted as a legendary poet

great video as always

I've been waiting forever for this 😍😍

Lovely video, Polyphonic. Id love to see your take on "The Nightfly" by Don Fagen, of Steely Dan. Pretty atmospheric album, one of my favourites.

Yesss good pick for a song man

Thanks for the reminder of why I subscribed. Excellent video!

The Doors were something so special that can't be put into words. The keyboard raining always astounded me. Love this song so much.

I've listened to this song so many times and I've never noticed all the whispered lyrics

This is the song that got me into jazz, and i'm not even kidding

another great video. I can think of a dozen music topics that would be well-served by Polyphonic. More please!

This is good stuff. Truly appreciated.

You always choose the right song

My birthday’s tomorrow, I think my friend’s attempting suicide and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, and suddenly I see a video essay about one of my favorite songs ever. Thank you so much for this, it’s really helping me not break down right now

You know it's a good day when Polyphonic uploads a video!

this has been one of my favorites fr a while

I’m a huge Doors fan this was great !

Riders on the Storm is a fitting end to Jim Morrison Rock Star

Thank you for this video. One of the most chill songs ever written.

Brilliant stuff. Great video. Timeless song.

Easily one of their best songs.

*"thoughts in time and out of season, the hitch hiker stood by the side of the road and levelled his thumb in the calm calculus of reason"*

This is so well done!!! Bravo at understanding the music, the band , sticking to facts perfectly!!! Do a couple more of THE DOORS!! Thank you!!!

Your editing was superb in this one.

I liked this even before watching it!

*Jim Morrison was one of the very few rock lyricists who wrote some poems that could stand alone as poetry without music. It's my understanding that that is what he wanted to do in the last months of his life. If you're interested in his poetry (as opposed to his song lyrics), his work is still available.*

Today my dream came true. You finally did a video on the doors, and for that will always love you

Been waiting for this one for a long time, one of my favourite bands of all time

Probably the most relaxing song on Earth.

This is song a dark philosophical audio journey almost like a cinematic experience

Dude, great work

Wow, an amazing analysis of my favorite band ever ..ever!! this song is so incredible .. dark ,,,moody..mysterious …..please more of this!!!

I thought the song was about the vietnam war, riders on the storm are the US soldiers going into combat carried by helicopters. Good video!

I always put it on when I hear a storm.

I'm so fracking happy that Polyphonic made a video on one of my most favorite songs of all time.

Great Job. Thank You.

YES! The Doors finally!

For me The Doors darkest moment is "The End"

One of my favorite youtubers uploading a video on my favorite song, and on my birthday. I think I got really really lucky

Another AMAZING video. Not biased that The Doors are my favorite video hahah. But awesome watch just like every one of your videos

Ray Manzarek [Man-zar-EK] Normally I don't do that to videos, or to channel that I like, but that kind of grated in my brain like nails on a chalkboard.

My favourite DOORS song.

Outstanding! Fab job!!!

Thanks for starting my playlist tonight 👍

"Girl you gotta love your man" is surely not Jim to a girlfriend, it is clearly, immediately, a message to all women, that women and their love are the necessary ingredient for man and humanity to make their way through this world into which we have been thrown. "The world on you depends." People should really not try to explain poetry. But if they do, it's sad to hear theories to lead people past what has been expressed in a way that I think touches humanity in such a powerful and unambiguous moment.