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There's a bit of a story that Jim Morrison used liked to tell: when he was four years old, his family drove past an overturned truck on a highway in New Mexico, where a number of Pueblo Indians lay on the road, dying. The scene upset the young Morrison considerably, and he would later tell friends that when the family drove away, the soul of a dying Indian passed into his body.

That story is often used to explain the quality that made Morrison one of the most charismatic and mythologized performers in rock-and-roll history during his time with the group the Doors. "He was a shaman," said Ray Manzarek, the Doors' keyboardist. "He was an electric shaman."

Morrison, the son of a U.S. Navy rear admiral, and Manzarek met in the mid-sixties at U.C.L.A., where they were both studying film. They decided to form a band, one that was less influenced by the music of the time than by Manzarek's interest in blues, as well as the jazz orientation of guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore. Topping this mixture were Morrison's lyrics-image-rich poems inspired by the writings of Nietzsche, Blake, Rimbaud, and others, about lust, alienation, and the search for a higher existence.

The mood of the Doors' music was darkand daring and--best of all--erotic. On the first chorus of the group's self-titled 1967 debut album, Morrison announced the goal, to "break on through to the other side." The Beatles wanted to hold your hand. The Rolling Stones wanted to spend the night together. But the Doors wanted to light your fire. Even that was tame compared to "The End," a modern Oedipal parable--"Father, I want to kill you/ Mother, I want to . . . " Well, you know. It was shocking enough to get the group banned from Los Angeles's famed Whisky-a-Go-Go nightclub, and a signal that the Doors were a force to be reckoned with.

With Morrison out front, egging on ever-growing crowds, the Doors created the aura of danger, taboo, and uncharted territory, even if the journey was really a little safer than it seemed. The group's music was ultimately accessible, with songs such as "Light My Fire," "People Are Strange," "Hello, I Love You," and "Touch Me" rolling into the Top 20. And Morrison played pop star to the hilt--taking off his shirt, wearing tight leather pants, and posing for spreads in all the teen magazines.

But there was certainly a darker side to Morrison: he was an alcoholic and a heavy drug user, sexually promiscuous and prone to reckless and violent behavior. Despite his reputation as an electrifying performer, Morrison was hopelessly inconsistent onstage; the Doors' concert career was effectively neutered in 1969, when a drunken Morrison was convicted of exposing himself onstage in Miami. Soon thereafter, he moved to Paris, where he died of a suspected heart attack, in 1971. Although his body was never seen as the coffin was sealed before Bill Siddons (PR man) got to Paris. So no-one really knows for sure if Mr. Mojo is really dead.

The Doors arguably became more popular after Morrison's death. In 1979, Francis Ford Coppola made "The End" a centerpiece in his epic Apocalypse Now, and the 1980 biography of Morrison and the band, No One Here Gets Out Alive, written by former Doors gofer Danny Sugarman, was a bestseller. The same year, The Doors Greatest Hits was released and went on to sell two million copies. In the early eighties, the Doors were selling about 750,000 albums a year, prompting Rolling Stone to publish a photo of Morrison on the cover proclaiming "He's hot, he's sexy, and he's dead."

The Doors finally broke up in 1973, after the remaining trio recorded two albums (Other Voices, 1971 & Full Circle, 1972) without Morrison -- the spark that once made The Doors unique and creative had died. Krieger says that the group couldn't replace Morrison, but it was his presence they missed more than his songwriting.

In 1991, Oliver Stone's film starring Val Kilmer further mythologized Morrison and The Doors. Although Stone's version of The Doors and Jim Morrison were far from the truth as claimed by Ray Manzarek. During 1996, the greatest-hits album and Absolutely Live were re-released. A 4CD box set, was released in 1997. Thirty years after their initial release of The Doors first album.

Since his death, Morrison's grave in Paris's famed Père Lachaise cemetery is dotted with gifts and graffiti from a constant pilgrimage of fans.

The Doors may be be gone but their music and spirit lives on in the hearts and minds of millions..