Whats going on my fellow rock n’ rollers don’t forget to hit the bell notification
icon to be notified everytime i put out a new video on my channel. Now I’ve talked
a lot about the cult on my channel and i’ve done some videos on the doors, but one fan
suggested I talk about the time Ian Astbury of the Cult fronted the Doors. It was in the
early 2000’s and the whole project was fraught with legal problems from the start. Stay tuned
to find out what happened.. Stay tuned to find out what happened
The Cult would take a hiatus in 2002 following a less than stellar come back that saw them
release the record Beyond Good and Evil. It was the band’s first record in 7 years following
their hiatus in 1994. I have released a video on the beyond good and evil time in the band
you can click the link in the description box to view it. Its actually one of my more
popular videos. It’s a great story so check it out
Ian Astbury would discover the Doors at age 10 and the Danny Sugarman book about the band
titled No One Here Gets Out Here Alive and it would be a sort of bible for him. He would
reveal in a 2003 interview "I probably first heard them when I was nine or 10, on my parents'
transistor radio," "At the time I loved David Bowie and T. Rex. But I was drawn to The Doors
- they were so different, so much darker."
Astbury was such a fan of the Doors he almost got cast in Oliver Stone’s biopic about
the doors in 1989 but the role went to Val Kilmer. That close call though got astbury
on the radar of the surviving doors members ofthe band.
By the mid to late 90’s Astbury's world fell apart. The Cult had taken a hiatus as
tensions with guitarist Billy Duffy reached new heights following the release of their
commercially disappointing self titled album in 1994. On top of that his marriage at the
time crumbled and he started abusing alcohol and was still reeling from a 61 million lawsuit
brought by the family of a young American Indian boy who claimed his image had been
used on an album cover of The Cult’s 1991 record Ceremony without permission. Side note
I also did a video on that lawsuit and album. The Links are down below
Astbury would find “sanctuary in a "spiritual trip" to Tibet and a trip to the island of
Cuba. When he returned home he left his wife and went into therapy. He would reveal. "I
made big breakthroughs in therapy in 1998," "That was my big clear-out year." he’d remember
The following year Astbury’s involvement with the surviving members of the Doors got
started as he joined The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger during one of his solo gigs.
The Doors surviving members would reunite in 2000 to perform on the VH1's Storytellers
TV Show. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous
guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan
and Travis Meeks. By 2002 the Doors were ready to hit the road
with Astbury fronting the band. The reunited lineup plus Astbury would call themselves
The Doors Of the 21st century. Surviving drummer John Densmore wasn’t able to be part of
a reunion as his bandmates claimed he was suffering from a hearing condition known as
tinnitus and would be replaced by the Police’s drummer Stewart Copeland. But Densmore contended
by the time the tour started he had recovered fully and that he was fired by the band after
reading an article in billboard magazine saying "I thought, 'Oh, OK, I'm fired in the paper,"I
called Robby and said, 'Robby, you've got to change the name, please.'"
And Densmore was frustrated by the band’s arrangement saying "I'm troubled by one guy
singing the whole night," "There are Doors cover bands in every city; and we shouldn't
join that, should we? No disrespect to Ian Astbury or Stewart Copeland; they are wonderful
musicians. But my point is they are not the Doors." Densmore also complained that the
phrase "of the 21st Century" as it was little more than fine print in advertisements and
that the new band displayed Morrison's image dozens of times during concerts.
And Copeland would be forced to withdraw from touring after he broke his arm following a
biking accident. He would be replaced by Ty Dennis who played in Krieger’s solo band.
Interestingly, Astbury wasn't the band’s first choice to replace Jim Morrison on stage.
Following his passing, the surviving members had talks with Joe Cocker and Audience singer
Howard Werth, but neither came to fruition. And The Doors would play together again in
1993 at their induction into the rock and roll hall of fame, with Pearl Jam singer Eddie
Vedder fronting the band As the Doors of the 21st Century hit the road,
they were slapped with lawsuit after lawsuit. In April of 2003 it was reported that Jim
Morrison’s parents had filed a lawsuit against the surviving members of the Doors and even
Ian Astbury for misappropriating the band’s name claiming it isn’t the doors without
their son. Also involved in the lawsuit were the parents of morrison’s girlfriend, Pamela
Courson, who claimed she owned half of Morrison’s share in The Doors. To make matters worse
in 2003 the band was hit with a lawsuit by original drummer John Densmore -Densmore’s
suit, which seeked unspecified damages, claims that written and oral agreements mandate that
the Doors name and logo can be used only by the original band members and that “Doors
of the 21st Century” and the Doors logo for the Astbury collaboration was a violation
of their band’s agreement.
And The lawsuits didn’t end there as drummer Stewart Copeland filed his own lawsuit as
well claiming he was dismissed without reason and not paid money owed to him, which amounted
to about a million dollars. Copeland’s lawsuit was settled out of court in 2003.
The Densmore lawsuit stems from a 1970 agreement signed by the four original band members,
including Morrison, that any business deal would require an unanimous vote of the Doors.
The agreement was reached after Morrison and three others got into a "violent disagreement"
over using "Light my Fire" in a Buick television commercial,
"While the three partners had agreed to the commercial, Morrison vehemently disagreed
and the commercial was not done,"
Since Morrison's death in Paris in 1971, the remaining band members and the parents split
Morrison's share of the The Doors' music and memorabilia. Each partner has veto power over
business deals.
It was during the 90’s General Motors offered the partnership $15 million to use "Light
My Fire" to sell Cadillacs, and everyone but Densmore wanted to take the deal, but he refused.
Densmore also refused an endorsement deal offered by iPod maker Apple.
In 2007 Ian Astbury would quit the Doors and reform the Cult again. The following year
the surviving members of the Doors would announce a new project tilted Riders On The Storm.
The band featuring two original members of The Doors and recruited a new singer, Brett
Scallions formerly of the band Fuel who would front the band
The tour with Astbury grossed $8 million and netted $3.2 million, which went to the new
band's company called Doors Touring, Inc. and none of which went to Densmore or the
parents of Jim Morrison or his girlfriend.
In 2008 the legal battle finally came to an end as the California supreme court refused
to take up the case. What did this mean, well keyboardsist ray manzarek and robby krieger
were on the hook for more than 5 million dollars after lower courts found them to have improperly
invoked the doors name and images during a 2003 concert tour. The 5 million dollars would
end up being split by drummer John Densmore, the parents of Jim morrison and the parents
of his deceased wife Pamela Courson who died in 1974. Stewart coplenad would settle his
lawsuit with the band .That does it for today’s video thanks for watching be sure to hit the
like button and subscribe. If you have suggestions for future topics let me know in the comments
section below. Take care