Riders on the Storm
Encyclopedia
"Riders on the Storm" is a song by The Doors
from their 1971 album, L.A. Woman
. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100
in the US, number 22 on the UK singles charts and number 7 in the Netherlands.
, it was inspired by the song "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend." The song is played in the E Dorian mode
, and incorporates real sound effects of thunder and rain, along with Ray Manzarek
's Fender Rhodes electric piano playing, which emulates the sound of rain.
The song was recorded at the Doors Workshop in December 1970 with the assistance of Bruce Botnick
, their longtime engineer, who was co-producing the recording sessions. Jim Morrison
recorded his main vocals and then whispered the lyrics over them to create the echo effect. This was the last song recorded by the members of The Doors, according to Manzarek, as well as Morrison's last recorded song to be released. The single was released in 1971, shortly before Morrison's death, entering the Hot 100 on 3 July 1971, the day that Morrison died.
The Doors' former producer, Paul Rothchild left prior to the sessions as he did not like the album, or the song, calling it "cocktail music". Their engineer Bruce Botnick was selected to produce the album instead.
The band's drummer John Densmore
wrote a 1990 book called Riders on the Storm, detailing the story of his life and his time with the group.
Ray Manzarek and guitarist Roy Rogers
covered this song as an instrumental duet on their 2008 album "Ballads Before the Rain".
In November 2009, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
under the category Rock (track).
The song was never performed live, as the L.A. Woman tour was cut short after only one full performance, on December 11, 1970.
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
from their 1971 album, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman
The band embarked on a tour to promote the album, although it would only comprise two dates. The first was held in Dallas, Texas on December 11 and reportedly went well. The second performance took place at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 12, 1970, where Morrison apparently had...
. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in the US, number 22 on the UK singles charts and number 7 in the Netherlands.
Overview
According to band member Robby KriegerRobby Krieger
Robert Alan "Robby" Krieger is an American rock guitarist and songwriter. He was the guitarist in The Doors, and wrote some of the band's best known songs, including "Light My Fire," "Love Me Two Times," "Touch Me," and "Love Her Madly."...
, it was inspired by the song "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend." The song is played in the E Dorian mode
Dorian mode
Due to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different musical modes or diatonic scales, the Greek, the medieval, and the modern.- Greek Dorian mode :...
, and incorporates real sound effects of thunder and rain, along with Ray Manzarek
Ray Manzarek
Raymond Daniel Manzarek, Jr., better known as Ray Manzarek , is an American musician, singer, producer, film director, writer, co-founder and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, Nite City from 1977–1978 and Manzarek-Krieger since 2001.Manzarek is listed #4 on Digital Dreamdoor's "100...
's Fender Rhodes electric piano playing, which emulates the sound of rain.
The song was recorded at the Doors Workshop in December 1970 with the assistance of Bruce Botnick
Bruce Botnick
Bruce Botnick is an American audio engineer and record producer, best known for his work with The Doors, and with Love. He engineered Love's first two albums, and co-produced their third album, Forever Changes, with the band's singer-songwriter, Arthur Lee.In November 1970, he took over production...
, their longtime engineer, who was co-producing the recording sessions. Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
recorded his main vocals and then whispered the lyrics over them to create the echo effect. This was the last song recorded by the members of The Doors, according to Manzarek, as well as Morrison's last recorded song to be released. The single was released in 1971, shortly before Morrison's death, entering the Hot 100 on 3 July 1971, the day that Morrison died.
The Doors' former producer, Paul Rothchild left prior to the sessions as he did not like the album, or the song, calling it "cocktail music". Their engineer Bruce Botnick was selected to produce the album instead.
The band's drummer John Densmore
John Densmore
John Paul Densmore is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the drummer of the rock group The Doors.-Early life and The Doors:Born in Los Angeles, Densmore attended Santa Monica City College and Cal...
wrote a 1990 book called Riders on the Storm, detailing the story of his life and his time with the group.
Ray Manzarek and guitarist Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers (guitarist)
Roy Rogers is an American blues rock slide guitarist and record producer. He was named after the singing cowboy, Roy Rogers...
covered this song as an instrumental duet on their 2008 album "Ballads Before the Rain".
In November 2009, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
Grammy Hall of Fame Award
The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"...
under the category Rock (track).
The song was never performed live, as the L.A. Woman tour was cut short after only one full performance, on December 11, 1970.
Chart positions
| Chart (1971) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Netherlands Singles Chart | 7 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
22 |
Cover versions
- Annabel LambAnnabel Lamb-Career:Annabel Lamb has released eight albums to date. She had a British Top 30 hit in 1983 with her cover version of The Doors song, Riders on the Storm, her only hit in the UK singles chart. She appeared performing the song on Top of The Pops later that year. Her debut album, Once Bitten,...
covered the song in 1983. It peaked at 27 in the UK NMENMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
chart of 24 September. - CameoCameo (band)Cameo is an American soul-influenced funk group that formed in the early 1970s. Cameo was initially a 13-member group known as the New York City Players; this name was later changed to Cameo to avoid a lawsuit from Ohio Players, another group from that era. Since then, Cameo has recorded several...
covered the song in 1990 as an homage to Jim Morrison's influence on the band. - Brutal Bill released a song in 1998 called 'Woman Of Angels' on Muggsy Records that heavily sampled the instrumentation of 'Riders on the Storm'.
- The JackaThe JackaDominic Newton, better known by his stage name The Jacka , is an American rapper from Richmond, California. The Jacka got his start in Pittsburg, California with his group, Mob Figaz, whose first album, C-Bo's Mob Figaz, was released in 1999. The Jacka also converted to Islam at a very young age...
sampled most of the song in 2008 for the single "StormStormA storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...
" featuring CormegaCormegaCory Mckay , better known as Cormega, is an American emcee best known for his vivid and poignant narratives about inner-city life.- Early life :...
for his album "Tear GasTear Gas (album)Tear Gas is the fourth album by Rapper The Jacka consisting of 19 songs. It sold 5,800 copies in its first week of release, charting at #93 on the Billboard Top 200. This album had two singles, "Glamorous Lifesyle" with Andre Nickatina and "All Over Me" with Matt Blaque...
". - CreedCreed (band)Creed is an American rock band formed in 1995 in Tallahassee, Florida. Becoming popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band has released three consecutive multi-platinum albums, one of which has been certified diamond, and has sold over 28 million records in the United States, with an...
also covered this song in 2000 for the album Stoned Immaculate. - Infected MushroomInfected MushroomInfected Mushroom is an Israeli psychedelic trance DJ act and electronic group originally formed in late 1997 as a duo by producers Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani in Haifa...
remixed the song, and it appears on the 2009 album, Legend of the Black ShawarmaLegend of the Black ShawarmaLegend of the Black Shawarma is the seventh studio album by psychedelic trance duo Infected Mushroom released on 8 September 2009. The album is named after a shawarma, a Middle Eastern wrap/sandwich; the equivalent of the döner kebab in Turkey or the gyros in Greece...
. - Nightmares on WaxNightmares on WaxGeorge Evelyn, better known as Nightmares on Wax and also known as DJ EASE , is a DJ from Leeds, UK. His music is released on Warp Records and was one of the first releases on the label. Evelyn got his start in the music industry through an interest in hip hop and on joining a local breakdancing crew...
remixed the song for the limited edition of "The best of the doors", which appeared in 2000. Three other remixes are on the bonus cd by Baez & Cornell, Ibizarre and SpaceBats. - Snoop DoggSnoop DoggCalvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
covered the song for the 2004 game, Need for Speed: Underground 2Need for Speed: Underground 2Need for Speed: Underground 2 is a cross-platform racing video game published and developed by Electronic Arts. Released in 2004, it is the direct sequel to Need for Speed: Underground, and is part of the Need for Speed series, available on Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance,...
, in a remixed version produced by FredwreckFredwreckFarid Karam Nassar, better known as Fredwreck is a record producer from Los Angeles, California. He got his big break when he became a producer for Dr. Dre's newly founded Aftermath Records label, and went on to work with Snoop Dogg's record label Dogghouse Records and became a known producer on...
. The cover was dubbed over the original track. - New AgeNew Age musicNew Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
/ElectronicaElectronicaElectronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
music group Dancing Fantasy released a cover off their 1991 album "California Grooves." - Rapture Riders, a 2005 officially-released mashupMashup (music)A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
version of the song produced by Go Home ProductionsGo Home ProductionsGo Home Productions is the alter ego of Mark Vidler, a producer/remixer/DJ based in Watford, Hertfordshire, England...
, featured Jim Morrison's vocal combined with music and vocals from BlondieBlondie (band)Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
's 1981 single "RaptureRapture (song)"Rapture" is a single by the American new wave band Blondie. It was released in January 1981 and was the second and final song to be released from the band's 1980 top 10 album Autoamerican, the first being "The Tide Is High", which had topped the chart in the US and UK. "Rapture" went on to reach...
". - DezperadozDezperadozDezperadoz is a German "Western-metal" band and is the side-project of Tom Angelripper's guitarist Alex Kraft. The band plays heavy metal music that is heavily influenced by the soundtracks of the '60s and '70s Spaghetti western movies. They've released three albums, two on the German heavy metal...
covered the song in 2008 for the album An Eye for an Eye . - WolfmotherWolfmotherWolfmother is an Australian rock band from Erskineville, Sydney. Formed in 2000, the group was originally a trio composed of vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett. Wolfmother released their self-titled debut album in October 2005,...
covered the song live at Outside LandsOutside LandsOutside Lands was the name used in the 19th century for the present-day Sunset District in San Francisco, California. With few roads and no public transportation, the area was covered by sand dunes and was considered inaccessible and uninhabitable...
2010, blending it with their own "The White Unicorn." - Carlos SantanaCarlos SantanaCarlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
covered the song on his 2010 album Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All TimeGuitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All TimeGuitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, referred to as simply Guitar Heaven, is the 21st studio album by Santana, released on September 21, 2010...
. This version features Chester BenningtonChester BenningtonChester Charles Bennington is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Linkin Park....
(of Linkin ParkLinkin ParkLinkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
) on lead vocals and Ray ManzarekRay ManzarekRaymond Daniel Manzarek, Jr., better known as Ray Manzarek , is an American musician, singer, producer, film director, writer, co-founder and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, Nite City from 1977–1978 and Manzarek-Krieger since 2001.Manzarek is listed #4 on Digital Dreamdoor's "100...
(of The DoorsThe DoorsThe Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
) on keyboards, as he did on the original.