"Riders on the Storm" is a song by American rock band the Doors, released in June 1971 by Elektra Records as the second single from the band's sixth studio album, L.A. Woman. It is famous for being the last song that Jim Morrison recorded prior to his sudden death in Paris on July 3, 1971.
It is popularly believed that "Riders on the Storm" is the song that longtime Doors producer Paul A. Rothchild disparaged as "cocktail music", precipitating his departure from the L.A. Woman sessions, which was corroborated by guitarist Robby Krieger.[13][18] Rothchild himself denied that claim, stating that he actually applied the epithet to "Love Her Madly".[19][20] Following Rothchild's departure, longtime engineer Bruce Botnick was selected to take over production duties, alongside the Doors themselves.[21]
"Riders on the Storm" was recorded at the Doors Workshop in December 1970 with the assistance of Botnick. Later in January 1971, after Morrison had recorded his main vocals, the group gathered at Poppi Studios to complete the mixing of L.A. Woman,[22] at which Morrison then whispered the lyrics over them to create an echo effect.[23] It was the last song recorded by all four members of the Doors, as well as the last song recorded by Morrison to be released in his lifetime.[13] The single was released in June 1971, entering the Billboard Hot 100 the week ending July 3, 1971, the same week Morrison died.[3][4]
Heidegger's influence
Speaking with Krieger and Manzarek, the German philosopher Thomas Collmer argued that the line "Into this world we're thrown" recalls philosopher Martin Heidegger's concept of "thrownness"—human existence as a basic state. In 1963, at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Morrison heard an influential lecture for him, which discussed philosophers who dealt critically with the philosophical tradition, including Friedrich Nietzsche and Heidegger.[24] In 2009, Simon Critchley dedicated his column in The Guardian to Heidegger's thrownness, and explained it using the aforementioned verse of the song.[25] The connection between the thrownness into the world and a dog's life was anticipated by the anti-Heideggerian author Ernst Bloch in his main work The Principle of Hope (1954–1959).[26][27]
Legacy
Frequently listed among the Doors' greatest songs,[28][29][30][31] "Riders on the Storm" has remained on classic rock radio playlists.[32] In 2012, New York's Q104.3 ranked it the 498th best classic-rock song of all time.[33]
Doors' drummer, John Densmore, released a book in 1990 entitled Riders on the Storm,[34] detailing the story of his life and his time with the group. In 2010, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording "of lasting qualitative or historical significance".[35][36] Its lyrical content has inspired films such as The Hitcher (1986)[12] and Point Break (1991).[37] A remix of "Riders on the Storm" (feat. Snoop Dogg) by Fredwreck was used as title music for Need for Speed: Underground 2, released in 2004.[38]
In 1983, Annabel Lamb recorded a studio version of the song.[5] It was released as a single from her debut album, Once Bitten, which peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart.[56] She performed the song later that year on Top of the Pops.[57] This was the only hit single in UK in her career.[58]
