Break On Through (To the Other Side)

Infobox Single
Name = Break on Through (To the Other Side)


Artist = The Doors
from Album = The Doors
B-side = End of the Night
Released = January 1, 1967
Format = Vinyl
Recorded = August 1966
Genre = Psychedelic rock, hard rock
Length = 2:26
Label = Elektra Records
Writer = Jim Morrison| Producer = Paul A. Rothchild
Certification =
Last single =
This single = "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" (1967)
Next single = "Light My Fire" (1967)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = The Doors
Type = studio
Tracks =
#"Break on Through (To the Other Side)"
#"Soul Kitchen"
#"The Crystal Ship"
#"Twentieth Century Fox"
#"Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"
#"Light My Fire"
#"Back Door Man"
#"I Looked at You"
#"End of the Night"
#"Take It as It Comes"
#"The End"

"Break On Through (To the Other Side)" is a song by The Doors from their debut album, "The Doors". It was the first single released by the band and was relatively unsuccessful compared to later hits, reaching only #125 in the United States.

Overview

The song appears on track one of the band's first album. Elektra Records censors objected to the use of the word "high" in the middle section of the song (after "everybody loves my baby") due to its drug connotations. The original album version has the line "she gets" repeated before a grunt at the end. Live versions and later releases of the song have the uncensored version with "high" restored.

Musical structure

The song is in 4/4 time and quite fast paced, the tune being similar to that of blues guitarist Elmore James' "Stranger Blues". The piece begins with a disjointed quirky solo on the organ quite similar to introduction of Ray Charles' What I'd Say, which has a few intentional misplaced notes in it, while the bass-line, similar to a typical bass line used in salsa music, continues almost unhindered all of the way through the song.

Other performances

Stone Temple Pilots covered the song for The Doors tribute album "Stoned Immaculate". The song was also covered by Mark Wilburn. Mexican hard rock band La Cuca has done a cover as a hidden track in their album "La Racha". In 2008, the song appeared in Buddha Bar Volume 10, as a remix by DJ Disse.

When the Doors were featured on an episode of "Storytellers", various guest singers filled in for Jim Morrison. Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots filled in and sang "Break on Through", along with the song he said inspired him to rock, "Five to One."

Appearances in Media

*The song was used in the Miami Vice episode "Back in the World."
*Appears in the video game "Tony Hawk's Underground 2" as the main theme of the game.
*Featured in the trailer for the 2008 film "21". It is also heard during TV spots for the DVD.
*The song is heard briefly in the Gulf War film, "Jarhead" while the United States Marine Corps are digging foxholes under a shower of oil fires lit by the retreating Iraqi Army. It is played on a helicopter radio. Upon hearing it Swofford says, "That's Vietnam music, man. Can't we get our own fuckin' music?"
*It is also heard briefly in the Vietnam War film, "Forrest Gump", where the main character is practicing playing ping-pong during his stay in the Army.
*Krusty the Clown performed a drugged out version of the song in an episode of "The Simpsons".
*The song was used in the main theatrical trailer to the Disney/Pixar film "Monsters, Inc." and in a few TV spots.
*It serves as the title and theme song for an episode of the VH1 documentary series The Drug Years.