THE DOORS' "STRANGE DAYS" ENTERS THE CHARTS: NOVEMBER 1967

On September 25, 1967, "Strange Days", The Doors' magnificent second album, was released.

"Strange Days" did not enter the best-selling album charts in England, although the group was not entirely unknown there.

Instead, it entered the U.S. charts in November, by which time The Doors were already quite famous there, because of the success obtained by the single "Light My Fire" and the first album ("The Doors," January 1967).

However, a series of contradictory decisions by the band's management placed the band's second LP in direct commercial competition with "The Doors".

The main mistake was in the timing of the album's release, which was scheduled before the huge success of the single "Light My Fire".

In fact, "Strange Days" entered the charts in the first week of November '67. At that time, "The Doors" LP was still selling well (it was still in the #3 spot in the U.S.) after peaking at #2 a few weeks earlier.

Therefore, the debut of "Strange Days" was not particularly encouraging: the week of November 3rd we find it at #100.

The two The Doors LPs were thus competing for the same audience in the same period, with a negative effect on the commercial performance of both. Since then, this strategic error would have a negative impact on the chart performance of the California based group's first two LPs.

During November, however, "Strange Days" managed to quickly climb the charts and by the middle of the month had reached its highest position: #3.

Meanwhile, "The Doors" slipped right behind it, stalling at #5 by the end of November.

A curiosity: who dominated the charts in that November 1967?

For almost the entire month, the top two positions were occupied respectively by a compilation by the Supremes (#1) and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles (#2).

The first record was a double vinyl entitled "Greatest Hits", which collected some famous songs of this very successful vocal group. In fact, the Supremes had brought rhythm and blues to a wide audience by smoothing out its contours and infusing it with pop.

The second album (psychedelic pop-rock), one of the absolute masterpieces of modern music, had been at the top positions of the American sales charts since the previous spring.

These two groups were the best-selling artists in the United States taking into account the entire decade of the 1960s.

At the end of November, however, the top spot was seized by "Pieces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd." by the Monkees, whose unpretentious pop-rock achieved at that time a commercial impact much greater than its actual musical quality.