"Riders on the Storm" Performed by John Densmore, Robby Krieger and 20+ Musicians Around the World

"Formed in 1965, the Doors burned hot until Jim Mor­ri­son died in 1971, and the band final­ly broke up in 1973. The group left behind more than a few fine songs-"Light My Fire," "Break On Through (To the Oth­er Side)," "L.A. Woman," and "Road­house Blues," to name a few. Above, the music col­lec­tive Play­ing for Change pays trib­ute to anoth­er Doors clas­sic, " Rid­ers on the Storm." Fea­tur­ing per­for­mances by the two sur­viv­ing Doors mem­bers John Dens­more and Rob­by Krieger, the video also weaves in appear­ances by 20+ musi­cians, every­one from Lukas and Mic­ah Nel­son, to Don Was and Foo Fight­ers key­boardist Rami Jaf­fee."

"According to Play­ing for Change, the "per­for­mance reimag­ines the clas­sic anthem as a med­i­ta­tion on uni­ty, hope, and shared human­i­ty," qual­i­ties that oth­er­wise seem in short sup­ply today. Enjoy! If you would like to sign up for Open Culture's free email newslet­ter, please find it here. It's a great way to see our new posts, all bun­dled in one email, each day. If you would like to sup­port the mis­sion of Open Cul­ture, con­sid­er mak­ing a dona­tion to our site. It's hard to rely 100% on ads, and your con­tri­bu­tions will help us con­tin­ue pro­vid­ing the best free cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als to learn­ers every­where. You can con­tribute through Pay­Pal, Patre­on, and Ven­mo (@openculture). Thanks!"

The Doors formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1973 after Jim Morrison's death in 1971. The group produced enduring songs including "Light My Fire," "Break On Through (To the Other Side)," "L.A. Woman," and "Roadhouse Blues." Playing for Change pays tribute to "Riders on the Storm" with performances by surviving members John Densmore and Robby Krieger and contributions from over twenty musicians, including Lukas and Micah Nelson, Don Was, and Foo Fighters keyboardist Rami Jaffee. Playing for Change describes the performance as a reimagining of the song as a meditation on unity, hope, and shared humanity. Open Culture offers a free email newsletter and accepts donations via PayPal, Patreon, and Venmo @openculture.

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