The Doors' Robby Krieger reflects on 'Light My Fire' 50 years later after topping charts
Five decades ago, the song topped the Billboard Top 100.
— -- Fifty years ago Saturday, The Doors' "Light My Fire" burned its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Mainly written by guitarist Robby Krieger, with a little help from his fellow Doors, the hit song was the first he composed for the group.
Krieger told ABC News that he and his band mates always knew "Light My Fire" was one of their best tunes "because whenever we'd play it people would just go crazy."
The Doors, however, were initially hesitant to release it as a single because the original version was seven minutes long. In order to have it played on AM radio, the track would have to be edited down to about three minutes.
"People were telling us, 'Oh, you gotta cut that instrumental part [in the middle of the song] out,'" Robby recalled with a laugh. "But we didn't want to because that was our favorite part."
Krieger said it was a Los Angeles DJ named Dave Diamond who convinced the band to release "Light My Fire" as a single, telling them how much his listeners loved it when he played the full version on his station.
"Light My Fire" spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 list and went on to sell more than 927,000 copies in the U.S. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
As previously reported, The Doors are asking fans and radio stations to celebrate the anniversary by playing "Light My Fire" at 7:29 p.m. local time on Saturday.
In addition, a limited-edition vinyl single is being released today featuring the single version of "Light My Fire" on one side and "The Crystal Ship" on the other.