He hadn't been sure to how to take it when I told him that I'd had a 'Manzarek' bumper sticker personally made for my car in the mid-1980s. At the time, Morrison bumper stickers were common and I thought it would be both funny and appropriate that someone recognize another member of the group. We agreed that 'Manzarek' sounded like someone running for county freeholder more than a rock musician with 100 million records sold.

On a reflective day, I'm inclined to think of The Doors as anything but a rock 'n' roll band. Sure, they played the blues and a couple R'n'R standards, but they did something far beyond what people think of as rock 'n' roll.

In all my years of writing around music -- I count 25 or so -- no band has generated the bi-polar love and rage that is an average discussion about the Doors. All I can say to people who think they were undeserving of the good words written about them: well, you're wrong.

Here are 25 songs that I associate with Ray Manzarek and his organ-y and piano-y skills.

25) Close To You: It

[Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images]

While the "Woodstock" sales pitch lingered for years after the date, the various performers went on to live out different fortunes. Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young became superstars. Tim Hardin, who tragically didn't appear in the film, struggled with personal demons and writer's block. Jimi Hendrix died soon after. The Who sold their songs to anyone who would buy them.

And Richie Havens played dinner theaters where he could count on $45 a head from a well-heeled crowd who remembered their time in the mud of Woodstock, whether or not they were actually there. Havens wrote a few songs of his own, but mostly depended on an ear that knew the kind of song he could sing. Pop music moved away from folksingers and Richie flirted with

Minor Threat [Photo: Malco23]Note: I'd like to dedicate this column to Sean Ison, a friend and fellow writer who shared music and his thoughts with me on a regular basis. Sean was just about to set me straight on Johnny Thunders and I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say. Best of all, we could disagree on things and still understand and respect where each other was coming from. It's with heavy heart that I say goodbye to my friend. Save me a seat, Sean. We'll catch up one day and compare notes once again.

Punk rock -- soon to be, if not already, post-punk -- soldiered on into the 1980s. Hardcore sped things up to the speed of light and made the funny, sarcastic, brilliant lyrics sound like one long yell into the abyss. If you didn't sit home and memorize the lyric sheet -- on your own time!!! -- then you were just left to slamdance as long as your young, stupid body allowed and know in your heart that you were standing up for something surely righteous.

To go along with the new youth movement, there were the weird offshoots from old punks who kept their names in the ring by releasing something and while there's a good chance that I'm overrating a few things, it's also likely that so is everyone else. Punk rock was provincial and the alternative scene was as much what you heard as what existed. The network was up and running but the glitches were fatal for some groups. Who knows how hard they rocked in the outskirts of Lawrence, Kansas.