THAT DAY

Come on Buick, Light my Fire, September or October 1968

In September or October 1968, General Motors offered THE DOORS band $75,000 for permission to use the song "Light My Fire" in a series of television commercials for Buick Skylark, GS 455, and Opel GT cars. Jim Morrison was then on vacation in Europe and the group could not reach him...

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In 1966, the group having agreed on a four-way division of the royalties and the decisions to be made, Jim's contribution was therefore logically necessary. However, since Robby Krieger was the lead writer for the song in question, the other band members felt the decision was up to him.

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Prompted by a recommendation from Elektra Record president Jac Holzman, the group therefore voted without Morrison to let Buick use "Light My Fire" for its advertising campaigns. Upon his return, Jim was furious as soon as he learned of the affair. He felt that this decision was a betrayal in favor of big capitalism and against the values that were his and those of the DOORS. Morrison even went so far as to threaten to publicly embarrass Buick by destroying one of their cars on stage. However, in 1966, the group which was still in its infancy had agreed to compose the instrumental soundtrack of a corporate film entitled "Love Thy Customer" on behalf of the car manufacturer Ford...

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The deal was eventually scrapped, but Buick still used "Light Your Fire" as its slogan in print ads from 1969 and 1970. (See photo)

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Following this incident, the band refused all future offers around their musical catalog when it came to making commercial use of it (thanks mainly to drummer John Densmore, who did not hesitate to assign his friends and fellow musicians in court to avoid a new scandal of this order).

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You can find out more about all this in John Densmore's book "The Doors: The Doors Slamming, Jim Morrison's Turbulent Legacy", available in French from Le mot et le reste editions.