1967 Classic Rock Hit, Tied to Banned TV Appearance, Climbed the Charts Again 20 Years Later
1967 was a strange year for The Doors.
Their second studio album, Strange Days, was released just eight months after their self-titled debut album. "Light My Fire" had already become a No.1 Billboard Hot 100 hit by the time The Doors were booked on The Ed Sullivan Show, where their next hit, "People Are Strange," became their lead-in performance on live TV.
Written by Jim Morrison and Robby Krieger, "People Are Strange" featured a carnival-like organ riff and lyrics about loneliness. Sullivan introduced the song on his show with, "Now, The Doors…here they are with their newest hit record, ‘People Are Strange.'"
The "People Are Strange" performance segued into "Light My Fire," but lead singer Morrison failed to follow Sullivan's request that he change the line "Girl, we couldn't get much higher." The Doors were ultimately banned from Sullivan's show following the famous performance, but "People Are Strange" would go on to reach No. 12 on Billboard in October 1967.
"People Are Strange" was inspired by Morrison's overnight visit to Andy Warhol's Factory studio in New York. Doors band member Ray Manzarek once told the Ultimate Classic Rock Nightsradio show that Morrison got up at 5:30 in the morning to meet up with his bandmates.
"We're staying midtown, he's downtown at Andy Warhol's Factory, starts walking back," Manzarek recalled. "He said, ‘You know, the sun was just starting to come up … it was New York City, and it was nice.' It was late spring or something, maybe early fall. He said, ‘New York is great – it's like empty; it's deserted; there's nobody around.'"
"Little by little, out of the subways … people started coming up there, coming up and up and up," Manzarek said. "It was like creatures were crawling out from underground. … By the time he got to midtown, the city was packed. … [‘People Are Strange'] is "about the people coming out of the New York subway as Jim Morrison was walking back from Andy Warhol's Factory to our hotel in midtown Manhattan."
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While "People Are Strange" was one of the Doors' biggest hits in the 1960s, the song found new life 20 years later-this time in the UK-thanks to an Echo & the Bunnymen cover that appeared on the soundtrack to the 1987 horror film, The Lost Boys. The cover featured Ray Manzarek on keyboards. The Doors legend also produced the track, giving it further credibility among fans.
According to Echo & the Bunnymen's website, the "People Are Strange" cover, which plays during The Lost Boys opening credits, was "re-released 3 yrs later, charting on both occasions," due to the popularity of the film.
Echo & the Bunnymen's "People Are Strange" cover hit No. 29 on the UK charts and No. 13 on the Irish singles chart.
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This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 5:39 AM.