After lead singer and primary songwriter Jim Morrison died in 1971, the rest of the members of The Doors -- guitarist Robby Krieger, drummer John Densmore, keyboardist Ray Manzarek -- made an effort to continue. Opting to not try to replace Morrison, Krieger and Manzarek supplied the vocals for the 1971 album Other Voices and 1972's Full Circle. In 1973, they called it quits for good.Amost immediately, Densmore and Krieger formed The Butts Band, releasing two albums before disbanding in 1975.

Manzarek and Krieger have performed together regularly since 2002, and have separately released several solo albums. But in the years since The Doors broke up in 1973, there have been only five occasions when all three surviving members have performed together.1978: The three reunited to produce An American Prayer, adding music to recordings of Morrison reading poems he had written. They didn't perform together again for 15 years.1993: Their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame provided the venue for their second reunion. At the induction ceremony, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore performed three songs, with Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) as lead vocalist.1997: The next one-off project came along four years later. Morrison had written a song called "Orange County Suite" and had recorded the vocals and piano. The three surviving members got together long enough to add their instruments to the track for inclusion in a box set.2000: VH1's Storytellers series provided the venue for the trio's last live performance together.

Afterward, they stayed together long enough to record Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors, adding four new songs to performances of Doors standards with other artists, including bands like Aermosmith, Stone Temple Pilots and Creed, and solo artists like Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker.2011: The most recent reunion was their participation in the documentary film Re:Generation (watch preview trailer) which brought prominent contemporary DJ/producers together with artists from five different genres. For the project, The Doors wrote and performed "Breakin' a Sweat," a new song credited to all three surviving members.Using history as a guide, it is highly unlikely that The Doors will ever reunite for anything beyond one-time-only projects like these.Densmore has declined all invitations to tour with Krieger and Manzarek since those two began performing together as The Doors Of The 21st Century. After lawsuits filed by Densmore and Morrison's estate prevented them from using "The Doors" as the band's name, they have performed variously as Riders On The Storm, Manzarek-Krieger, and Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors.Since chucking rock in the early '80s, Densmore has branched into acting, writing, and playing in a jazz band he formed in 2006.The Doors (Densmore included) have proclaimed 2012 to be "The Year of The Doors" to mark the 40th anniversary (a year late) of the release of the band's 1971 L.A. Woman album. As of late 2011, the celebration involves new box sets and other releases, but if it includes another reunion project, it will almost certainly be a short-lived affair, just lke the five preceding it.