The third Isle of Wight Pop Festival got under way 50 years ago today (August 26th). The five-day event included what would be Jimi Hendrix‘s final U.K. appearance, The Doors, The Who, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Free, Jethro Tull and many more. The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger admits he took the riff from a song by another Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. The song “Break on Through” on the Doors first album was The Doors’ first single in the U.S., it only got to number-126, missing the Billboard Hot 100. Its failure paved the way for their next single, “Light My Fire,” to “break on through” for the band. Robbie Krieger recalls that the song’s signature guitar riff was something he kind of borrowed:
“Tell you the truth, I got the idea for the whole beat of the song from a Paul Butterfield song — ‘Mellow Down Easy,’ I think that’s it, yeah. [Sings the riff] I’m sure he stole it from somewhere else, too, so I don’t care about that [Laughs]. And Butterfield was a friend of mine before he died, by the way. Great harp player.”
