Jim Morrison, musician, poet, singer of the famous band The Doors and one of the cursed references of rock died fifty years ago in Paris and since then has become a perfect myth, a legend created in large part thanks to the influence of the cinema.
Jim Morrison, Arrested and Convicted
Since their formation in Los Angeles in 1965, The Doors had fostered a reputation that made their performances unpredictable. Jim Morrison had had the odd run-in with the law. The most notorious had been that of March 1, 1969, when the leader of the band was arrested for indecent exhibition after a concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami. That night Morrison was drunk and possibly high on the drugs he regularly used. Supposedly, he lowered his fly and showed his genitals. He was arrested and charged with lewd conduct, a serious crime in the state of Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ap2GNPsXPM
You Never Knew Which Jim You “Were” Going To Meet
According to guitarist Robby Krieger, Morrison “was very nervous (about the trial) and I’m sure those shows in Boston were a good opportunity to get away from it all. What was most shocking to me is that you never knew which Jim you were going to meet. ” That night, in the double session of the Arena in the capital of Massachusetts, the most outrageous was uncovered. “That was the strange, dark, devilish creature that occasionally took control of Jim Morrison and came out of the bottle,” says Mazurek. “When Jim was out of control, you never knew what was going to happen. There was the danger and the emotion… although I was not aware that the end was so close ”.
According to Doors Guide, Morrison had been “drinking all day” when the band took the stage. At the 07.00 p.m. concert, his drunken state did not have a great adverse effect; he joked with the audience between song and song, reflecting a nice relaxed performance by the group.
The Wildest Doors In Their Purest Form
The second set, scheduled for 10:00 pm, didn’t start until after midnight, and it was something else entirely. “Wacky, the wildest Doors in their purest form,” as Manzarek defined it. That night Light My Fire lasted almost 20 minutes and during a 14-minute version of When the music’s over, Morrison asked “just, call me Jimbo” before releasing a chilling scream that exploded into a psychedelic blues-rock delusion. Manzarek says it was the first time Morrison asked to be called Jimbo, “a nickname that represented the tormented side of the singer.”
Morrison kept joking around with people, turning to an overexcited fan and saying “shut your mouth.” Then he yelled “Adolf Hitler is alive. I slept with her last night ”
Break On Through To The Other Side
The Door live concerts are eye-catching, giving the band its legendary character. Jim Morrison is always at the center: he has created a stage figure that awakens the desire of women and men alike. In his tight black leather pants, he dances in a trance to the rhythm of the music, enacting himself as a shaman. Other times he pauses and begins reciting poetry, and other times he just launches into the crowd without warning.
At a concert in Miami in 1969, Morrison goes to the extreme. By then he is a great addict to drugs and alcohol, unreliable with his bandmates, sometimes aggressive with the public. One night, completely drunk, he enters the stage of the Dinner Key Auditorium, a former aircraft hangar. “They are a ball of idiots. They are a ball of slaves,” he yells at the audience.
A little later, he asks the audience if they want to see his penis. He unbuckles his belt just enough to expose his underwear. An altercation ensues between Morrison, the police, and the public, and the evening turns into chaos.
Concerts And Riots
Fans knew what to expect from a Doors concert: riots and transcendence. And if that didn’t happen, they would at least have a chance to see the Lizard King acting as only he knew.
The Doors offered a unique, quirky show, never seen before. But for Morrison, the clearer it became that his lyrics and music were the least of it for his fans, the more his frustration flared on and off the stage.
He had grown tired of the expectations of his audience. The Doors had become something larger than life itself, and their relationship with the audience was becoming less realistic with each new concert. They were no longer just a rock group, they were, above all, a sexual spectacle. The contempt had only served to add an accessory spectacle to the main attraction.
In 1969, the Doors were the most important rock group in North America. They refused to perform in venues with a capacity of fewer than 10,000 people and charged $ 35,000 a night.