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Jim Morrison...
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| As the lead singer and lyricist for the Doors, Jim Morrison is one of the most legendary and influential figures in rock & roll history. The disturbing, image-rich poeticism of Morrison's lyrics, perfectly supported by the Doors' swirling, eclectic psychedelic rock, have assured him continuing icon status, while his fondness for theatrical shock tactics and nihilistic angst have influenced countless imitators. Unlike other psychedelic artists, who tended to favor whimsy or mysticism, Morrison saw expansion of consciousness as a way of gaining access to the subconscious mind's dark, unacknowledged desires ... |  |
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His rampaging id dominated his songs with a lust for violence, sex, alcohol, drugs, self-destruction, anything forbidden for any reason by the authority of conservative middle America, and he tried to live out that lifestyle as best he could. Some of Morrison's work has been criticized - both during his lifetime and afterwards - as too melodramatic and calculatedly outrageous, but even at his most frustrating, Morrison's ideas have achieved a lasting resonance with newer generations as well as his initial fans, and his best material remains some of the most original and visionary rock music ever recorded. |
| James Douglas Morrison was born on December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida. His father was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, and the family thus moved around a great deal. A strict authoritarian, Morrison's father was probably a major source of the outlandish rebellion that his son later acted out on stage; when Morrison began his climb to stardom, he would falsely claim that both of his parents were dead. |  |
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Morrison's ever-increasing withdrawal and simultaneous indulgence in hedonistic excess threatened the band's stability. He destroyed some of the band's studio equipment in a drunken outburst of temper, and he designed his ever more erratic concert behavior -- miming sex, barrages of profanity, and similar antics -- to provoke intense, frenzied audience reactions. |
| In March 1969, Morrison exposed himself to an audience in Miami and was arrested for displaying "lewd and lascivious behavior." After a two-month trial, he was found guilty, depleting the band financially and mentally and nearly causing their breakup. The Doors retreated to the studio, where they sounded musically rejuvenated on the hard-rocking Morrison Hotel (1970) and L.A. Woman (1971). | |
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Supporting
tours were marked by continued police harassment, and afterwards, a depressed Morrison left the
country with Pamela, eventually settling in Paris to unwind and write poetry (he had had his
first collection of poems, The Lord and the Creatures, published in 1970). But without the support
of his bandmates, Morrison spiraled irrevocably out of control, and he was found dead in his bathtub
on July 3, 1971, the victim of an apparent heart attack. He was only 27 years old. Morrison was
buried in the Poets' Corner of Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Pamela died of a heroin overdose 3 years later.
from All-Music Archive article by Steve Huey |
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| Former manager and biographer of The Doors, Danny Sugerman is the author of what is considered to be the most definitve biography of Jim Morrison, No-One Gets Out of Here Alive "Jim chose intensity over longevity. I don't think he wanted to die but I think he made a choice, and he knew it was too late to back out on the deal. I remember that he told me just before he went Paris that if he didn't come back that I would know that cat had run out of lives..." |
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