{"id":3287,"date":"2025-10-28T19:02:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/?p=3287"},"modified":"2025-10-28T17:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:03:10","slug":"drink-drugs-and-indecent-exposure-this-is-the-rise-and-tragic-downfall-of-the-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/2025\/10\/28\/drink-drugs-and-indecent-exposure-this-is-the-rise-and-tragic-downfall-of-the-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"Drink, drugs and indecent exposure: This is the rise, and tragic downfall of The Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]
\t
\t\tMojo<\/pee>\t<\/div>\t
\t\tFEATURE<\/pee>\t<\/div><\/div>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Shaman\u2019s Blues<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”||0px|||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

By the dawn of 1969, The Doors<\/strong> were one of the hottest bands on the planet \u2013 making headlines, packing shows \u2013 yet the pressures of work and fame were already impacting on their music. Then, on-stage in Miami, Jim Morrison took something out of his trousers and changed his band\u2019s trajectory irrevocably. But did Miami unhinge The Doors, or was it \u201cthe essence of what rock\u2019n\u2019roll\u2019s about\u201d? Both? Or neither? Dave DiMartino<\/strong> knows, because he was there.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/gettyimages_480020971_1024x1024.jpg” title_text=”The Doors: Drummer John Densmore, singer Jim Morrison and keyboardist Ray Manzarek, playing at the Fillmore East.” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The Doors: Drummer John Densmore, singer Jim Morrison and keyboardist Ray Manzarek, playing at the Fillmore East.\u00a0<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

IT WAS A HOT AND STEAMY SUNDAY NIGHT IN MIAMI on March 1, 1969 \u2013 and it was even hotter and steamier inside Dinner Key Auditorium, a former aircraft hangar off Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove. Twelve thousand concert fans sat crammed into the auditorium\u2019s confines, sweating, drinking, smoking, and watching, eyes wide open, as the man on-stage politely shared his thoughts. <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]\u201cYou\u2019re all a bunch of fuckin\u2019 idiots!\u201d the man declared.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Some members of the audience applauded. Some cheered. Some whooped in appreciation. And some had climbed the outside walls, come in through the windows, and were hanging from the rafters, watching. It was nuts; I was there.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cLettin\u2019 people tell you what you\u2019re gonna do!\u201d the man scolded.\u00a0 \u201cLettin\u2019 people push you around!\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

A pause. \u201cHow long do you think it\u2019s gonna last? How long are you gonna let it go on? How long are you gonna let \u2019em push you around? How long?\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

There was discomfort among some in the audience. They\u2019d paid $6 and expected to watch this man sing, not\u2026 whatever this was.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Then, a different tack. \u201cMaybe you like it,\u201d he taunted. \u201cMaybe you like being pushed around!\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Yeah, that’s it.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cMaybe you love it! Maybe you love getting your face stuck in the shit! Come on! You love it, don\u2019t ya? You love it!\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||1px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The punchline. The night\u2019s epiphany. The final provocation. The entire point:<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cYou\u2019re all a bunch of slaves! Bunch of slaves! You\u2019re all a bunch of slaves! Letting everybody push you around.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWhat are you gonna do about it?
\u201cWhat are you gonna do about it?
\u201cWhat are you gonna do about it?
\u201cWhat are you gonna do about it?
\u201cWhat are you gonna do about it?
\u201cWhat are you gonna do?<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

A fair question.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

And what did the audience do about it?<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Very literally, they threw that man off the stage.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Welcome to Miami, Jim Morrison.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cMaybe you love getting\u2019 your face stuck in the shit! Come on! You love it, don’t ya? You love it!\u201d<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Jim Morrison<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

IN LESS THAN A WEEK, SEVERAL warrants were issued for Jim Morrison\u2019s arrest, for charges ranging from \u201clewd and lascivious behaviour in public by exposing his private parts and by simulating masturbation and oral copulation,\u201d to simple public profanity and public drunkenness. In short, Morrison was said to have pulled out his penis for the world to see on that Miami stage. Did he actually do it? The band has always denied he did and no pictures of the alleged exposure have ever surfaced. But Morrison himself said, \u201cUh-oh \u2013 I think I exposed myself,\u201d when leaving the stage that night, according to a 1969 Rolling Stone account of the concert. And speaking as an eye-witness who was actually there, aged 15, yes, I saw him do it, and so did the people I was with.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The night would hang over Jim Morrison for the remainder of his life, and significantly alter his band\u2019s career path. Some say that March 1, 1969 was the night it all fell apart for The Doors. Some say things actually got better. Either way, it epitomised a crazy phase where soaring commercial success coincided with the oddest, most uneven music they would ever record.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

It hadn\u2019t always been this way. In the early days \u2013 after Morrison, organist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore met in Los Angeles, took a bandname inspired by Aldous Huxley and William Blake, and signed to Elektra Records \u2013 being as commercial as new labelmates Love might have been more than enough. But when second single Light My Fire topped the Billboard charts in 1967, The Doors\u2019 trajectory was set. There were TV appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, on the Jonathan Winters Show. There were catchy follow-up singles, People Are Strange and Love Me Two Times, counterbalancing the deliciously exploratory epics, The End and When The Music\u2019s Over. There was no other band like The Doors, and this was their time.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cSixty-seven was the coolest period,\u201d Robby Krieger says today. \u201cEverything was amazing. Light My Fire was Number 1, it looked like we were going to get out of Vietnam, and it seemed like we had the power, you know? But then in \u201968, everything kind of changed. It was like the devil took over or something. Not only politically\u2026 Jim for some reason got back into drinking liquor, which was never good for him. Before, it was LSD or pot, and he was always great in those days, but the minute he would drink too much, it would just\u2026 everything would go to shit.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

1968 began with the band entering Hollywood\u2019s ID Sound with engineer Bruce Botnick to rehearse new material and record previews for Paul Rothchild, who\u2019d produced the band\u2019s first two albums. But they were short of songs and Morrison was focused on his planned epic, Celebration Of The Lizard \u2013 a lengthy, theatrical mixture of spoken word and music that would carry on the tradition of The End and When The Music\u2019s Over but fill a complete album side. It wasn\u2019t easy going.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWe were into it,\u201d insists Krieger. \u201cWe were trying to make it work. It was just one of those things that you really need a couple of years in a club in order to really get it down. And something like that, especially, where it\u2019s 30 minutes long \u2013 it would\u2019ve been nice to be able to do that. And we did play it live, quite a few times in different versions, but by the time we tried it in the studio, part of it was cool, but then other parts weren\u2019t working.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Botnick played the ID Sound version of Celebration\u2026 to Rothchild. The producer\u2019s verdict?<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cPaul just felt that it was not ready for prime time,\u201d says Botnick now. \u201cAnd also he was concerned about putting in another long, theatrical piece that made three in a row, with The End and When The Music\u2019s Over.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/gettyimages_50312757_1024x1024.jpg” title_text=”gettyimages_50312757_1024x1024″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Rock star Jim Morrison of the Doors dressed in leather and standing alone next to microphone, in front of a red backdrop.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

IN CELEBRATION OF THE LIZARD\u2019S absence, new material was needed. Krieger stepped up with the delicate Yes The River Knows and Waiting For The Sun (destined not to emerge until two albums later). Morrison, meanwhile, stepped out \u2013 to the bar during lulls between vocal sessions. These had become longer, as producer Rothchild\u2019s demands for retakes were increasing.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

In a 2001 interview, the late Ray Manzarek told me he called this Rothchild\u2019s \u201canal-retentive perfect recording phase. I mean, Densmore was exhausted after an evening of 20 takes of one song \u2013 like, on The Unknown Soldier, John had to do press rolls. It was like, how many times can a drummer do that? That\u2019s a very tough time to do. So that took a long time.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

How long a time? The Doors started recording at another Holly-wood studio, TTG, in mid-February and wrapped the album in late May \u2013 three months during which they also played over a dozen gigs in the US and Canada. But if making Waiting For The Sun was a struggle, you wouldn\u2019t know it by the strength of its contents. Hello, I Love You underscored the band\u2019s pop chops, while The Unknown Soldier and Five To One, two fiercely rocking tracks, further defined Morrison\u2019s rebel persona \u2013 as did his final spoken line on Not To Touch The Earth, the only segment of Celebration Of The Lizard that had made the cut. As the track fades, Jim Morrison offers his famous proclamation: \u201cI am the Lizard King. I can do anything.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Inside the band, however, Morrison\u2019s behaviour was stoking tensions, and sparked an exasperated Densmore to walk out of sessions.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cThis was a time before substance abuse clinics,\u201d the drummer says today. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know that there was a guy in the band who had a disease. But I knew that there was an elephant in the room and no one was talking about it. And one day he was down at the studio with some friends, and they were getting really sloppy, stoned, and I just threw my sticks down and said, I quit.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cBut then the next morning, I woke up and said, Wait a minute, I found my path in life \u2013 music. Yes, there\u2019s a crazy person in the band, but I cannot give this up. This is my lifeline. My blood, through music\u2026 So I went back to the studio and everyone accepted me like nothing had happened.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cBut you know, I was trying to make a statement. We had actually orchestrated one meeting with Jim and Robby\u2019s dad, and we were going to tell him, \u2018Hey, you\u2019ve got a problem.\u2019 It was like what they call an intervention now, in modern clean-and-sober terms\u2026 but he never showed up for the meeting!\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

To Bruce Botnick, Morrison\u2019s behaviour in the studio during that era was a function of his \u2013 and the band\u2019s \u2013 growing celebrity.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cAll of a sudden they become, quote-unquote, \u2018rock stars\u2019, and this was all new to everybody,\u201d says Botnick. \u201cAnd Jim was enjoying his time. He was drunk a lot of the time. Like, you can hear, My Wild Love is a good example \u2013 he was out of his skull. But pretty much everything else, he was together. We got everything we needed from him. He was just enjoying celebrity, they were enjoying celebrity \u2013 it really didn\u2019t impact us until after Miami. Any serious negativity \u2013 that was just, \u2018Oh, Jim\u2019s juiced again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cBefore, it was LSD or pot. But the minute Jim would drink too much, everything would go to shit.\u201d<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Robby Krieger<\/b><\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

MORRISON\u2019S ABILITY TO PROVIDE THE DOORS with \u201ceverything they needed\u201d was crucial to them in 1968, a year that kicked into gear with the Billboard Number 1 success of the sprightly Hello, I Love You in June, which helped to propel Waiting For The Sun to the top of the US album charts in July. The Doors were in huge demand, selling more tickets than ever as they crisscrossed the States, spending more than 55 days on the road.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

And Morrison’s boozing? His on-stage behaviour? Was it an issue?<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWell, we were really good,\u201d John Densmore laughs. \u201cJim\u2019s craziness was part of the allure. You didn\u2019t know what was going to happen. Would it be wild? Would it be quiet? For that middle period we had that delicate balance of craziness and creativity, and we just were really strong.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Robby Krieger sees it much the same way. \u201cTo tell you the truth, it all depended on how much he drank during the show. Now if he had the right amount of liquor in him, he was great, and he would do a great show. If he had a little too much, then it wasn\u2019t so great. And if he didn\u2019t have enough, it wouldn\u2019t be great.\u201d He softly chuckles at the memory. \u201cThere was a very fine line there that was kind of nerve-wracking.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Eyewitness accounts of two consecutive Doors performances in Chicago and Detroit in May 1968 show that audience\u2019s nerves could be wracked, too. Robert Wallace Graham was at the Chicago Coliseum show on May 10.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWe had balcony seats, and in all honesty, the balcony didn\u2019t feel that stable,\u201d Graham writes in his Scraps From My Autobiography blog, \u201cbut we were young and nothing could go wrong. The seats were all rickety folding chairs. This would be a mistake by the organisers, as the concert ended with some in the balcony audience (not us) heaving these chairs over the railings. I remember watching with a degree of concern and helplessness as chairs rained down on people on the main floor. I don\u2019t remember why people were throwing them, but it was 1968 \u2013 did there need to be a reason?\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The very next day, rock photographer Thomas Weschler, then working for local music gear rental company Artist\u2019s Music, met The Doors at their afternoon soundcheck at Detroit\u2019s Cobo Arena.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cJim Morrison was quite satisfied with the PA,\u201d Weschler now recalls. \u201cThere was a feedback cancellation on the board that came with it and you could cancel the feedback. You didn\u2019t get the full range out of the monitor speakers that way, but it was enough for him, and he liked it a lot. He treated me to a Budweiser in a can, even though I was underage.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

So he was a cool guy?<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cYeah, very cool, very nice guy. Real soft-spoken. He wasn\u2019t, you know, weird or anything like that, until the last part of the soundcheck. He said to me, \u2018Are you going to be sticking around \u2019til the end?\u2019 And I said, Yeah, sure, I\u2019ve got to take the equipment back to the store. And he said, \u2018OK, good. I\u2019m going to play a little trick on the Detroit police department. I\u2019m going to jump off the stage, walk into the crowd, and taunt the police, and I\u2019m going to come running back to the stage. Do you know anybody who could help me with cupped hands to get me back on the stage?\u2019<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201c[Detroit\/Ann Arbor local music fixture] Jeep Holland was there,\u201d remembers Weschler, \u201cand he volunteered. So Jeep and I were the ones who got him back on the stage. He actually jumped into Jeep\u2019s hand and Jeep put him up, I was just there in case. But it worked out pretty well.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/gettyimages_156805928_1024x1024.jpg” title_text=”Jim Morrison In San Jose” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

SAN JOSE – MAY 19: Jim Morrison of The Doors performs at the Northern California Folk-Rock Festival at Family Park, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on May 19, 1968 in San Jose, California.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

THE DOORS ON THE ROAD WERE A CAUSE C\u00c9L\u00c8BRE. A good five months or so of 1968 were devoted to the shooting of Feast Of Friends, a tour documentary directed by Morrison\u2019s friend Paul Ferrara. The film was never officially completed but saw a legitimate release in 2014, and for all its narrative shortcomings contains some eye-opening live footage of The Doors in their full glory. But back then, in summer \u201968, glimpses of the band in their prime were actually rare; fans were more likely to see pictures in the local paper \u2013 of officials carting Jim Morrison away from concert chaos he had incited. Usually they accompanied news stories like this one:<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

NEW YORK \u2013 AUG. 2, 1968<\/strong> (UPI) Three persons were injured and two were arrested today when a teenage audience at a folk rock concert charged the stage.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Police said about 200 teenagers in a capacity audience of 10,000, listening to a group called \u201cThe Doors,\u201d began breaking up the wooden chairs at the Singer Bowl in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

As the group was completing its last two numbers the teenagers ran for the stage, causing the musicians to retreat, leaving their equipment behind. A witness said students armed with pieces of chairs began smashing the equipment on stage before guards could stop them.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Despite the growing and deliberate chaos \u2013 there had really been very little like it before \u2013 no one seemed to be scared off. And demand for live performances by The Doors only increased. Their European tour, two weeks of gigs and media appearances in mid-September that year, was a conspicuous success (Waiting For The Sun had peaked at 16 in the UK albums chart \u2013 their first long-player to chart here).<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Most notable was the band\u2019s performance at London\u2019s Roundhouse, on a two-night double-bill with Jefferson Airplane. Morrison was on his best behaviour, the show was captured by Granada TV and aired within weeks as The Doors Are Open, and today its stark black and white look evokes an unmistakable feeling of musical history in the making. It \u2013 and the band \u2013 was superb.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWe were very excited to go to Europe,\u201d Densmore remembers, \u201cand what was it billed as? \u2018The West Coast Psychedelic Sound Comes To England\u2019 or something? It was kind of similar to the first time when we played the Fillmore West from way back \u2013 the audience just stared at us, like we were from Mars. Because we weren\u2019t a get-up-and-dance kind of band. We were kind of dark.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Robby Krieger says he wishes the band had returned and played more gigs in Europe. He remembers enjoying the fact that they were still relatively unknown quantities. \u201cWe went to Amsterdam,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich might have been a big mistake. Because Jim was walking around town and people were giving him blocks of hashish and stuff \u2013 and he just popped one in his mouth and swallowed it. And by the time the show came around he was not able to stand up, even. At first he was OK \u2013 in fact he ran out and jumped on-stage with the Airplane and kind of messed up their set, but then he came back and just collapsed. We thought he was going to die or something.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cSo they rushed him to the hospital, and then the promoter asked the audience, \u2018Jim Morrison has gotten sick \u2013 do you want to see The Doors still, the other three Doors?\u2019 And the audience said, \u2018YEAAAH, WE WANNA SEE \u2019EM!!\u2019 So we went on and we played. Ray and I sang, Ray sang most of it \u2013 and it went great. And I think it was because people didn\u2019t really know who Jim Morrison was yet. They just knew The Doors, they knew nothing about Morrison.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/gettyimages_515103642_1024x1024.jpg” title_text=”Jim Morrison Walking to Extradition Proceedings” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Jim Morrison (L), is accompanied by his attorney Max Fink as he arrives at the Los Angeles Federal Building to appear before the U.S. Commissioner for extradition proceedings to Florida. <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

ONE MIGHT THINK MORRISON\u2019S propensity to swallow what was handed to him on an Amsterdam street corner, to drink to excess, to painfully prolong recording sessions via spontaneous partying, maybe even to incite audience riots when so moved, would inevitably break up The Doors. Or create factions within it. But no, that didn\u2019t happen until much later in the game, notes Botnick, \u201cwhen they all basically got tired of Jim being wrecked, and Jim got tired of the whole thing. And he just wanted to be left alone.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

And before that? \u201cAll the guys were really bright. I mean really, really bright. They all went to school together for the most part. Ray was incredibly smart, but very deep into cinema and religion; he knew more about world religions than most people do. And to hear an intellectual discussion and Ray and Jim \u2013 and all of them \u2013 sit around and just shoot the shit, and they\u2019d shoot it at a very high level \u2013 was always very cool. It was fun. That was part of the thing of being with them, to partake in those conversations. They liked one another. They went on vacation together a lot.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

With profound repercussions for what was to happen next to The Doors, Morrison\u2019s intellectual interests also included an appreciation of experimental drama. In late February 1969, he spent many nights watching The Living Theatre\u2019s week-long series of shows at the University of Southern California in LA, including audience-challenging enactments of Antonin Artaud\u2019s Plague, an adaptation of Frankenstein, Judith Malina\u2019s Antigone, and more. As Krieger summarises, \u201cit was kind of like Hair, but with more nudity.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cSo Jim went to a bunch of those [shows],\u201d says Botnick. \u201cAnd he went to Miami, and I guess he got quite intoxicated, and this was fresh on his mind, that he was going to free the audience and get one big Living Theatre going, and that\u2019s what happened.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Hence the audience-goading. And the penis.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cAfter the show, we were laughing,\u201d Krieger notes. \u201cWe were having beers with the cops, nobody got arrested. To us, it was a successful Doors happening \u2013 even though we only played like three songs or something. We wouldn\u2019t necessarily want every show to be like that, but it was different, it was crazy, and nobody asked for their money back. It wasn\u2019t \u2019til a week later or so that some politicians started making a big deal about it, and Jim got arrested.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cAfter the Miami show, we were laughing. Nobody got arrested. To us, it was a successful Doors happening.\u201d<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Robby Krieger<\/b><\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

IF THE DOORS HAD BEEN ON A ROLL through 1968 and early 1969, Miami did slow their momentum considerably. Shows were cancelled, or not even booked; a hastily organised \u2018Rally For Decency\u2019 featuring right-wing zealot\/former pop singer Anita Bryant took place at Miami\u2019s Orange Bowl stadium within weeks; and Morrison\u2019s name most often appeared in print with the words \u2018lewd and lascivious behaviour\u2019, \u2018indecent exposure\u2019, \u2018open profanity\u2019 and \u2018drunkenness\u2019. <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cIt was tough on everybody,\u201d says Botnick. \u201cBecause you\u2019re flying high, you\u2019re Number 1 \u2013 and then all of a sudden you\u2019re brought down to the ground, slammed down, and you\u2019re blackballed, blacklisted, where you can\u2019t do your thing. And believe me, that for any artist worth their salt \u2013 even John Lennon \u2013 you step outside what people perceive, and they don\u2019t like you any more. And they figure you\u2019re bad.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u2018Bad\u2019 was one of many adjectives unkind critics used to describe The Soft Parade, the first Doors album to emerge post-Miami. It had begun its recording in November 1968 and concluded in June. Much had happened in the interim. Critics were harsh; it was not a bad LP at all, but with its strings and horns, occasional jazz solos, and a dominance of Krieger-penned songs, it seemed oddly unDoors-like.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWe had spent a frickin\u2019 quarter of a million dollars making The Soft Parade,\u201d says Densmore, in seeming disbelief even today. \u201cWe had to do that, we wanted to try Sgt. Pepper and the horns and strings. We got flak for changing our sound, but it was something we needed to go through.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Fortunately for The Doors, they got through it with their very next album, Morrison Hotel. Recording began in mid-November 1969, and the album was released on February 1, 1970. It was a restatement of the band\u2019s core strengths.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWe had plenty of time to rehearse, because we couldn\u2019t play anywhere, we had been banned from America because of the Miami incident,\u201d Ray Manzarek recounted. \u201cSo we went into a good period of rehearsal and composition, and the result of what came out of that was Morrison Hotel. We set out to make a hard, bluesy, album.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

However much Miami had been hanging over The Doors, the band heard on Morrison Hotel seemed rugged and carefree, tracks like Roadhouse Blues and Peace Frog resonated strongly on American radio, and touring was beginning to pick up again, although not in the conservative South. When Elektra released the first live Doors album (Absolutely Live) in July, and their first greatest hits set (13) in November, a major Doors comeback seemed in the offing.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Morrison\u2019s post-Miami travails came to a head in late October 1970, when he was convicted on two misdemeanour counts of open profanity and indecent exposure, fined $500, and sentenced to six months in prison. While he appealed the case, he was allowed to return to LA, gathering with his band to play a new batch of Doors songs to Rothchild.\u00a0<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cAnd we played the songs, and played them badly,\u201d recalled Ray Manzarek. \u201cQuite badly, actually. Really dull. And Paul said, \u2018You know what? For the first time in my life with you guys, I\u2019m bored. There\u2019s nothing I can do here, man. I\u2019ll tell you what \u2013 if this is the album you want to make, why don\u2019t you do it yourselves? I\u2019m out of here.\u2019 And we all went, \u2018Holy Shit! Paul\u2019s quit, what the fuck are we going to do?\u2019<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cAnd then Bruce said, \u2018I\u2019ll produce.\u2019\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/Woman.jpg” title_text=”Woman” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

L.A. WOMAN, the last Doors album on which Jim Morrison featured.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cWITH L.A. WOMAN, WE treated it like the first album,\u201d says John Densmore of the last Doors album to feature Jim Morrison \u2013 that is, the last real Doors album. \u201cWe made it in a few weeks, in our rehearsal room, like in the garage from the first album, we made the whole thing fast and cheap. It was your template for fuck perfection, let\u2019s just get down to the essence of what rock\u2019n\u2019roll\u2019s about, which is passion and confronting bullshit.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

In April 1971, less than two months after L.A. Woman was completed, and The Doors restored to what appeared the peak of their powers, Jim Morrison left for Paris. On July 3, he was found dead in a bathtub in a flat on the Rue Beautreillis. He was 27. There was no autopsy.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Morrison\u2019s reckless commitment to the collision of art and life and chaos had always involved risk. But his legacy, on his own account and through the conduit of admirers like Iggy Pop, is still felt wherever the young challenge authority and performers push beyond the boundaries of what\u2019s deemed comfortable or acceptable, where the doors to rock\u2019n\u2019roll fun are kicked open and everyone\u2019s invited inside.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

It may have been nearly 50 years ago, up in the steamy bleachers of Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, and so much is hazy, but I remember distinctly the time Jim Morrison pointed at me \u2013 and my friends \u2013 and issued the official call to action:<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cI can\u2019t believe all those people sitting way over there, man,\u201d he proclaimed, finger extended. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you all come down here and get with us, ya know? C\u2019mon! What are you, in the 50-cent section, or what? C\u2019mon! C\u2019mon down here! Get closer, man! We need some love!\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

This article first appeared in issue 303 of Mojo.<\/em><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-names” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Images: Getty<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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