Top 10 Facts You Probably Did Not Know About Jim Morrison
Here are some cool and interesting facts you probably did not know about singer-songwriter, poet, lead vocalist and founder of The Doors, Jim Morrison.
Morrison loved philosophy, poetry, and 16th-century literature from a young age. In high school, he was known for his intelligence, but his musical talents were largely unknown. At the University of California, he pursued a career in film, graduating from its film school with a degree in theater arts shortly before forming The Doors that summer.
He should have become a mathematician or a doctor instead.
In several interviews, Morrison spoke about a traumatic incident he witnessed during his childhood. He was in a car with his parents and grandfather traveling through New Mexico when they saw that a "truckload of Indians" had collided with another car. The victims were scattered across the highway, bleeding to death. Morrison referenced the incident in a few of his songs and spoken-word tracks.
Even as a rock star, Morrison often enjoyed listening to older artists, preferring classical music, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley over newer bands like Led Zeppelin. His favorite blues musician was Jimmy Reed.
Just before The Doors came on stage at The Ed Sullivan Show, they were instructed not to sing the original lyrics due to drug references. However, they did so anyway. Ed Sullivan was outraged and refused to shake hands with the band. As a result, The Doors were banned permanently from the show instead of performing six more times. This decision paved the way for other variety TV shows to hire grittier acts. Ed Sullivan's disdain for rock and roll and hippies was evident, as he had tried to ban Elvis Presley eleven years earlier. The Doors later performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which was one of the most controversial TV shows at the time.
Before The Doors gained popularity with "Light My Fire," Morrison told his band members he would one day fake his death to increase their notoriety. After Morrison's actual death in 1971, The Doors gained even more popularity, despite being on the verge of breaking up due to his loss.
After a concert in Miami on March 1, 1969, Morrison was in Jamaica smoking cannabis with his housekeeper. As paranoia set in, he became increasingly fearful, hallucinating that people were out to kill him. This became one of the most frightening events of Morrison's life.
In 1969, Morrison wanted to release a poetry album called The Rise and Fall of James Phoenix instead of the Absolutely Live album released the following year, but the other band members didn't like it. Morrison envisioned that the James Phoenix album would be created with a philharmonic orchestra.
When Morrison lived with Hungarian artist Eva Gardonyi for several months, he enjoyed listening to her ethnic folk albums from Eastern Europe and Africa. He also liked when Eva dressed in black underwear and garter belts to pretend to be a stripper.
In 1963, when Jim Morrison was a UCLA film student, he was arrested for a drunken prank at a football game in Tallahassee, Florida. The mugshots from the arrest are quite amusing.
According to The Doors' publicist, Morrison did not see Woodstock as a "love festival" at all.