The Real Life Story of Jim Morrison (Remembering Legendary Doors Lead Singer Jim Morrison)

Hi guys and welcome to Historically. In today's video we will be remembering Jim Morrison. The legendary the door singer, a rock legend, poet, sex symbol, 50 years after his death people are still fascinated by Jim Morrison. The question raises who is the man behind the legend? A multi-talented artist, a charismatic frontman, known lover, Jim Morrison at the height of his career really did embrace the image of the proverbial rock star, with an unorthodox style that rocks still to this day. The real Jim Morrison, the man beyond the legend, was actually often depressed, withdrawn and rather rebellious. He excessively used drugs and alcohol which contributed to his death at the young age of 27. To this day there is numerous legends surrounding his death. Born James Douglas Morrison on December 8th 1943 in Melbourne Florida, he was the son of a Navy Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Virginia Morrison. Jim was used to moving homes, by the time he was 16 he had moved a total of 18 times and lived with his family in nine different states. He was close to his younger siblings Ann and Andy, they always had each other's backs. Morrison was described as a rather introvert boy who became an active young man when he started pursuing his passion for film in Los Angeles. He got accepted at UCLA's film school in 1964 where he developed a love for poetry, devouring romantics work of William Blake, Alan Ginsberg and Jack Cordes. At that time he began working on his own poetry. Had it not been for his fear of getting drafted in the Vietnam war though, Morrison would have not graduated with a bachelor's degree in 65. In Jim Morrison's own words, I did not want to go into the army and I didn't want to work and that's the damn truth. It is rumored that he took various drugs to mess up his blood work, to make sure that he didn't get drafted. Also claimed that he was gay. At the university Morrison met Ray Manzarek who was four years older. Together they started playing music. Morrison is a singer and songwriter while Manzarek was on the piano or organ. Moonlight Drive is one of Morrison's early songs. It has an ambiguous tune and morbid or poetic lyric. It was written on the roof of a three-story house in Venice Beach at the time. Morrison was very much into taking LSD for recreational use. When he wanted the time, Morrison claimed that he was keen on breaking the gates of perception. Drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robbie Krieger joined the duo under the name Doors of Perception Band, which was inspired by the title of a 1954 book by British writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley. The band started touring LA from club to club and were very much on the music scene of the town. They got signed by Elektra Label who took for a while to discover and offer the band a record deal. Once the offer was signed the band started recording their debut album in Sunset Sound Recording Studios within just a week in 1966. They released the second single from the album, Light My Fire, which was written by Robbie Krieger. It became a hit and would climb the top of the charts in 1967. Thanks to the heavy use of the organ, the band was branded as psychedelic blues rock. It had a unique sound at the time followed by Morrison's mystical and provocative lyrics. He would often elaborate on existing lyrics and add unpredictable lines live on stage, making a challenge for the rest of the band to follow. And you could really say that he was a lead man. His unique charm got into trouble at times. Notable in 1966, while the band was performing at the Whiskey A Go Go Club, Morrison's lyrics went off on a particular explicit tangent, in which he pucked up the theme from Odious Wreck's Greek tragedy. They were kicked out after Morrison started singing about killing his father and sleeping with his mother. It wasn't the last scandal that Morrison could ramble up over the years. The Doors live show became notorious, only adding to the myth surrounding the band. Morrison would always take the center stage, seducing men and women alike with his personality. His tight black leather pants would shine on stage, a shaman-like performance and he would jump around to the beat. Sometimes he'd even stop to recite poetry, or do a crowd surf, by jumping without a warning. In 1969, on a show in Miami, Morrison might have reached the point of spiraling out of control. Completely drunk, he walked onto the stage at the Diner Key Auditorium, which is a former seaplane hangar. He started yelling, you're all a bunch of effing idiots, you're all a bunch of slaves. The band was even invited on the Ed Sullivan show. Ed was known to ask his band to edit their lyrics as he saw fit. He asked Morrison to change the lyrics of the famous song Light My Fire, the part Girl We Couldn't Catch Much Higher, which indicated drug use. To everyone's surprise, after Morrison agreed, he then stuck with his guns, furthermore sealing his image of the rebellious rock and roll star when he sang the lyrics live. By this point, it became noted that Morrison had started the heavy use of drugs and alcohol. He became addicted and is known to have been acting aggressive towards his fans. On December 9th, 1967, Morrison was mace sprayed backstage as he was caught by an officer having intercourse with a woman. Reportedly, he went on a rampage. Morrison asked the crowd if they wanted to see his penis. He went on to unbuckle his belt only to show his underwear. A riot began between Morrison, the police and the audience. Descending the evening into maddening chaos, the act gave the authorities enough reasoning to issue an arrest and warrant for his erratic behavior, for which everyone who was close to the singer claimed that the act of incident exposure never happened. In August 1970, Morrison was charged with lewd behavior, indecent exposure and profanity. He rejected a plea bargain and was released on bail. He was sentenced to labor at Dade County Prison. The case was on appeal at the time of his death. Morrison was only starting to find out that he was not cut for it, the rock star lifestyle. It was just too much for him. He had come to regard himself as only a writer, poet, someone with a message to communicate and not just an entertainer. He got sick of being considered as a sex symbol that he even grew out his beard to ruin that image. He wanted to really be done with it. So to get through gigs, the craving need to get high on drugs is what helped him. He wanted to quit the band, but Manzrich requested that he gave the band another six months so they can record LA Woman, the sixth and final studio album. Jim Morrison wanted to quit his Jim Morrison persona, live in Paris as a no one. That's why he moved there with his longtime girlfriend, Pamela Corson, in the spring of 1971. He was in poor health, frequently coughing up blood, which is what happened on the night before his death, July 2nd. His girlfriend helped him get a bath and went on to sleep. An hour later, she woke up to find Morrison lifeless in the bathtub of her Paris apartment. The official story says that he died of a heart attack. There is a lot of speculation to the death of the legend. Many believe that Corson, who was a heroin addict, invented that story. That Morrison could have died of an overdose. Others think that he staged his death and that the coffin was carried to the Pierre Lachaise graveyard, only to be found four days later empty. Pamela Corson stuck with her story until her death three years later. Coincidentally, she died at the age of 27, like Jim. The band was dissolved officially in 1972. In the early 2000s, Manzreich and Krieger attempted to stage a reunion, bringing me on Asbury, former frontman of the cult, on board. The doors of 21st century were not successful. Nothing could come even close to the legend that the band was built during those four short years of its existence, from 1967 to 1971. It could have not been revived. Jim Morrison stands at the center of the myth, even 50 years later after his death. That's all we had for today, have a nice one!