In my day our rock stars were getting arrested too, most of the time for drug convictions - it was the sixties after all - but it was still shocking to a generation slowly creeping out of the uptight fifties. I remember just about every top band or singer being pinched for some substance abuse violation including but not limited to The Stones, The Beatles . . . oh jeez, why bother? Just figure any rock band from the sixties spent some time in the slammer, lol.
When I saw this theme though the very first thought that came to mind was Jim Morrison's (The Doors) arrest for indecent exposure in 1969 in Coconut Grove, Florida. This was sort of the start of a great number of historical and infamous incidents that happened in 1969 - don't forget that was the same year we landed on the moon and invaded a small upstate NY town for a little party called Woodstock - and I remember the incident quite clearly.
I remember being a little shocked - even though by that time I'd been to a couple of his concerts and knew he was what my Mom would have called "wild". OMG, she had no idea, lol. Also keep in mind that Morrison's nicknames were Mr. Mojo Rising and The Lizard King. Still, I was only 5 years out of Kansas and some of the hayseed was still stuck in my hair. For young girls like me part of Morrison's charm - actually a very large part - was his bad boy behavior. The tight black leather jeans and the "poetic soul" didn't hurt either. What is it about those bad boys?
I'm posting my very favorite of The Doors - Light My Fire. It's my favorite because it had a long version and that long version was a perfect length for cruising to and by all our favorite hang outs with the radio blasting. Yup, nothing like a coke and an order of fries from The Freeze while Jim blasts out of the speakers "Come on baby, Light My Fire" Sure Jim, be happy to.
More on Morrison's indecent exposure arrest and episode
POST SCRIPT! Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Thanks to a comment from Pjazzy below I found a video of the actual performance of The Doors on the Ed Sullivan Show where they DIDN'T change the lyrics to Light My Fire.
The Doors are on this video twice - once singing People Are Strange right at the first and then later singing the infamously unchanged Light My Fire.
BTW, you'll also see The Beach Boys and a few other gems of celebrity appearances on this video! Enjoy!
THE DOORS perform People are Strange & Light My Fire on Ed Sullivan
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