James Douglas Morrison and His Enduring Celebrity Persona Kylo

Trapped: James Douglas Morrison and His Enduring Celebrity Persona

Kylo-Patrick R. Hart

Abstract This chapter explores how Jim Morrison, lead singer of the rock band The Doors, became trapped in a celebrity persona he no longer wished to call his own. It demonstrates how the successful, widely embraced construction of his celebrity persona early in his musical career substantially restricted his subsequent attempts to take that career in desired new directions as the 1960s turned to the 1970s, such that he would ultimately be remembered for his words, as a serious poet. As a result, the aspirational limitations imposed on Morrison by his no-longer-desired persona increased the stressors of his celebrity existence, contributing significantly to the worsening of his destructive behaviours and addictions, his untimely death at the age of twenty-seven, and the primary way that he is eternally remembered today: as simply being the attractive and controversial lead singer of The Doors.

Key Words: Career trajectory, celebrity, death, The Doors, erratic behaviour, fame, Jim Morrison, persona, poet, singer, substance abuse.

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1. Introducing James Douglas Morrison James Douglas Morrison is not really Jim Morrison, even though they are the names of the same individual. James Douglas Morrison was the version of the name that the lead singer of the rock band The Doors, widely known around the world simply as Jim Morrison, preferred to include on his individual poems and poetry books. It was the way he viewed himself in his (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts, as his musical career progressed, to be taken seriously as a poet, rather than being remembered simply for being a rock star. Unfortunately for him, Morrison had successfully cultivated such a culturally pervasive celebrity persona during his early years with The Doors – one that was primarily focused on his striking good looks and increasingly erratic on-stage behaviours as a singer – that his remaining fans, as the 1960s turned to the 1970s, appeared to have little interest in supporting his efforts to take his career in new and more fulfilling directions by reinventing himself in the form of a serious poet. As such, he ultimately became trapped in the celebrity persona of Jim Morrison, rather than being able to flourish with the revised celebrity persona of James Douglas Morrison as he desired, which contributed to the worsening of his various addictions, as well as his untimely death at such a young age. Accordingly, this chapter explores the trajectory of Morrison’s short-lived career, from reluctant celebrity to one who enjoyed basking in the celebrity limelight and back again, in 172 Trapped ______order to demonstrate how he became trapped in the enduring celebrity persona of the beautiful and erratic lead singer that he himself helped to create.

2. Reluctant Celebrity, Phase One In many ways, Jim Morrison was a reluctant celebrity from his earliest days as a member of The Doors. For instance, when he first came up with the idea to start a rock band he immediately stated that he planned to sing – even though he admitted that he lacked any real singing ability with his next breath.1 Early on, bandmate Ray Manzarek agreed that Morrison’s voice was weak, but the two believed that the situation would improve as the lead singer’s confidence grew.2 However, performing did not come naturally to Morrison, who appeared quite nervous during early rehearsals and remained stiff and relatively motionless as he sang, even as he began to appear before live audiences.3 It was not uncommon for Morrison to keep his back to his audience as he performed. Reporting on one of the band’s early performances at the Whisky-a-Go-Go, Los Angeles Times critic Pete Johnson noted that The Doors had a terrible stage presence, made worse by the reality that the lead singer performs with his eyes closed.4 It was not long before Morrison turned to substances of various kinds to both open his own ‘doors of perception,’ as author Aldous Huxley encouraged, and to become less self-conscious while on stage, beginning to ‘gobble acid tabs like beer nuts’ initially and increasing his range of substances as the months and years progressed.5 Gradually, he gained more confidence in his voice (although he maintained that he didn’t actually sing but rather shouted), and his on-stage behaviour transitioned from awkwardly keeping his back to the audience while performing to doing ‘a dramatic turn with a black handkerchief, draping it over the microphone and rubbing it sensually around his face.’6 It was about this same time that the singer began to ingest drugs before going on stage, which certainly loosened him up – for example, rubbing his crotch along the length of a microphone stand became a common part of his performing repertoire – while simultaneously distorting and intensifying his senses, sometimes to the benefit of the band’s performances and increasingly to their detriment.7 Whether or not Morrison wanted, or was ready, to be thrust into the celebrity limelight in the months following January 1967 – when the band’s eponymous first

1 Jerry Hopkins and Daniel Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1980), 58. 2 Ibid., 64. 3 Ibid. 4 Pete Johnson, ‘The Doors at the Whisky-a-Go-Go,’ The Doors: The Illustrated History, ed. Danny Sugerman (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1983), 15. 5 Hopkins and Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive, 70. 6 Ibid., 82. 7 Ibid., 82-83, 93.