Jim Morrison: Free the Lizard King?

Remember the Doors? That band that started as just a few desperate California buskers but grew into the genius band that would re-define performance art and its place in popular culture? Remember the inspired organ-guitar intercourse of guitarist Robby Krieger and organist Ray Manzareck, the glimmering chords and flawless cresendos that filled in the holes in songs without making them overcrowded? The trance-inducing tom-cymbal dueling of drummer John Densmore, the "jungle drums" that created palpable musical tension within otherwise ordinary pop songs? The Doors were quite literally one of the best bands to come out of the clusterfuck that was the sixties, and most definitely one of the best bands to ever come out of America.

Now remember Jim Morrison? The charismatic singer and bad-boy heartthrob who, with his seductive baritone and defined features, at the same time re-interpretted Greek theater and re-defined what it meant to be a sex symbol? Remember his bouts of acid-induced genius, during which he wrote such unforgettable songs as "Light my Fire" and "The End"? Do you remember the absolute daze he would go into on stage, during which he would loose control and do and say things that were shocking and potentially illegal (like his infamous reference to Sophocles' Oedipus the King in "The End")? And finally, do you remember the time that he was arrested at a Miami concert after removing his clothes, and then convicted of indecent exposure? Well, apparently, a TV producer from Florida (creatively named "Dave Diamond") is asking Gov. Charlie Christ for the posthumous pardon of Doors singer Jim Morrison, saying that he wants the Melbourne darling to be remembered as a revolutionary poet and singer, not a "rock and roll bad-boy with a rap sheet".

But the fact is, he was a "rock and roll bad-boy," and it was from that all his art stemmed, all his "revolutionary" songs and poetry. He wasn't just groundbreaking and unique because of the music he made or the words he wrote, but because of the way he lived. He was the embodiment of the sixties carefree Bohemian lifestyle, and that was what made his such a saint to the army of fans that admired his work. He lived in a way not expected, endorsed or even tolerated by his country and his elders, and that was the essence of Jim Morrison. And while a pardon might serve to up the ratings of Diamond Dave's TV show, it is completely unnecessary (and inconsistent with the message of Morrison's writing) for Jim Morrison's legacy to embraced in such a way by the state. And in fact, it would do nothing but tarnish the reputation of one of rock's greatest artists.


"Go ahead and light my fire. Throw me on the funeral pyre. We'll set the night in fire!!"