Jim Morrison Essay example -- essays research papers

I don't quite recall when I first heard a Doors' song, but I could safely assume that it was Jim Morrison wailing the tune "Light My Fire" or "Break on Through". After all, these two anthems are the foundations upon which the Doors' legend was built, and to this day remain the band's gems. But as I have come to learn through the years of reading about and scouring over regurgitated bits of information of this group is that they are so much more than a member of the genre of those 1960s bands who musically fell in love with drugs, love, and repetitive choruses. Gathering knowledge from a countless number of books, newspaper articles, and documentaries about the band's lead singer, Jim Morrison, has led me to scorn the drunken, obnoxious hippie identity that a majority of the public has perceived him to be some thirty years after his passing. There was a time when I shared these prejudicial views with the casual listeners, but it's been quite a long road to persona lly come to the conclusion that Jim was a poet who had something valuable to say when he was performing. However, a public misconception of Morrison and the Doors still remains, and will linger for the simple reason that we cannot re-live the late 1960s and become acquainted with this rock n roll icon. Thus, this very fact incited me to gain a better understanding of the legend that's been bogged in criticism for the last thirty years. Now, before I commend Jim for all that he's accomplished in his twenty-seven years on this earth, it is only reasonable and fair to point out that he was not flawless. He was not one to compromise with authority, and undoubtedly expiremented in drugs and risky situations. Indeed, he often put himself in danger, and the result was a payment of the ultimate price: death. Death from years of alcohol abuse, late night partying, and frolicking around town. Death from a haggard soul that had done and seen almost everything that anyone could conceive. However, it should be cited that he had never purposely intended to harm another soul on his downward spiral through life. He would often saturate his mind with liquor, but consciously close the flood gates just as he was to plummet from the edge of sanity. The same "loud-mouthed, insane, drug-induced monster" who once sang with a straight face of killing his father and having sexual intercourse wi... ...e suicide of a twenty-seven year old rock star that at one time seemingly had it all. However, I wouldn't be doing my duty as a Doors fan if I were to simply accept the fact that Jim Morrison, the Lizard King, took his own life solely because of a disappointment with life. The critics; the media; the same people who adored and worshipped Morrison when he was a do-good American pop icon pushed their beloved son until he couldn't handle life any more. They criticized and publicly crucified Jim Morrison for having an open mind and expressing himself through his music. The same country that was built on the right that gave every citizen allowance to voice his or her opinion on the state of society killed Jim Morrison for doing just that. The land of the free....... Jim was led to his demise by the cruel surrounding we call our society. He couldn't take the pain anymore, so there was one surefire way to end it all. As he was notorious for doing, he worded it best in the Doors' classic "The Soft Parade" by surrendering himself: "Can you give me sancuary?/ I must find a place to hide.......Can you find me soft asylum?/ I can't make it anymore/ The Man is at the door."