VH1 Legends: Jim Morrison & The Doors: The Lizard King

Source:In The Middle of The Sun- The Lizard King Jim Morrison, Live in Frankfurt, Germany in 1968. 

Source:The Action Blog 

"Here's a very rare documentary without the annoying subtitles, narrated by Henry Rollins.  I recorded it on VHS back in something like 1997, then recorded it onto a recordable DVD-R.  The tape it was oiginally on stopped working right after I burned it to DVD.  Enjoy it.  I know I did."

From In The Middle of The Sun

The Lizard King, ( which he'll always be known as, at least with me ) Jim Morrison's birthday was last Saturday, but he's The Lizard King so he gets a 4 day birthday celebration from me at least. He would've been 75 today had he not died at the age of 27 in 1971 and without his alcoholism and other drug abuse and had he lived a natural life in years he would not only probably still be alive today, but probably still performing. The Rolling Stones, same generation as The Doors are still playing. Aerosmith, same generation as The Doors and in their 70s still playing. Bruce Springsteen, same generation as well, late 60s if not already 70 is still playing. So losing Jim Morrison at 27 was a huge tragedy that still affects his fans and the broader rock industry today.

Source:John Dewey Stewart- Jim Morrison and Robby Krieger, Live at The Roadhouse in London England, in 1968 

You would have to be familiar with not just the NFL, but NFL history ( meaning you're not a Millennial, LOL ) to understand this reference, but Jim Morrison had a Gayle Sayers affect on the rock industry. He was there for such a short period of time, really only 3-4 years as an active performer before he went to Paris for good in 1970 and never came back and died in 1971. Whether he gave himself the nickname The Lizard King or someone else gave him that nickname stuck, he was The Lizard King. He moved like a lizard and you could argue even dressed like one with his snakeskin skin-tight black leather suit, cowboy boots, and concho belt. He also patent skin-tight brown leather jeans which might be more popular than is black leathers, but he didn't wear as often

Source:Ceoniric- The Lizard King Jim Morrison 

The way Jim Morrison moved and how he dressed when he moved, the way he danced, crashed to the stage he really put on a show all by himself every time he performed on stage and some could argue a sex show performing in his skin-tight leather suit almost every time he was on stage. Leather jeans especially black leathers, are popular in rock & roll today and have been really since the late 1970s and early 80s, because of The Lizard King Jim Morrison. His impact on rock & roll including blues rock, is not just because of his music and writing, but rock & roll fashion. He was the rock & roll leather cowboy whose impact on rock & roll was huge 50 years ago and still felt today and he will always be missed especially with the internet being as big as it is and people always having the ability to research Morrison and check him out.

Michael Jenson: Aerosmith- Love Me Two Times: Cover For Jim Morrison & The Doors

Source:Michael Jenson- Aerosmith, playing Love Me Two Times, from Jim Morrison & The Doors.

Source:The Action Blog

"Aerosmith - love me two times (unplugged)" 

From Michael Jenson

Just another example of why Aerosmith, is the best classic rock band ever, if not rock & roll band ( including The Doors ) with their cover for Love Me Two Times. Jim Morrison and The Doors, were a blues rock band, similar to Eric Clapton today, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley from back in the day. Aerosmith is almost purely a classic rock band. Not a punk band, sure as hell not a metal band, but a pure rock & roll band the way the music is played in it's classic form. And yet they're playing Love Me Two Times here from The Doors, which is a great blues rock song. Along with Roadhouse Blues, perhaps the best Doors song.

But all great rock bands not only have their own sound down, but they can improvise and be really creative and play other people's songs as well. You see singers performing other artists music all the time and even showing up at other artists concerts and they'll play the music together. Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, have played Bon Jovi's It's My Life together live and in concert. Something you should check out on YouTube if you're a fan, with Bruce both on guitar and singing along with Jon, Bon Jovi's It's My Life. One of the reasons why Aerosmith is the best classic rock band, ever is because they got their sound down and can play other's people's music as well very well.

Source: FRS FreeState via Flickr- Jim Morrison & John Densmore

If you listen to this performance from Aerosmith, I believe the drummer especially has sound of Love Me Two Times down. It sounds just like John Densmore's ( from The Doors ) version of Love Me Two Times. Not to take anything away from Jo Perry ( my personal favorite guitarist ) who does a great job here as well. Steven Tyler, is Steven Tyler and would never get mistaken for Jim Morrison and sings Love Me Two Times the way Tyler sings anything where he's almost yelling, but doesn't go quite that far. What really impresses me most about this performance is the music, not so much the vocals where they sound just like The Doors here and do a great job.

Source: FRS FreeStae via Flickr- Jim Morrison & John Densmore

As great as covers can be, they generally don't beat the original if the original is great. Jim Morrison and The Doors, own this song and video. Where a lot it was shot in 1968 when I believe they were performing at The Roadhouse in London. It's a great video where you have The Lizard King ( Jim Morrison, who else ) on a stool the entire video at least the footage from London and yet he seems to be struggling to sit still and is moving around the whole time and practically dancing while he's on his stool and he's completely leathered up in his full skin-tight black leather suit and concho belt. He was a true performer was born to always be entertaining.

Source: The Doors- Jim Morrison & John Densmore

Aerosmith is still a great classic rock band and if they're not the best rock & roll band ever, they're certainly the best blues rock band who has ever played. But The Doors were a great blues rock band even though they're were only together with Morrison at least for about four years. And they still own this song and are the best at playing it. Jim Morrison is still the best at delivering the song. Aerosmith does a great job here, but there is only one band called The Doors and they'll always own Love Me Two Times.

GS-Tree: The Doors Alive- Hello I Love You: Jim Morrison Cover

Source:GSTree- The Doors Alive: cover band for Jim Morrison and The Doors.

Source:The Action Blog

"THE DOORS ALIVE "Hello I love you"

From GS-Tree

The guy who plays Jim Morrison ( if you want to put it that way ) does an excellent job here. The Doors Alive is a cover band for Jim Morrison and The Doors. They go around America and perhaps outside of the country playing as Jim Morrison and The Doors. They are a cover band for Jim Morrison and The Doors. They go around playing music from The Doors that they did in the late 1960s. Hello I Love You is obviously one of the songs from The Doors. Along with Light My Fire and a whole host of songs that The Doors produced in just a 3-4 year time period in the late 1960s. When Jim Morrison was still a full member of the band.

Source: Riders on The Storm- Jim Morrison cover

The guy who plays Jim Morrison, ( again, if you want to call it that ) has the look of The Lizard King down. The skin-tight low-rise black leather jeans, the black leather cowboy boots, even though Morrison generally wore suede boots, and of course the concho belt. Even though Morrison once he went with a full beard in 1969 or so when he was just a complete alcoholic at that point, wasn't wearing the concho belt anymore with his beard and by late 1970 was no longer wearing his leather jeans black or brown. The Morrison cover here not only has a full beard, but with the black leathers and concho belt and is always performing and dressed like that.

I believe the guy who is the Morrison cover, not only has Morrison's look down, except for the full beard, but has Morrison's voice down and is someone I could definitely listen to perform live to hear him as Jim Morrison. And the rest of the band does a good job playing the The Doors music. If you're a Doors fan especially a Morrison fan, I think you would like this band and want to here them for yourself. The Morrison cover has the look and voice down and the rest of the band is very good as well.

The Doors: Jim Morrison and The Doors- 'Hello, I Love You: From 1968 In Color'

Source:The Daily Review- Jim Morrison and The Doors: Live from Frankfurt, Germany in 1968.

Source:The Daily Review

"The Doors - Hello, I Love You (Subtitulos Español - Ingles). Gran canción de una gran banda! Suscribanse."

Source:The Doors- Jim Morrison and The Doors: Live from Frankfurt, Germany in 1968.

From The Doors

It’s a rare treat that you get to see Jim Morrison and The Doors perform in color. Even though they came out and became a hit in the late 1960s most of their concert footage and music videos were done in black and white. Almost like watching music performances from 1955 or something even though color video and footage for both TV and movies was pretty common if not expected by 1968 when this video in Frankfurt Germany came out.

But since this video was shot in color, you get to see Jim Morrison and The Doors the best blues rock band I believe of the 1960s playing in color. With Jim Morrison performing in his go to black leather suit and suede cowboy boots. And you get to see parts of downtown Frankfurt, Germany as well. The song Hello I don’t think is that great of song. But it has a great guitar and drums beat to it and with the Lizard King and his great voice and with the timing down can make ordinary lyrics like “hello, I love you”, sound better than they actually are.

And then you throw in Morrison’s skin-tight black leather jeans and concho belt that almost made him look like his crotch was sticking out (and that is as graphic as I’ll get) and you had women who simply were in love with him especially when they got to see him perform up close and wanting to touch him. A big reason why you would see women jump up on the stage trying touch and grab him while her performed in the 1960s. So you put all of these things together and you have a pretty good video here.

Jim Morrison: The Bad Boy of Classic Rock

Source:The Doors- The Lizard King Jim Morrison.

Source:The New Democrat

Jim Morrison aka The Lizard King, is the bad boy and frontman of classic rock and blues rock. I’m not interested in heavy metal and punk rock, where I’m sure you’ll find guys who got into more trouble and perhaps had even bigger addiction problems. Curt Cobain and Axel Rose come to mind damn fast for me. But, the heavy reliance and influence of black leather that you saw at least in the 1980s and 1990s especially with the leather jeans, boots, jackets, came from Jim Morrison. Which just to my point about how big a deal The Lizard King is when it comes to rock and roll and not just classic rock and blues rock where he made his biggest impact. But again heavy metal when you’re talking about wardrobe with the leather jeans, boots and jackets. That Jim Morrison made a staple of his wardrobe in the late 1960s, when almost no one else outside biker culture was wearing at all.

I don’t know of a frontman that meant more to his band than Jim Morrison. Not to take anything away from Ray Manzarek especially, who was great on the keyboards and also had a great singing voice. And Robby Krieger was an excellent guitarist and John Densmore could play the drums. But The Doors are famous because of Jim Morrison, but Morrison wouldn’t have needed The Doors at least the group that was put together to be famous and successful. How many other rock frontman at least from that generation, had the intelligence, the wit, the writing ability and then throw in the style that The Lizard King had. In an era where frontman looked somewhat preppy except for the long hair and looked like hippies, I mean we are talking about the late 1960s after all, Jim Morrison is wearing a black leather suit. Skin-tight black leather jeans, that would be called skinny leathers today. With a black leather suit jacket, an Indian concho belt and black suede and leather boots.

Jim Morrison not just put leather jeans on the map in rock and roll, but leather period. To the point that Elvis Presley starts wearing a black leather suit in the late 60s and early 70s. John Kay, from Steppenwolf has his own Lizard King outfit. With a leather vest, black leather jeans and an Indian belt. The hard rockers of the 1980s Kiss, Motley Crew, Guns N Roses, as well as heavy metal bands like Skid Row, are all wearing leather jackets and leather jeans. But much more casually than Jim Morrison and wore biker jackets and t-shirts with their leathers. Morrison, again was a rebel and did his own thing and did it so well that he made it so cool and had others following him. To the point that there are countless Doors cover bands and Jim Morrison covers. With the Jim Morrison figure always in his black leather and concho belt and at times with the black leather jacket.

But with The Lizard King, it’s not just his leather rock and roll fashion. And the fact that perhaps no other man has ever wore a black leather suit better. Or the fact that thousands of women went to Doors concerts to check the man out every night and to see what he would do on the stage next. But it was also his music and the fact that he and The Doors did their own thing and made their own music and to a certain extent sung about the times the 1960s, but did it their own way. Morrison, especially didn’t want to fit in some place, but instead create his own place that was even different from his own band members from again how he carried and presented himself on stage. And then see if others would follow him. The Baby Boom Generation, the 1960s rockers who made it big in that decade, lost three great stars. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. But I’m not sure as great as Jimi and Janis would’ve been even combined would’ve they’ve meant more to rock and roll than Jim Morrison. The Lizard King was one in a kind and great at simply being himself as an entertainer. And we haven’t seen anyone as good, or similar since.
Source:Fame Music

Jim Morrison Project: Jim Morrison's 1967 Shelby Mustang- Best Quality

Source:The New Democrat- The Lizard King Jim Morrison.

Source:The New Democrat

This video was part of a 2010 PBS film about The Doors, really about Jim Morrison and The Doors, which what really drew my interest to the film that I have on dvd. And this is how the film starts off, with The Lizard King taking to the highway I believe in Southern California desert. And he starts off hitchhiking and someone in a Shelby Mustang, great car by the way, picks him up and somehow which is not shown in film, The Lizard King ends up with the car and driving the car. Only The Lizard King would wear skin-tight black leather jeans in the California desert, but that is one thing that made him The Lizard King. And the original film I believe from 1969 I believe was part of Morrison needing a break from the music business and perhaps The Doors as a whole. And that is what they show with Lizard King hitting the road and seeing what life if like outside of his world. And its a good little film, the 1969 version and the 2010 PBS version Strange Days is even better and it shows this part in that film.
Source:Toodlem

Jim Morrison Project: The Doors - Crawling King Snake

Source:The New Democrat- Jim Morrison & The Doors: Live from Frankfurt, Germany (1968)

Source:The New Democrat

I think the Crawling King Snake video from The Doors with Jim Morrison perfectly sums up the style and career of Jim Morrison. The man made leather jeans and rock and roll culture and why it looks the way it does today, at least with hard rockers and headbangers. The Lizard King obviously wasn’t a hard rocker or a headbanger, but he put his signature black snake-skin leather jeans on the map and made them cool. To the point by the 1980s they were standard for rockers male and female. And probably a big reason why Melissa Etheridge and Joan Jett got into them and why you saw rock and roll bands like Guns N Roses and Kiss get into them and of course the metal bands like Skid Row and Motley Crew.

And that is what you see in this video. The Lizard King moving so smoothly in his snake skin’s and cowboy boots and the concho belt. He combined rock and roll culture and lifestyle, with Western and American-Indian culture with the leather jeans, cowboy boots and concho belt and the leather jacket as well. He put these looks on the map in rock and roll, because of how often he wore this outfit in public and all the images that have come from those appearances. That were famous then and if anything now more popular forty-five years later. And without the Lizard King, rock and roll probably looks a lot different in the 1970s, 80s, 90s and today.

Leather in general wasn’t very popular in America when it came to wardrobes pre-late 1960s or so, except for perhaps biker and to a certain extent Western culture. So Jim Morrison in his full leather suit and then throw in the cowboys boots and the concho belt, that if anything even highlighted his leather jeans even more, especially in front, he was taking a risk. But he had the style, the look, the moves to make it work to the point that he became a rock and roll and perhaps even style icon in America and not just in rock and roll. And all of this is part of legacy that is still alive and well today.

Oliver Stone: 'The Doors (1991) The Miami Incident: Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison

Source:Zobba Zoo- actor Val Kilmer as The Lizard King Jim Morrison, in Oliver Stone's The Doors.

Source:The New Democrat  

"Best scene in the movie, a perfect recreation of the night of Jim Morrison's indecent exposure arrest, features "Touch Me," "Five To One," "Dead Cats, Dead Rats," and, of course, "Break On Through" 

From Zobba Zoo 

As I mentioned yesterday, The Doors is a very entertaining movie and in at least one sense is accurate as portraying Jim Morrison as a very wild and perhaps immature young man. Who fit in very perfectly in the 1960s generation and the time he grew up in and came of age. But the Miami concert scene is one of the few accurate scenes in the movie. The Lizard King did show up to the 1969 Miami concert, not high, but drunk and was a few hours late. 

Morrison was noticeably off and did an awful job and even had a hard time standing up because he was so drunk from the plane ride and from the bar before the flight. Morrison did stop singing all together, got frustrated and started cussing at the audience. And they did boo him and security had a hell of a hard time trying to secure the arena because it was so hot, wild and overcrowded. Sort of like an American prison actually. But the Miami scene and the New Haven scene might be the only two accurate scenes in the movie.

If you are simply just looking for a good fictional movie about a rock and roll band, The Doors is probably a good movie for you. But if you are really interested in the life of Jim Morrison and perhaps the run that The Doors had, I suggest you go the documentary route that is just as entertaining about The Lizard King and The Doors band. But you'll actually learn some things about them as well.

Oliver Stone: The Doors (1991)

Source:The Daily Journal

The Oliver Stone 1991 The Doors movie was a very entertaining movie and worth watching and Val Kilmer did a very good job of playing an entertaining Jim Morrison aka the Lizard King. But other than the Miami concert and perhaps the New Haven concert and maybe the New Haven jail scene and the Lizard King's outfits, this wasn't a very accurate movie. And this is according to Doors band member guitarist Robby Krieger. First of all Val Kilmer is around 6'1 and 200 pounds, he's a big tall man. Where according to The Doors themselves, the real Lizard King was around 5'10 and slender. The Miami concert was crazy as it should've been with Morrison trying to perform drunk and getting frustrated and taking it out on the audience.

Jim Morrison trying to make it look like he pulled down his leather jeans (black or brown?) and exposed himself which according to the real Doors band, he never did, but wanted to make people believe he did. And the New Haven scene was fairly accurate, with the Lizard King getting maced in a hall closet before the concert when he was fooling around with a girl, by a cop. And then going out on stage and doing a good job, but then slowing down and getting frustrated and telling the audience about what happened to him in the closet.

And the jail scene was accurate too, with Morrison getting stripped down. And the movie nailed the Lizard King's outfit down, with over an hour of coverage with Val Kilmer wearing the Lizard King's go to skin-tight lambskin black leather jeans, which Val Kilmer pulled off very well. But the rest of the movie was an entertaining fiction novel with moving pictures. The Doors movie is very entertaining and if you're looking for an entertaining fictional rock and roll movie, then I suggest you watch Oliver Stone's The Doors. But if you want an accurate picture of Jim Morrison and The Doors, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Ed Sullivan Show: Jim Morrison & The Doors Light My Fire (1967)

Source:The New Democrat

Before I make Jim Morrison look real bad here I’ll say that this was one of The Doors best performances ever even as short as it was. The Lizard King (and I say that for a reason) was at the top of his game with the vocals and everyone played very well. But if you watch the video (and you are not blind) you see something real obvious and may get to thinking “what the hell”. (or something stronger than that) Because you see Morrison in his classic black leather suit. Nothing strange there from him, but with a big fact erection sticking out of his leather jeans.

I don’t know how you go out on stage with that sticking out and that is assuming you are sober. And perhaps The Lizard King wasn’t and this was one of the reasons why he was The Lizard King. Because he was so out there and not just wore the black leather jeans at most of his performances. But his leathers were so skin-tight and revealing that anything that got him excited sexually was going to be seen by a lot of people and this case being on Sullivan by millions of people. And it happened to him in one of the most public places possible on Ed Sullivan on national TV on Sunday night in 1967.

The Lizard King: The Doors Live in London (1968)

Source:The Lizard King- Jim Morrison & The Doors: Live in London (1968)

Source:The Daily Journal

At least the early part of this concert sounds like the Oliver Stone version of The Doors from 1991 with Val Kilmer playing Jim Morrison. With The Lizard King drunk and wasted and barely being able to stand up and move around without losing his balance. And giving an awful performance in Miami, Florida and finally getting frustrated and starts cursing at the audience. Which is a true story and one of the few things that the Oliver Stone movie portrayed accurately. The New Haven concert would be another one.

The actual Live in London concert was very good and you get to Jim Morrison and The Doors (as I call them) at their best. With The Lizard King at his best in his classic rock and roll uniform the black leather suit, concho belt and cowboy boots that he put on the rock and roll map himself. Which is about an hour long that I have on DVD. They play everything and Morrison is brilliant on the vocals and very entertaining as well.

The Ed Sullivan Show: Jim Morrison & The Doors (1967)

Source:Television Vanguard- The Lizard King Jim Morrison and The Doors, on The Ed Sullivan Show, in 1967.

Source:The New Democrat

"In part 2 of our two part clip of the Doors 1967 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek provides wonderful commentary on his and bandmates fateful visit to the Ed Sullilvan Show on Sunday night, September 17, 1967.

The Doors of course went on to great fame over the coming years.  Truly one of the recording industries most influencial bands, the foursome of Jim Morrison (lead vocalist), Ray Manzarek (keyboardist), Robby Krieger (guitarist) and John Densmore (drums) made the Doors remarkable in their groundbreaking approach to rock and roll music in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  From Light My Fire, to Riders On the Storm, the Doors were unique and one of the very best.

This video clip has been edited down to ensure we comply with any copyright requirements regarding the song 'Light My Fire.'

This video clip is presented here on YouTube for the entertainment and informational value of the viewer, and no copyright infringement is intended." 

From Television Vanguard

"The Doors "Light My Fire" performed on The Ed Sullivan Show on September 17, 1967. Subscribe now to never miss an update:The Ed Sullivan Show. The full performance by The Doors is available on "Ed Sullivan's Rock & Roll Classics", "The Very Best of The Ed Sullivan Show Vol. 1" and "Rock'n'Roll Forever" DVDs at:Ed Sullivan." 

Source:The Ed Sullivan Show- The Lizard King Jim Morrison and The Doors, on The Ed Sullivan Show, in 1967.

From The Ed Sullivan Show  

"Jim Morrison's leather pants get much higher" 

Source:Bod Mas- The Lizard King or The Leather King Jim Morrison, on The Ed Sullivan Show, in 1967.

From Bod Mas

Don’t get me wrong here, because I believe Jim Morrison and The Doors gave an excellent performance here and I completely agree with The Lizard King (or Leather King) about leaving the lyric higher in the song on free speech grounds. But one of the reasons why this performance is so memorable, is because you have the lead vocalist with a big boner sticking out of his skin-tight, black pants. Apparently Jim Morrison got excited right before he went out on stage or perhaps saw a beautiful, sexy woman while he was on stage during the performance. But that is what can happen when you are a man who perhaps is not completely sober when you go out in public and you wear skin-tight, black leather jeans almost everywhere you go in public.

Source:The Ed Sullivan Show- The Lizard King Jim Morrison performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967. I guess he was excited to be there. After this performance Morrison should've been known as The Leather King, because this is the outfit that he made famous in rock and roll with his leather jacket, leather jeans, western belts, and cowboy boots, that gave him national exposure.

Good reason not to wear skin-tight leather jeans on national TV when you aren’t sober, as Jim Morrison did on a regular basis for visual effect and he wanted especially women checking him out. But the risk is you end up showing more of yourself than you perhaps intended. Especially when you get excited and you are right there for the whole world to see.

Unless no one actually saw The Lizard King go out on stage right before he went out and especially saw him up front and perhaps noticed something about his pants that his, well his thing lets saw was sticking out and he had a boner sticking out of his leather jeans. Or Morrison got excited as he was already on stage and perhaps saw a sexy woman or something. 

For the life of me I can’t figure why someone didn’t walk up to Morrison and say: “Uh Jim, you should go to the bathroom or back to the dressing room before you go out on national TV. Because you have a boner sticking out of your pants that everyone is going to see on national TV." 

Strange Days: Riders On a Storm (2011)

Source:Strange Days performing at Sherman Oaks, California in 2011.

Source:The Daily Journal

“Los Angeles based Strange Days performed Riders On a Storm (The Doors classic) on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The performance was part of Galleria “LIVE!”, the free concert series hosted by the Sherman Oaks Galleria.”

From Hunter Communications

There are plenty of Jim Morrison impersonators, perhaps especially not just in California, but in Los Angeles. But the guy from the Strange Days Band, has Morrison's look and sound down. I think the real Lizard King would've been in love with this guy's concho belt and black leather jeans.

Source:Strange Days performing at Sherman Oaks, California in 2011.

I’m a big Doors fan like many people, especially Jim Morrison himself and how he presented himself, as well as his talent as far as a performer, his intelligence, his ability to communicate, and his ability to write and sing.

As many other people I see him as a rock god and someone who would’ve been a no-brainer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had he lived a normal life as far as years. And had he gotten his act together (so to speak) sobered up and got back to business.

Because The Lizard King has so many fans, there are now never Doors cover bands and Jim Morrison covers. Strange Days is the best Doors cover band that I’ve seen and their lead vocalist is the best Morrison cover that I’ve seen. Except for perhaps his hair being a bit longer than the real Lizard King, he has the size and look of the Lizard King down.

The Morrison cover has The Lizard King down: the patent Jim Morrison skin-tight black leather jeans, with the cowboy boots and the concho belt and he is able to move in that outfit and of course his voice. And the band itself has the sound of the Doors down. And they do a great job of playing The Doors.

Jim Morrison & The Doors: Live in Copenhagen (1968)

Source:The Doors Live in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1968.

Source:The Daily Journal

“The doors – the unknown soldier live in Copenhagen (Denmark) 1968. HQ audio. If there is a problem with this video let me know…” 

From The Doors

The Lizard King Jim Morrison, with guitarist Robby Krieger and piano player Ray Manzarek in the background. You can really see why Jim Morrison was called The Lizard King all leathered up in his skin-tight, snakeskin, black leather suit, that he wore practically everywhere in public, at least the black leather jeans and cowboy boots. And wore those pants and boots almost the whole time from 1967-69. He didn’t wear the same leather jeans and boots, but always in the leather jeans, usually with the leather jacket and cowboy boots during that period. Until he was arrested in Miami, Florida in 1969 and then he moderated his wardrobe a little bit.

Source:The Doors- The Lizard King Jim Morrison in 1968. He was also The Leather King in that outfit. The rock & roll, leather cowboy.

Had this concert been in color and the Hollywood Bowl concert in black and white, then The Doors in Copenhagen would’ve definitely been The Doors best concert ever in the 3-4 years they were in concert.

This concert had The Doors best sound and The Lizard King at his best on the vocals. But the Hollywood Bowl concert was The Doors especially Jim Morrison looking his best especially being in color. It would be nice to get the Copenhagen concert in color, colorized even so you could see how The Lizard King looked and sounded at his best. In the his leather suit, the leather jeans, the cowboy boots, the jacket, the concho belt and how he moved around on stage in this concert. And he sounded, but all in color.

But unfortunately even though The Doors were big in the late 1960s when color TV, color movies and everything else was shown in color for the most part, a lot of The Doors footage and even their photos were still shown in black and white.

The Doors: Live at The Roadhouse (1968)

Source:The Doors Live At The London Roadhouse (1968)

Source:The Daily Journal

“Rare color footage of The Doors performing at the Roundhouse, London, 1968-09-06. Not the same show filmed for “The Doors Are Open” documentary. An awesome close-up of Jim Morrison singing When The Music’s Over.”

From La Fantasque 

I’m thinking the cameraman, or perhaps the camerawomen, really liked Jim Morrison and was really attracted to him. Because in the first two minutes of this show alone, you see several closeups on Jim Morrison’s leather legs and leather suit, sitting on the stool with his legs sticking out in his skin-tight black leather jeans and black leather jacket, with his concho belt. And that’s exactly the reaction that The Lizard King (also known as Jim Morrison) wanted. Of course he wanted to be known for his music, but he was playing a character as well which was The Lizard King, a cowboy, rock and roll hero, where his superhero uniform was his skin-tight, black leather suit, where he wanted people to listen to his music, but also bring attention to his skin-tight leather legs and butt. For about two years, the man must have smelled like a luxury car, being in head-toe black leather almost everywhere he went, including to church, weddings, airplanes, the beach, even, etc.

Source:The Doors Live At The London Roadhouse (1968)

It has been said that Morrison, wore the skin-tight leather pants, (leather jeans. really) with the concho belt, because he wanted to highlight his crotch. Which makes a hell of a lot of sense, because if you watch this show, or Live at The Hollywood Bowl, or The Doors in Copenhagen, or The Doors in London, The Doors on Ed Sullivan, just to use as examples, there are several closeups upfront of Morrison in his leather suit and right on his legs, butt and crotch. I mean if you’re actually attracted to the man, watching all of this footage is a great way to see him.

As far as this show, I think it’s The Lizard King as it his best. Just wish this show was in color and since it was done in 1968, that would’ve been a fairly easy thing to do. But with Morrison, you get great vocals and his role-playing and acting and moving around and the dancing.

And Ray Manzarek, if anything who had a better singing voice than Morrison, at least singing blues, doing a great job on the keyboards. When The Music is Over, and Love Me Two Times, I think are their best songs in this show.

Love Me Two Times, comes with a great music video as well. And you have Morrison going off the cuff and doing a little story telling as well. And they finish with, well The End, what else. Which is their great war song, even though it wasn’t written directly for the Vietnam War. But considering this was 1968, the timing of this song was simply perfect.

As what can be said about a lot of The Doors performances, I just wish they were shot in color. Which is one reason why Oliver Stone’s version of The Doors, whatever you think of the movie, is actually very important. Because it gives you a very good idea of what The Lizard King was like in color. Even with Val Kilmer, being a much larger and taller man than Jim Morrison.

But it would be nice to see a colorized version of a lot of these performances. But the sound of these performances and how Morrison sounded and how the band played, is very good, even in black and white. Which doesn’t affect the sound of these shows. But the shows would’ve been better had they been done in color. Like with The Hollywood Bowl, Ed Sullivan, Smothers Brothers, Jonathan Winters. And maybe a colorized version of this show, will be available at some point.

Jim Morrison & The Doors: Live at The Hollywood Bowl (1968)

Source:Integral Options- The Lizard King Jim Morrison: Live At The Hollywood Bowl (1968)

Source:The Daily Journal

“Do they look a bit scruffy, the Doors on live Danish TV in 1968? My image of the Doors is forever colored by Oliver Stone’s The Doors. But the real Jim Morrison had even better hair than his doppelgänger Val Kilmer (“not a case of casting,” quoth Ebert, “but of possession”), even if the above performance is less Lizard King than lounge lizard. John Densmore lays back on the beat, gets out the way of Morrison’s free associative poetry. Guitarist Robbie Krieger riffs intently, looks subdued. Always the one to watch, the recently departed Ray Manzarek plays hypnotic baselines with his left hand while his right dances around melodic blue note phrases. It’s a very cool show, but the lack of an audience is palpable.”

From Integral Options

“Official live video of The Doors performing “When The Music’s Over” Hollywood Bowl in 1968.” 

Source:The Doors- The Lizard King Jim Morrison: Live At The Hollywood Bowl (1968)

From The Doors

I believe Live At The Hollywood Bowl, is the only full concert of The Doors, that's not just live, but live and in color, as if CBS, or some other broadcast network taped it and showed the concert. It's the only concert that's available to watch, that's in color, with Jim Morrison in his brown leather jeans and vest. It's his most famous concert, but the only one in color and with The Lizard King in his brown leather jeans, instead of his black leather jeans, where most his concert footage, he's in the black leathers. And it's also probably his sexiest concert, because you see him go all out in his leather jeans and cowboy boots, with the camera people missing nothing.

Source:The Doors- The Lizard King Jim Morrison: Live At The Hollywood Bowl (1968)

I’ve seen this concert several times and I’m no music expert, but I am a pretty big fan of The Doors especially Jim Morrison and I disagree with the critics about this concert at least to this degree. I don’t believe Morrison was as off as the critics believe he was. I think he did a great job with the vocals and how he entertained the audience in general especially the women, with how he danced and moved around and played around with his leather jeans.

If you watch the PBS film from 2010 about The Lizard King there is this line in it about how Morrison picked out his clothes. That his skin-tight leather pants, which were leather jeans and concho belt were about showing off and showcasing his crotch. And you see him messing around with his pants all through the concert and the camera zooming in on his crotch, butt and legs in those skin-tight jeans, throughout the concert.

Not the best Doors concert and not Morrison at his best. But it was classic Lizard King on the vocals dancing around and showing himself off. And a great chance to see Jim Morrison and The Doors live and in color and I just wish there were more opportunities for that. Especially since they were big in the late 1960s when color TV and movies were very common if not expected by then. It would’ve been nice had they filmed more of their concerts in color. 

Jim Morrison: The Doors Cover Bands

Source:The Daily Journal- 21st Century Lizard King. To play Jim Morrison, you need a great pair of skin-tight, black leather jeans that fits you well, an American-Indian concho belt, and a great pair of cowboy boots. Perhaps multiple pairs of leather jeans and cowboy boots, because Jim Morrison as The Lizard King (1967-69) wore those pants and cowboy boots everywhere, including to church, but weddings, everywhere in public. He should've been buried in his black leather suit. And the vocalist from The Doors Experience, has the look and feel for Jim Morrison down, other than being bigger and taller.

Source:The Daily Journal

“Acclaimed Doors Tribute band “Peace Frog” covers The Doors’ “Touch Me” in Ventura, CA. ”

Source:Curt Ammerman- a pretty good cover for Jim Morrison and The Doors.

From Curt Ammerman 

Even though The Doors lead vocalist Jim Morrison died forty years ago and would 68 today and probably still performing, had he grown up and decided to take care of himself like a lot of rockers from his generation, the genre of Jim Morrison still lives on. Sort of like Elvis Presley, except there aren’t as many of any Jim Morrison witness’s today who claimed to see him alive today forty years after he died.

Unlike of course with Elvis, there are people claiming to see Elvis alive. Practically everyday, but there’s sort of the next closest thing with the Lizard King. That’s people pretending to be him, with his classic look with the leather suit cowboy boots, the concho belt, the long thick black hair. The whole package who are lead vocalists in bands. That are basically cover bands of The Doors, playing their music.

You have a guitarist doing his version of Robby Krieger, a drummer doing his impersonation of John Densmore, a Keyboard Player, doing his impression of Ray Manzarak. But of course the guy who gets the most intention, is the person playing the Lizard King. And there are several different versions of The Doors cover bands. Even a Mexican Doors band, with Mexican Lizard King, who has the whole look down. As well as the voice, playing The Doors music, I follow them on YouTube and they do a great job.

The original Lizard King and Jim Morrison will always be the Lizard King. The man who put skin-tight leather jeans on the map, who made leather suits, cowboys boots, concho belts fashionable and mainstream to the point where a lot of rockers especially the headbangers, but classic rockers and rocker chicks like Melissa Etheridege, Meredith Brooks, Joan Jett and rocker guys, The Scorpions, Aerosmith are all now and have been wearing leather jeans with biker or cowboy boots, with metal belts.

Modern rockers wear these outfits and move very well in them, like they are wearing a basketball uniform. And to a certain extent at least Jim Morrison wasn’t afraid to look crazy on stage in concert or in public. Or when he was so drunk he couldn’t tell the difference. But he always has fans that love him so much, with YouTube channels, Facebook pages, other websites, to the point that they’ll do their best job they can being him.

Jim Morrison died at the age of 27, which is a damn shame considering his talent and brilliance. But his legacy will always live on and there will always be guys carrying on the Lizard King as if he didn’t die. To keep his memory going and which is something that’s also part of Jim Morrison’s legacy.

Jim Morrison & The Doors: When The Music's Over (1968)

Source:The Doors- The Lizard King Jim Morrison: Live From Copenhagen, Denmark (1968)

Source:The Daily Journal

"This video is property of:Eagle Rock. .I'm not selling the video or making money from it. I'm sharing a piece of art that is not available on Youtube

The Doors Live In Copenhagen 1968." 

From Stairway 23

This is the concert where The Doors Love Me Two Times video was shot. In that video you see The Lizard King Jim Morrison all leathered up in his skim-tight, black leather suit, sitting on the stool, with the camera going right to him, every time he makes a move on the stool. And then after the video, gets off the stool, drops his leather jacket and does the rest of the show on his feet.

Live From Copenhagen (1968) I believe is the best Doors concert ever. Either Copenhagen, or Live From London, England (1968) is their best concert. (Just wish it was shot in color) During these two shows, The Lizard King Jim Morrison is sharp, witty, and perhaps even sober during the whole show. And you get to hear how good he really was during those shows. 

Source: The Doors- The Lizard King Jim Morrison  

The Doors: The Lizard King Jim Morrison- In Concert

Source:The Doors- Jim Morrison and The Doors in concert, perhaps in 1968.

Source:The Daily Journal

"Mixed by Fabrizio Federico:Fabrizio Federico. *I do not own any of the copyrighted music and video.
Article about Jim:Pink Manifesto. Jim Morrison's on stage shaman dances during The Doors transcendent live shows of 1967-68.
'Life is a playground just do what you want'
PINK8 Manifesto."

From The Doors 

This is from the San Francisco concert scene from Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991) with The Doors and Jim Morrison (played by Val Kilmer) performing Run. And you see Morrison running all over the stage literally and taking the song literally and doing all sorts of dances in his black jacket, skin-tight, black leather jeans, black cowboy boots, like her was a professional athlete or dancer, looking very sexy and performing the song real well. 

Source:The Doors- actor Val Kilmer as The Lizard King Jim Morrison, in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991)

When I see Oliver Stone’s movie The Doors from 1991, I see a pretty entertaining movie. Where Val Kilmer plays Jim Morrison, the vocalist of The Doors, does a pretty good job of playing the Lizard King. Sings all the lyrics himself, with no lip syncing. Except that he’s three inches taller and a bigger man physically than Jim Morrison.

From what I know about The Doors, the only scenes that were accurate, were the concert in New Haven from 1967. Where Morrison gets arrested in concert for being vulgar to New Haven police. And the Miami concert, where Morrison again gets arrested for in descent exposure and trying to incite violence. It’s a very entertaining movie, funny even, but a fantasy of what happened with that band and especially Jim Morrison in the late 60s.

Oliver Stone is a big fan of Morrison, but I think he directed the movie, the way he thought Morrison was and his experiences of The Doors. Instead of the way they actually were. Val Kilmer who plays Jim Morrison in the movie, is in I believe all the scenes. The movie looks more like a fictional portrayal of Jim Morrison. Rather than an autobiographical movie of The Doors. Robbie Krieger who was the guitarist in the real band The Doors said that the only scene that happened in real-life, was the Miami concert scene.

The Miami concert wasn’t much of anything other than an improv. With Morrison showing up two hours late for the concert, more drunk than even usual. Jim Morrison didn’t drink like a fish, but a see of fish. He’s too drunk to sing, paranoid and a few minutes into the concert once it finally starts, Jim Morrison stops singing or giving his pathetic personation of singing. And starts cursing at the audience and insulting them. Actually accusing Miami of hiding Adolph Hitler of all people. The concert turned into Amateur Night at the Improv real fast.

One thing that Oliver Stone got correct besides Miami, was the Jim Morrison’s wardrobe. With over an hour of footage of the Lizard King wearing his famous skin-tight lambskin black Leather jeans. Silver concho belt, brown suede cowboy boots and black leather cowboy boots. There’s over an hour footage of Morrison wearing his black leathers the pants that he made stylish on his own. There’s a great line in the movie where Pam, Jim’s girlfriend tells to change those stinky leathers that he’s been wearing the last three weeks. Classic Jim Morrison.

The black skin-tight leather jeans you now see a lot of rockers wearing, I know this only because I’m a big fan of the Lizard King, I love blues rock, The Doors sound. And I own several books and movies about The Doors. So watching this movie was like reading a great fiction. Very entertaining, but you don’t learn anything knew about the subject that you’re watching. The real Lizard King is in this video.