Doors guitarist Robby Krieger still believes Jim Morrison’s public indecency case was a “sham” of a trial
“Don’t you think one of us would have seen it?”
Photos: Brettman / Scott Dudelson / Getty Images
Doors guitarist Robby Krieger has called Jim Morrison’s notorious public indecency case of 1970 a “sham” of a trial.
In March 1969, Morrison faced prison time for allegedly exposing his genitals at a Miami gig. The public indecency charge prompted a rally for decency, and even led to a boycott of the group, after which they struggled to book shows at American venues.
In a feature in the latest issue of Uncut that charts the making of Morrison Hotel, Krieger told the magazine that he still denies that the frontman had exposed his genitals at the Dinner Key Auditorium show. “Don’t you think one of us would have seen it?” the guitarist said. “It was pretty hard to miss!”
The incident loomed over the band while they recorded 1969’s The Soft Parade and the seminal 1970 album Morrison Hotel. Despite that, Krieger recalled in the same interview that making the album was still “really fun”.
The upcoming 50th-anniversary reissue of Morrison Hotel will include several previously unreleased studio outtakes, one of which is the first take of Roadhouse Blues. On tape, Morrison can be heard charismatically giving direction to the band and setting the scene of the tune.
“Gentlemen,” Morrison can be heard saying, “the subject of this song is something everybody has known at one time or other. It’s an old roadhouse down South or maybe Midwest, perhaps on the way to Bakersfield, and we’re driving in a ‘57 Chevy – dig it?”
He continued: “It’s about 1.30 and we’re not driving too fast but we’re not driving too slow either. We’ve a six-pack of beer, a few joints and we’re just listening to the radio on the way to that old roadhouse.”
Commenting on the unearthed track, Krieger told Uncut, “I loved hearing that stuff again.”
“That wasn’t something Jim did all the time, but it helped us to get the feel he was after and it’s a great reminder of what we were like in the studio for that album,” Krieger continued. “I know that at the back of his mind he would have been worried about going to jail, but he wasn’t going to let it get in the way. Jim was always in the moment no matter what he was doing.”
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[Ed’s note: Uncut is owned by BandLab Technologies, which also owns Guitar.com]