The disastrous show by The Doors that inspired Iggy Pop: “I was very excited”
What are the crucial components that go towards making an iconic musician? The sound? The look? The attitude? Well, it’s a combination of all of them, as people draw from major incidents in their lives to give their own spin on their performance. Given Iggy Pop is famous for his raw energy when he performs, you would think his influence started from watching lively musicians who had perfected their craft. But it was quite the opposite. It began with a moody Jim Morrison and some unwanted ice cream.
On October 20th, 1967, Iggy Pop saw The Doors at the University of Michigan. Already in a band himself, this Doors performance was revolutionary for the young rocker, as the way he saw Jim Morrison act blew his mind to the point it helped him work out how he wanted to be on stage. Namely, he realised he wanted to be a proper rockstar.
Everything started when The Doors (bar Morrison) decided on their way to the gig that they wanted to get ice cream. “We all wanted some ice cream,” said keyboardist Ray Manzarek, “But Jim says, ‘Ice cream is for babies. I want whiskey.’ So we had to stop at the liquor store and buy a bottle of booze.” Jim started downing whiskey while other members of the band had ice cream, the result being that by the time he got on stage, he was “drunk as a skunk”.
While some people are good at hiding when they’re drunk, Jim Morrison either wasn’t or had no interest in masking it. His drunkenness was reflected in his performance, which most people in the crowd thought was dire. “He was missing all the cues and, at some point, started berating the audience. I’m thinking, ‘Jim, do not anger these guys! These are football players. Look at the thickness of their necks!’ But he just kept going on and on… I was totally shocked. It was the first time he’d been that messed up on stage.”
While people in the audience started heckling the band, and many began to leave, Iggy Pop was having his eyes opened. He became infatuated with the performance and saw something that would inspire his career.
“The band got onstage first,” he recalls, “without Morrison, and they just sounded like pure shit… It sounded awful… decrepit and disgusting and unbalanced – they were playing the riff to ‘Soul Kitchen’ over and over until the singer was gonna make his entrance.”
When Morrison eventually stumbled onto the stage, he wore a black leather jacket, leather trousers, and a ruffled shirt. He tried to antagonise the crowd when he sang, performing in an annoying Betty Boop-style falsetto. “The regular American guys were thinking, ‘Who is this pussy?’”
“I was very excited,” said Pop, “I loved the antagonism; I loved that he was pissing them off. Yes, yes, yes… the gig lasted only 15 or 20 minutes because they had to pull Morrison off-stage and get him out of there fast because the people were gonna attack him. It made a big impression on me… I thought, look how awful they are, and they’ve got the number one single in the country! If this guy can do it, I can do it. And I gotta do it now. I can’t wait any longer.”
In his live performances, Iggy was never afraid to get into the faces of the crowd. As one of the leading pioneers of the pub rock scene, getting in the audience’s faces and making their reaction to his performance a part of the show was a massive part of his live events. This all started with The Doors, a chaotic gig, and Jim Morrison’s disdain towards ice cream.
