While there’s always the possibility that someone less famous got to it first (a “tree in the woods” situation, if you will), it’s generally agreed that The Who’s Pete Townshend was the first rockstar to smash his guitar onstage. Ozzy Osbourne was the first to bite the head off of a live bat. Jimi Hendrix was the first rock ‘n’ roller to set his guitar on fire. But who among the ranks of rock ‘n’ roll royalty was the first rockstar ever to be arrested mid-performance?
The Lizard King, obviously.
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How a Bit of Necking Turned Violent at the New Haven Arena
In early December 1967, The Doors were headlining a multi-band bill at the New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut. Other performers included Tommy and the Rivieras and Lochsley Hall Assembly, the latter of which opened the show. But before the first downbeat, trouble was already brewing backstage. According to Tommy and the Rivieras frontman Tommy Janette, who spoke to the New Haven Register about that fateful night on its 50th anniversary in 2017, the entire brouhaha could have been avoided if Jim Morrison had just identified himself.
Janette gave a play-by-play of what The Doors frontman, Mr. Mojo Risin’, did instead. The opening musicians were milling about backstage when Morrison arrived with a woman, Sandy Spodniak. At some point, the couple slipped into a bathroom and started making out. Janette recalled his guitarist, Buddy Tinari, walking into the bathroom and happening upon them. When Tinari told Morrison to leave, the frontman told him to “do something that’s not physically possible,” per Janette (use your imagination). Janette then tried to break up the makeout sesh, and Morrison told him the same thing.
So, Janette decided to let the police handle it. He notified a nearby police officer. The officer then went into the bathroom and did the same thing that Tinari and Janette had already done. Sources vary on what, exactly, Morrison said. But it was colorful enough to warrant a fight between him and the cop, who ended up macing Morrison. The singer reportedly refused to go onstage until the police officer apologized to him. However, the increasingly restless crowd eventually pushed The Doors to start their set before Morrison could get the “sorry” he was after.
Jim Morrison Made History As the First Rockstar Arrested Onstage
To assume Jim Morrison would let the kerfuffle go and continue his set without incident would be to completely ignore the temperament The Doors vocalist demonstrated again and again (and again). Unwilling to drop the issue, Morrison began an expletive-heavy rant about what happened backstage, from him and his girlfriend wanting “some privacy” to a “a little man in a little blue suit and a little blue cap” blinding him for 30 minutes after spraying him in the face with pepper spray. The tirade continued for a few minutes until Morrison called the police “pigs,” after which they promptly took the stage and arrested him on the spot.
Tommy Janette told the New Haven Register, “‘Gentleman’ Jim Kelly, the New Haven police lieutenant, got on stage and said, ‘The show’s over.’ The lighting guy turned on the [house] lights, and Morrison said, ‘The show’s not over! Turn off the [expletive] lights!’ But Kelly said, ‘It’s over.’ More cops came on stage, and one of them threw Morrison off. It was a 15-foot drop to the concrete floor. I’m amazed he didn’t get killed.” Ultimately, police charged Morrison with “breach of peace, resisting arrest, and performing an indecent and immoral exhibition.”
Janette argued that Morrison could have avoided the entire debacle if he had just told him, Buddy Tinari, or the first police officer—literally anyone involved—that he was the frontman of the headlining act. In any case, the confrontation wasn’t a total loss. Morrison later wrote “Peace Frog” about the events in New Haven, which would become a gold record after The Doors released it on Morrison Hotel two months after Morrison wreaked havoc on the Connecticut venue.
Photo by Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images