Jim Morrison & The Power Of Crowd Control

On August 3rd 1968, while 'Hello I Love You' is 1# on the national charts The Doors are on the road, having just rocked The Singer Bowl in NYC, Morrison is at his career best, creating controled chaos, resulting in riots and gaining them front page national headlines. By this stage Jim was now a charismatic psychedelic preacher winding up his fans with his dark poetry, shamanic dancing and antagonistic experimental theatre. The Cleveland gig starts off very shambolically, Jim had been backstage with fans smoking joints and drinking whiskey so by the time Break On Through ramps up the audience it sounds like satanic sludge vamp. 

Filmmaker Fabrizio Federico has studied crowd control and is amazed by Morrison's tactics.  The band are on form keeping a nihilistic demented nightmare vibe going as Jim threatens the audience ''if you dont keep quiet and get real soft im gonna come down there and kill some people!". The shenanigans continue when he starts teasing them ''hey listen I wanna tell you the history of me. I dont know how I got here but here I am''. Jim was fascinated with crowd control ever since attending college, even devouring Crowds & Power' by Elias Canetti. He states on asking questions: "On the questioner the effect is a feeling of enhanced power. He enjoys this and consequentially asks more and more questions; every answer he receives is an act of submission. Personal freedom consists largely in having a defense against questions. The most blatant tyranny is the one which asks the most blatant questions." During the gig Jim asked the crowd ''hey what do you guys wanna hear?'' and also ''what are we gonna get? We're gonna get everything!" Jim once told his Florida classmate Chris Kallivokas, from his Collective Behavior class, "You've got to make them believe you're doing them a favor by being onstage. The more abusive you are, the more they love it."

Canetti also describes a crowd as being a single living organism ''Ideally, all are equal there; no distinctions count, not even sex. The man pressed against him is the same as himself. He feels him as he feels himself. Suddenly it is as though everything were happening in one and the same body. This is perhaps one of the reasons why a crowd seeks to close in on itself: it wants to rid each individual as completely as possible of the fear of being touched. The more fiercely people press together, the more certain they feel that they do not fear each other. This reversal of the fear of being touched belongs to the nature of crowds. The feeling of relief is most striking where the density of the crowd is the greatest.''

Jim talked to the audience as one, ''Get it real soft, you know what im talking about, feels real good, you got a real dirty mind doncha'' - "i want you to feel it deep inside.''

Two years before his death with The Doors coming for their first Florida concert, Chris Kallivokas left a message with his old friend's record company. He says Jim called him back, loving life. "The chicks we get, the money. . . . It's great." "So that crowd control works," Kallivokas teased, talking about theories that intrigued Jim in Collective Behavior class at FSU. He said Jim answered: "You've got to make them believe you're doing them a favor by being onstage. The more abusive you are, the more they love it."

Canetti goes on to classify crowds according to their prevailing emotions, exploring how these dynamics shape everything from political movements to religion to music concerts and how they shed light on the complexities and true meaning of power.

Canetti outlines the four key defining attributes found in varying degrees in any crowd: The crowd always wants to grow. 1) There are no natural boundaries to its growth. Where such boundaries have been artificially created — e.g. in all institutions which are used for the preservation of closed crowds — an eruption of the crowd is always possible and will, in fact, happen from time to time. There are no institutions which can be absolutely relied on to prevent the growth of the crowd once and for all. 2) Within the crowd there is equality. This is absolute and indisputable and never questioned by the crowd itself. It is of fundamental importance and one might even define a crowd as a state of absolute equality. A head is a head, an arm is an arm, and differences between individual heads and arms are irrelevant. It is for the sake of this equality that people become a crowd and they need to overlook anything which might detract from it. All demands for justice and all theories of equality ultimately derive their energy from the actual experience of equality familiar to anyone who has been part of a crowd. 3) The crowd loves density. It can never feel too dense. Nothing must stand between its parts or divide them; everything must be the crowd itself. The feeling of density is strongest in the moment of discharge. One day it may be possible to determine this density more accurately and even to measure it. 4) The crowd needs a direction. It is in movement and it moves towards a goal. The direction, which is common to all its members, strengthens the feeling of equality. A goal outside the individual members and common to all of them drives underground all the private differing goals which are fatal to the crowd as such. Direction is essential for the continuing existence of the crowd. Its constant fear of disintegration means that it will accept any goal. A crowd exists so long as it has an unattained goal.

“He was always like that, even from the beginning,” Doors guitarist Robby Krieger tells me today. “We just dealt with it. That was part of the reason that people wanted to see us, they wanted to see what would happen next. It was kinda crazy but we were not a band that just played the same set every night the same way. It was always different and Jim would always lead us somewhere that we didn’t go the night before. He just liked to f*** with people. He hated the fact that some of these bands would just play the same songs night after night the same way and all of us were from a jazz-influenced place, where you did improvisation. So every night the song was different, which kept it interesting.”

The Doors take the stage, and the delay further aggravates the impatient audience. As soon as the Doors appear, they are greeted with a thunderous assault of screaming fans, and segments of the crowd begin rushing the stage. A column of policemen are stationed at the front of the platform to curtail this onrush of people, while Morrison fiercely jostles his way through them to face the crowd. The chaos escalates continuously during the performance, with fights erupting throughout the hall. Morrison who usually sings with a very precise and articulate emphasis on the lyrics, and most of the time actually appears to be substantially more sober than the crowd, but in Cleveland he is blind drunk and stoned. Morrison spun around and ground the songs out half-heartedly, ad libbing, improvising, doing an ominous dance. Hysteria was building. Morrison shrieked, moaned, gyrated, and minced to the edge of the stage, hovering. Hands reached out and grabbed him and the cops had to pry them away. The camera crew ducked a piece of broken chair which came flying onto the stage. Morrison caught it and heaved it back into the crowd. The Doors were hardly visible from any angle because there were about twenty cops onstage." By the time the Doors begin to perform "When The Musics Over," the crowd is in an incredible uproar. Morrison vainly attempts to "sssshhhh" the audience and bum cigarettes ''anyone got a Marlboro? They're the best'', but there is no response and he begins the opening stanzas of the song, Morrison drifts into an expansive passage of poetry. With decidedly steady pacing, he advances through a series of poems, then teases the rowdy audience ''are you reeeeaaadddy???", until he unexpectedly screams, "We want the world & we want it NOW!!!".

On some nights Jim has the atmosphere of 'I'm going down and I'm taking you guys with me' but that did disguise his power to evoke an audience reaction wherever he played. He then starts asking the audience ''hey you guys what do you wanna hear? - one at a time!'' as the whole crowd screams out song titles. During the gig Morrison has a playful but genuine menace in his voice, especially while screaming 'Five To One' over its relentless proto-heavy metal riff. Sounding both threatening and sinister. ''Hey listen we travel from city to city, and we're from California so lets have some fun''. By the time the funky Soul Kitchen and the finale Light My Fire rolls around the audience is in a rapture of excitment. By the end of the Light My Fire solos are over Morrison is trying to quiet the audience down ''come on do it, be quiet!". And then just like that in a flash The Doors have left the building.

Freud said that a crowd demands “strength or even violence” of its leaders: “It wants to be ruled and oppressed and to fear its master”. Sigmund Freud stated that groups tend to have the characteristics of “weakness of intellectual ability,…lack of emotional restraint,...incapacity for moderation and delay, [and] the inclination to exceed every limit in the expression of emotion.” Freud went on to say that groups “show an unmistakable picture of a regression of mental activity to an earlier stage such as…children” 

How to deflect questions

1. Enlist the help of a friend - "oh come on you know they dont want to talk about that.''
2. Prepare a canned answer in advance - Let's say you're going into an interview and [you know they will] ask about your managerial experience and you don't have much," she says. "You can use their question as the topic of your answer or just a pivot point. Say, 'I'm so glad you asked! One of the reasons I'm looking for new opportunities is that I anticipate much growth opportunity for managing teams, and that's work I really enjoy and do well."
3. Use a bridge response to chance the subject - if you really don't care to discuss your views on healthcare with someone, talk about a headline-grabbing (and non-controversial) news story that's tangentially related. According to manuals your classic bridge phrases are going to be "I don't know about that, but here's something interesting…" and "I can't tell you that for sure, but here's something I do know…"
4. Restate & Re-frame the question - Here are your key phrases: "I think what you're really trying to ask me is…" and "I think what you're really trying to get at is…." For example, if Aunt Margaret asks when you're going to finally get promoted, you can respond with something like, "I think what you're really trying to ask me is how I'm enjoying this exciting time in my career," and go on from there.
5. Excuse your self - tell them you need to go to the restroom.
6. Be straight forward about feeling uncomfortable - "Be direct and then pivot,". It's always within your rights to respond to an unwanted question with something like, "It's kind of emotionally fraught, so I'd rather not talk about it. But I'd love to hear about your new [project/job/baby/house]!" See, that wasn't so hard!
7. Use humour - For example, an intrusive "How much money do you make?" can be waved off with a simple joke, like, "Not enough!" Most people will realize they've overstepped and change the subject.
8. Answer ambiguously - If someone asks why you haven't quit your miserable job yet to look for a new one, a simple "Who knows? I've still gotta pay the bills in the meantime!" will do. To, "When are you going to graduate?" respond with a vague, "I'm not sure, I guess we'll see!"
9. Offer advice instead of an answer - For example, if someone asks about your recent weight loss and you don't want to get into the gritty details, simply share a tip about your favorite trainer in town and offer to put the person in touch with them. Or, rather than answering an invasive question about your recent breakup, tell the group about a book recommendation that helped you heal after the separation.
10. Shame them - Do it in a joking way to keep things light. Something like, "Wow, you're quite the curious one, aren't you?" or "Whoa, I think that's a bit heavy for a party" will shut things down pretty quickly.
11. Deflect with a compliment - If someone comments on your weight loss or gain in a way that makes you uncomfortable, for example, you could compliment their own appearance. Or, if someone asks you the inevitable "When are you getting married?" or "When are you having kids?" you can change the subject by complimenting the asker's beautiful wedding a few years ago or saying something nice about their child's latest accomplishment. Distraction is key!
12. Ask a question of your own - If they ask about your relationship status, try something like, "Are you worried that I'm lonely?" To a question about your dissertation or job search, you can say, "Are you concerned about my financial status?"
13. Ask for advice - For example, if a married person asks you why you're not engaged to your partner yet, you can ask them for their tips on making a relationship work long-term. If someone asks you personal questions about your children or parenting, ask them for tips on how they raised their own kids effectively.
14. Turn the tables - If they ask about your relationship, evade the question by asking about theirs. If they ask about your frustrating boss at work, ask them how their own job is going.
15. Create a distraction - ''does anybody want dessert?'' or pop in a movie, or to start a game of football. Especially in a crowd, it's easy to pretend you didn't hear the asker's question and turn to another family member to start a new activity.
16. Address a related but safer topic - When you're asked about your finances, for example, shift into a story about how you recently started crafting a more effective budget. Instead of answering questions about why you were recently laid off, talk about your new job or how you're approaching your job hunt. Act as if you're addressing exactly what they asked, and the questioner will probably drop it.
17. Respond with a general answer - For example, if someone asks you about your personal political views around a controversial subject, talk about how frustrated you are with the political climate in general, or mention how great it would be if everyone could come together to have a productive dialogue. In particular, if you shift the tone from negative to positive, the nosy questioner will have to be the downer if they want to bring the conversation back to the original question.

1. Acknowledge the question without answering it.

(“That’s a good question, and I think we should consider the implications by looking at…” [avoiding an answer].)

2. Ignore the question completely.

However, this is a high-risk approach because the interviewer may repeat the question or reword it slightly to return to the subject. This tends to make the interviewee look evasive.

3. Question the question.

(a) Request clarification or further information about the question. This works as a delaying tactic in a short interview.
(b) Reflect the question back to the interviewer (“Why do you ask me that?”)

4. Attack the question,

on the basis of:
(a) The question fails to tackle the important issue.
(b) The question is based on a false assumption.
(c) The question is factually inaccurate.
(d) The question is too personal or objectionable.

5. Decline to answer.

Refuse to answer on the basis that it is not your area of responsibility. (“You will have to ask [name, or ‘someone else’] about that because I’m not involved at all in that part of the situation.”)

6. Give an incomplete answer.

(a) Partial answer.
(b) Start to answer but change the subject.
(c) Negative answer. You state what won’t happen instead of what will happen.

7. State or imply the question has already been answered.

(“I’m not going to go over old ground.”)

8. Defer to the will of others.

Refer to the will of constituents or shareholders etc and imply you are doing your duty by complying with their will. (“Shareholders have asked me to take a firm line on this issue.”)