Though it’s often overshadowed by larger events of the era, America’s first rock festival—the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival—was held June 10 and 11, 1967, at Mount Tamalpais in Northern California. The location was a natural choice. The Summer of Love was blooming in nearby San Francisco and the hippie counterculture was ready to join together in celebration.

The sister of Doors singer Jim Morrison said their father, a decorated flag officer in the U.S. Navy, offered to resign as his son became a counterculture icon.

Nearly 600 pages of writings by late Doors singer Jim Morrison will be published on June 8, the most extensive collection of his words.

The Collected Works of Jim Morrison: Poetry, Journals, Transcripts and Lyrics, which has been put together with the assistance of his estate, will feature both previously published work as well as never-before-seen material, including unrecorded song lyrics, poetry, personal notebook entries, drawings, photos and more.

Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger paid tribute to their late bandmate, singer Jim Morrison, by visiting his Paris grave on the 40th anniversary of the Lizard King's death today (July 3).

Doors guitarist Robby Krieger says late bandmate Jim Morrison welcomed syphilis, arguing that he didn't fear going crazy. The potentially fatal sexually transmitted disease’s symptoms can include the loss of mental faculties, and has long been connected to the lives of 18th and 19th century artists. But the development of modern antibiotics means that it's no longer usually lethal.

Rock 'n' roll icons never seem to be allowed to simply pass away quietly into the night.

There’s often some sort of conspiracy surrounding the death, especially if it was under strange circumstances. When Doors singer Jim Morrison died in July 1971, in Paris at the age of 27, all the requisite boxes were ticked for an old-fashioned mystery.

The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger recalled how rumors that Jim Morrison didn't die in 1971 caused arguments among the rest of the band.

The singer died in Paris at age 27, but rumors still persist that he had staged a fake death in order to escape the pressures of his life. While the story is generally dismissed, Krieger said he and keyboardist Ray Manzarek held opposing views.

Before the Doors made a record, they developed their signature sound onstage in front of audiences.

"A lot of the songs in the beginning, me or [Robby Krieger] would come in with a basic idea, words and melody," singer Jim Morrison told Rolling Stone in 1969. "But then the whole arrangement and actual generation of the piece would happen night after night, day after day, either in rehearsal or in clubs."

Jim Morrison was one of the most mythologized and romanticized figures in rock history. A deep-seated anti-authoritarian streak repeatedly landed him in trouble, eventually earning the Doors frontman the dubious distinction of being the first-ever rock star to be arrested onstage – as far as we know.