The 1960's were a time of major political and social change. These changes were primarily fuelled by the youth of the time. Their parents had come from life in both the great depression of the 1930's as well as World War II, and were on a whole more conservative than their children, a fact the younger generation did not like. In the early 60's the electronic media (Television and radio) became an important communication tool, as opposed to the largely print based media of previous decades. With change came a profound increase in the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and information, which in turn influenced a generation to become much more active in politics and other affairs which affected them, than what the previous generations would have been. The youth culture aimed to change all of the contradictions that remained unchanged from their parent's culture. Examples of this move for change and progress included politics, religion, class struggle, racial issues, and the Vietnam war, but the area in which this change was most visible was in the arena of popular music, which too had become a tool for the communication of ideas.
             James Douglas (Jim) Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida on December 8th, 1943. He was the son of a Rear-Admiral, who's father, grandfather, and family all had lifetime careers in the Navy. This suggests a strict and militaristic upbringing, with the assumption being that the young Morrison would be a career Navy officer like his ancestors. Clearly Morrison came from the kind of household that the youth culture were rebelling against. Perhaps this was one of the causes of Morrison't open rebellion. When he had finished school, he moved to California, where he enrolled in the theatre department of the University College of Los Angeles (UCLA), and hoped to become a movie director. It was here that he met Raymond (Ray) Manzarek, who was also a student of the film school. Manzarek had l...