Whatever else he was – poet, rock god, philosopher – Jim Morrison consciously set himself up as a polarizing figure. The Rolling Stones made an act as the bad boys of rock ‘n roll – but Jim Morrison lived it. He gave a voice to the Oedipus complex – in the most explicit way possible – with his song “The End.” While he was still 16, in Las Vegas, he was arrested for public drunkenness and vagrancy. He was all but kicked off the Ed Sullivan Show for singing the line “Girl we couldn’t get much higher,” after being told to replace “higher” with “better.” And then came his famous concert in Connecticut.

On this day, December 9, in 1967, at a concert in New Haven, Connecticut, Jim Morrison broke another barrier in the bad-boy rocker behavior, becoming the first musician arrested right on stage, in the middle of the concert.

Just before the concert, Morrison was discovered backstage with a woman by a policeman. The officer, likely not knowing who Morrison was, told him to leave. Words were exchanged as Morrison was maced and dragged out. The concert was delayed until he could recover, and then in the middle of the set Morrison stopped to recount his story, using a number of unprintable modifiers. The police, not enjoying being belittled, went to the stage to deprive Morrison of the microphone and arrest him for indecency and obscenity – both charges later dropped for lack of evidence.