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DISGRACELAND

Bonus Episode: The Count Who Killed Jim Morrison?

30 Apr 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: Who was the Count linked to Jim Morrison's death?

1.516 - 34.251 Unknown

This is exactly right. On the Look Back At It podcast. 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year.

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34.271 - 51.95 Unknown

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There was a large chunk of my 20s that I was just so wanting to be out of that phase, out of my skin, and I just really regret not living in the present more. You don't need to have everything figured out right now. You just need to understand yourself a little bit better. Listen to The Psychology of Your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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87.19 - 106.993 Kate Winkler-Dawson

Sometimes a suspect is found guilty before a verdict is ever read in court. On the Wicked Words podcast, I talk with the writers who dig deep into the cases that changed history, including Marsha Clark, who went from prosecuting one of the most famous murder cases to writing crime fiction. It doesn't matter that you didn't take part in the murder.

107.333 - 122.809 Kate Winkler-Dawson

If you were at the scene at all, you're guilty of murder. Every week, the real story is revealed. Join us every Monday for new episodes of Wicked Words. Listen to Wicked Words on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

122.829 - 154.516 Jake Brennan

Hey, discos. Need a little more Disgraceland in your life? Just a touch to get you through? Yeah, me too. This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome to Disgraceland, the after party. Welcome to the Disgraceland bonus episode, a little thing we like to call the after party.

154.897 - 160.212 Jake Brennan

This is the show after the show, the party after the party, the bridge to get you from one full episode of Disgraceland to the other.

160.394 - 186.334 Jake Brennan

the backyard to dig into the dirt our mission to uncover the truth to confront the myth to reclaim the story on this bonus episode was a mysterious count responsible for the deaths of jim morrison and janice joplin who's could do in the mary tyler moore show what new song recommendations and more old song italian disco don't blame me plus your voicemails texts emails comments dms and as always a whole lot of rosie this is the podcast for the musically obsessed

Chapter 2: What mysterious circumstances surrounded Jim Morrison's death?

810.851 - 823.045 Jake Brennan

Pamela absolutely needed to see the count, okay? Now, Marianne Faithfull, she was stoked at this. She was psyched because she wanted to meet the singer of The Doors, but the count said that that wasn't going to happen.

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823.025 - 845.719 Jake Brennan

and he split to go rescue Pam, and he left Marianne behind because Jim Morrison was dead from heroin, the Count's heroin, according to Marianne Faithful anyways, from heroin that was most definitely, yes, the Count's. But here's the thing. Jim Morrison didn't use heroin, right? Right, but he did use cocaine.

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846.14 - 867.358 Jake Brennan

And the French Connection heroin was also called cotton candy because of its light color. A lot of heroin, depending on how it's cut, how it's processed, is brown. The French Connection stuff was like a pinkish white. Jim Morrison, according to those in the know, mistook his girlfriend's heroin for cocaine and snorted too much of the incredibly pure drug and died.

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867.338 - 888.474 Jake Brennan

Jim Morrison's girlfriend, who was also the girlfriend of the most infamous heroin dealer in the music industry, who, himself, the Count, died less than a year later of... An overdose? Maybe. Some suspect the Count did himself in over his guilt. Others suspect murder. We don't know. I'm looking to find out sooner or later, though. I'm telling you right now. Anyways, back to our story.

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888.494 - 907.251 Jake Brennan

Pamela Morrison, she overdosed and died a couple years later, a couple years after the Count. And nearly everyone connected to this dude. Everyone, nearly everyone connected to the fucking Count guy. Pamela Morrison, Janis Joplin, some say Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Graham Parsons, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. Marianne Faithfull, she survived.

907.231 - 931.914 Jake Brennan

And she flat out accused her ex, the Count, of killing Jim Morrison. The details around Jim Morrison's cause of death are hazy, just like they are for Taylor Hawkins' death. Completely different context, of course. But still, you can see some sort of rock and roll historical parallel here. We don't know. We don't know how Taylor died. And I don't think we know how Jim died, really.

932.475 - 956.879 Jake Brennan

Officially, he died of heart failure. Unofficially, of a heroin overdose. But again, there was no autopsy. Did I say that earlier? I probably should have. There was no autopsy. And there was no history of Jim using heroin. There was, in fact, a history of Jim hating heroin. The story, this story, not just the story of Jim Morrison's death, but the story of the count, it is fascinating.

957.019 - 978.177 Jake Brennan

And it is coming in a full episode of the Disgrace Land podcast soon. Probably in a Doors episode. I did one satirical episode on Jim Morrison. I'm going to do a Doors episode, and this is going to be my angle in. This is going to be most of the story, to be perfectly honest. because this is just the surface. And most of what I just told you, I researched this morning.

978.197 - 998.734 Jake Brennan

By researched, I mean I read one People Magazine article. Incredibly, this is all, everything I just gave you is from a People Magazine article, pretty much, not everything, but a good portion of it. But there's a ton more out there, and there's a lot more research I'm going to do. I'm going to put together an incredible story for you guys in a full episode of Disgrace Sand.

Chapter 3: What evidence suggests Jim Morrison didn't use heroin?

1525.761 - 1534.634 Unknown

None of Tool's music makes sense. You could show someone on paper and, like, hey, this is... They would say, no, that's... That does not work. But you know why?

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1537.559 - 1571.473 Jake Brennan

Because he's an alien. D, shapeshifting into Maynard from Tool, right? That's what you're saying. And Trent Reznor as well. I don't know. I don't know about that. I need more of this. Maynard from Tool, Trent Reznor, Alien Theory D, hit us back. All right, let's check out, let's see, JC in the 651. Hey, Jake, JC in the 651, Minneapolis, St. Paul. Lucky longtime disco.

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1571.633 - 1594.893 Jake Brennan

Was lucky enough to find you guys in January of 2019. I tell everybody I know about your shows. You asked about a strange or peculiar or unlikely cover song. I'm going to nominate Husker Du doing Love Is All Around, the theme of the Mary Tyler Moore show. They even did it on the Today Show. Oh, there's the film. You can go find it. Hey, lastly, I've been a big fan of a lot of your shows.

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1595.573 - 1617.829 Jake Brennan

You turned me on. We've done some discussion about Manson and chaos and all that. I think you should package up all your Manson episodes the way you do with Beatles, Stones, et cetera. I think that'd work out great, man. Hey, thanks for everything. Hoosker Du and Mary Tyler Moore. I didn't know this. I did not know this. Is Mary Tyler Moore set in Minneapolis? That would make sense.

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1618.309 - 1629.602 Jake Brennan

That would make sense. I like your idea about packaging all of our Manson episodes together. For those who don't know, we had this long history with the Helter Skelter story here in Disgraced Sand to all the new listeners.

1629.582 - 1647.8 Jake Brennan

started way back in, I don't know, season two or three or something like that, maybe four, when we did the Beach Boys episodes, which is the traditional Helter Skelter story that you may have probably heard. It's one of the biggest true crime books of all time, and the connection to the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson gave us our in.

1648.481 - 1665.525 Jake Brennan

Later, a couple of years after that, I realized that Helter Skelter had it all wrong, and therefore I had it all wrong, We released a couple other episodes that are updates. We did a Charles Manson episode based on the music that he made and his life and how it related to the killings.

1665.966 - 1683.434 Jake Brennan

And we did a two-parter on Mama Cass Elliott because she was intimately involved with the players who get swept up in and around the Helter Skelter story. And what I believe is the truth that disrupts the Helter Skelter story. So anyways, there's about, what, four or five?

1683.675 - 1703.693 Jake Brennan

And then if you count the Sharon Tate Hollywoodland episodes we've done, there's probably about seven Manson-related episodes that we've done. And I like JC and the 651's suggestion about packaging them all together. Maybe we'll do that. I don't know. Maybe make a nice little animated book or something. I don't know. All right, let's go to the 503.

Chapter 4: How did the Count's actions impact Janis Joplin?

1940.403 - 1957.45 Jake Brennan

But here's the thing. Seth and I talk about this in more detail in the exclusive section of this after party coming up. You got to be an all access member for that. But for those who aren't, I'm going to, I'll address it here too, a little bit, not in not so much detail. Honestly, when the news of Dave Grohl's infidelity broke, I was pissed.

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1957.43 - 1988.468 Jake Brennan

And my wife and I were talking about it, and I was really upset, much more upset than you would think by listening to the way I spoke about it in the episode. And my wife and I were talking about this. And the reason this one was so upsetting, and maybe this is why the texter is so upset, is because Dave Grohl, at least for me, I don't want to presume this is why the texter is upset.

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1988.628 - 2012.58 Jake Brennan

I take that back. But at least for me and for my wife and for a lot of people I know, Dave Grohl's like one of us. He's roughly our age, comes from the same scene that we come from, the hardcore scene, 90s, Gen X. And he really – when he started to step out into the spotlight and he was doing all these interviews and the Foo Fighters first launched, he was just –

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2012.813 - 2033.348 Jake Brennan

Ultra real, ultra charismatic in a lot of ways. I don't mean to glorify a rock star here, but he was like the best version of us. He was funnier than us. He was more talented than us. He was more charismatic. You know what I'm saying? And he spoke like we did. And he seemed to like the same things and care about the same things that we did.

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2033.388 - 2055.025 Jake Brennan

And he sort of carried a version of that personality, that persona with him the entire run of the Foo Fighters. And yeah, I know there's people who are out there. It's all an act. He's full of shit. He's never been a nice guy. I don't buy that. I know people who know him. I know people who... who know him well. I know people who have met him, just one-offs, et cetera.

2055.045 - 2072.513 Jake Brennan

And they all say the same thing, that he really is a great guy. I've never met him. But anyways, it just stung. It just hit. It hit more. Now, to the caller's criticism, the texter's criticism, which is valid. I didn't express a lot of the anger that I felt in the full episode.

2073.074 - 2073.094

I

2073.445 - 2104.093 Jake Brennan

You might have heard it back in some of the Disgrace and After Party episodes when this news broke. But in the full episode this week, I did not express my anger toward Dave in that moment. And here's why. We talk about rock stars every single week that have infidelity in their life, that are shitty in relationships to their wives. And oftentimes we don't even mention it. And yeah, that's on me.

2104.154 - 2124.411 Jake Brennan

It's my job, I guess, to bring this stuff up. But it's so common in the music industry, cheating on your wife, cheating on your girl. It's so fucking common. It's just boring. It's like, yeah, no shit. So I didn't want to be entirely hypocritical about it. And even though it upset me, I didn't want to just...

Chapter 5: How did the Count become a notorious figure in rock history?

2249.186 - 2267.106 Jake Brennan

They deny what Chad and Matt had said, all right? The caller is saying this. Caller goes on to say, at that point in 2022, after Taylor Hawkins collapsed on a plane in December 2021, tour dates were already announced and tickets were sold and Taylor was a consummate professional and I don't think he would have been down with canceling already scheduled shows.

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2267.086 - 2284.212 Jake Brennan

If they, Taylor and Dave, agreed to something, it most likely would have gone into effect after those existing commitments. I also think it's possible Taylor was not aware if he had something seriously medically wrong with him. Because I do not believe that if he said to Dave, we have to slow down or I could die, that Dave would have taken that lightly.

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2284.532 - 2301.06 Jake Brennan

Taylor could have downplayed it accidentally or on purpose, even if he did know. I agree with you here. I'm not saying that Dave Grohl knew Taylor Hawkins was in some sort of medical decline, health decline, what have you. And Dave was like, you must play these shows. Damn you. I don't think that's what was going on.

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2301.441 - 2316.34 Jake Brennan

Caller goes on to say, I'll also say the Foo Fighters had in recent years started factoring their age into their schedule. They played a lot, but only went out for two to three weeks at a time before taking a two to four week break. And they had to stop playing consecutive nights, which you can see if you look into their past tour dates.

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2316.42 - 2335.165 Jake Brennan

Anyway, I really like your thoughts about entering uncharted territory with rock bands, and the insurance angle is a good one. Interesting episode. The band has just started dipping their toes back into talking about difficult subjects lately, so maybe at some point we'll learn more. That's from the 902. Appreciate you, 902. I agree a lot. I agree with a lot of what you're saying here.

2336.026 - 2362.335 Jake Brennan

And I just want to state that, again... Taylor's depiction, as voiced in that Rolling Stone article of the events with Dave Grohl around his workload with the Foo Fighters, as depicted in the Rolling Stone article by Chad Smith and Matt Cameron, are adamantly denied by... Foo Fighters and Foo Fighters Management. So there we go.

2362.915 - 2376.996 Jake Brennan

270 writes in, Hey, Jake, this is Kate from the 270 here in Western Kentucky. Having worked in healthcare and varying positions from pharmacy to billing to urgent care to dispatch, I honestly think that the combination of overexertion

2376.976 - 2390.982 Jake Brennan

perhaps not being fully transparent with his doctor about any non-prescription drug usage, self-medication with prescription medications, and probably an underlying undiagnosed genetic factor, that that is the official cause of death for Taylor Hawkins.

2391.503 - 2411.514 Jake Brennan

It's likely listed as natural causes, maybe death by misadventure with underlying causes, but it's been covered up to keep the insurance company from refusing to pay. The insurance company is the biggest villain in the whole story. That's who will refuse to pay out on death if they can find a loophole. So, nothing nefarious, just an attempt to make sure insurance actually pays.

Chapter 6: What connections did the Count have with other rock stars?

2659.021 - 2684.819 Jake Brennan

Thanks for joining us in another After Party. Man, you know, this cool thing just happened. I'm in the middle of recording, and Chad from Canada called. People don't usually call when I'm recording. I have a bank of voicemails and texts that accumulate that I just go in and I grab and I play. The phone just started ringing. It's not actually a phone. I mean, it is a phone, but it's online.

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2684.839 - 2707.379 Jake Brennan

I didn't know how to answer it. And I figured it out. And I just started talking to this guy, Chad. And all of a sudden, I was recording a phone call, our conversation. It was all cool. It was all great. And then my fucking Pro Tools just died. Chad, I was planning on playing the whole thing, dude. Call us back. Maybe we'll figure out a way to do this live. That'd be fun, wouldn't it?

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2707.72 - 2730.216 Jake Brennan

Take the calls live. I could get into that. I could get into that. I suppose I'd have to tell you at what time I'm recording. I record on Wednesdays, Eastern Standard Time, usually in the late mornings. I'm recording a little later today. Anyways, 617-906-6638. You want to leave me a voicemail, you want to send me a text, we're back.

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2730.416 - 2756.399 Jake Brennan

And I want to real quick, I want to talk, I want to play a little new song, old song. Okay, the new song of the week that I'm recommending is Might See You There from Weird Nightmare. This is the Mets dude, M-E-T-Z, that Mets, Alex Edkins, again, M-E-T-Z. Not the 86 M-E-T-S who broke my heart and can't find wind these days. Anyways, I dig this tune by Weird Nightmare from the Mets dude.

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2756.42 - 2778.632 Jake Brennan

Again, it's called Might See You There. Comes highly recommended from our friend Brett from F and Good Music. Brett has great taste. I listen to everything that he sends me. Anyway, Might See You There by Weird Nightmare. Modern, rock, pop, alt, kind of Lemonheads-y, kind of Blake Babies-y, kind of 80s, 90s Boston College Rocky is what I'm saying, and I highly recommend it.

2779.433 - 2808.139 Jake Brennan

Old song recommendation for this week, I Need You Tonight by Pumpkin Machine. Okay? Not in excess. Yes, Pumpkin Machine. P-U-N-K-I-N, Pumpkin Machine. I'm back on my 80s Italian disco bullshit here, guys. Find disco guitars that sound better than the disco guitars in this track that weren't recorded by Nile Rodgers, okay? This shit rules, and it will improve your springtime vibes immeasurably.

2808.299 - 2825.355 Jake Brennan

I Need You Tonight by Pumpkin Machine. My eight-year-old asked, how does he get his voice to sound like that, Dad? And I wanted to say cocaine, but I didn't. But now you know a little bit more about how awesome this song sounds. All right. Disgracelandpod at gmail.com on the email machine. This one comes from Tyler Whitmore saying, suggestion for Rewind episodes.

2825.595 - 2838.367 Jake Brennan

I liked the pod and started listening back when you did the My Favorite Murder crossover. Glad that you landed with exactly right media. I hadn't listened in a minute as I think I wasn't subscribed between some earlier seasons.

2838.767 - 2854.184 Jake Brennan

And my suggestion is that if you are releasing an episode or mixing in Rewind episodes per week, it might be useful to label them as Rewinds and maybe provide any updates to the story if any exist. This is the format that My Favorite Murder uses, and I think it's pretty nice.

Chapter 7: What were the implications of Jim Morrison's sudden death?

2978.516 - 2999.127 Jake Brennan

People in Colombia love the Foo Fighters. So it is a moment in history that we will always remember. I just wanted to let you know that I agree with everything you said in the Foos episode on Taylor's death. All the best. Julio C. Escobar. P.S. I'm a big, big fan of Disgraceland. Julio, thank you very much. I appreciate the perspective from Colombia, from somebody who was there when this happened.

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2999.782 - 3024.312 Jake Brennan

And I know that the listeners appreciate it as well. Disgracelandpod at gmail.com. Guys, you want to get at me via email at disgracelandpod on the socials. Over on Instagram, James Buckley writes in, unexpected covers, a most excellent Depeche Mode narrative. Jake, as far as unexpected covers, Tori Amos taking on Slayer's Raining Blood, who's definitely a hard hit in the left field.

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3024.452 - 3048.401 Jake Brennan

All the best, James Buckley. Damn, man, I've never heard that. I've never heard... Tori Amos doing Slayer. That's just incredible. Incredible. I was listening to Corn Flake earlier today. I think it was one of you guys who recommended it. I'm not sure. Or reminded me of it. I've known that song forever. It's a great song. Love Tori Amos. All right, guys. I'm going to get out of here.

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3048.421 - 3062.101 Jake Brennan

I'm going to go ahead into the exclusive part of the after party. Okay, that's the room in the back back. You got to know where that part of the party is. You got to know how to get into it. You can go to disgracelandpod.com to figure that out. Got to pay a little bit more, but not much. And I'll be talking to Zeth in there.

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3062.542 - 3085.868 Jake Brennan

Zeth, as you may or may not know, is my partner in true crime, as he likes to call himself. He's also not a real doctor, though he's sometimes referred to as Dr. Lundy. Zeth helms the Hollywoodland feed for us, which if you're not subscribed, I invite you, come on in. The water's great. These are Hollywood and true crime stories, just like our music and true crime stories.

3086.148 - 3099.55 Jake Brennan

We're talking Drew Barrymore this week. Got our Drew Barrymore episode, archive episode that's out. In addition to the scripted episode on Drew Barrymore, in the wrap party, we were talking, and we hate this term, nepo-babies.

3100.036 - 3119.599 Jake Brennan

but we're doing some recommendations of, from my standpoint, it was great music by, and this is all kicked off by the Drew Barrymore stuff, great music from musicians, from the parents of famous people, basically. And I had a couple of good ones in there. And then Zeth gave us some film recommendations, again, from quote unquote, netball babies.

3119.639 - 3140.714 Jake Brennan

And we talk about why we hate that term in the Hollywoodland rap party. Screening room from Hollywoodland is happening. End of this week. And the movie that we're talking about is Gun Crazy from 1992 by Tamara Davis, who was once married to a beastie boy, Mike D, I believe, starring Drew Barrymore. That's what we'll be watching this week.

3140.734 - 3170.52 Jake Brennan

So if you want to get in on the conversation with us there, check out the screening room. Just go to Hollywoodland and subscribe if you're not subscribed already. Anyways, more from me and Zeth right now in the all-access portion of the Disgraceland after party. I'll be back in a flash. All right, we are back. Thank you for joining me in another After Party episode.

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