TeenSet

The June 1968 issue of TeenSet, published monthly in the United States, is a standard newsstand copy running pages 35 through 40 with Judith Sims's feature article "An Afternoon with Jim Morrison." No special edition or variant designation applies here; this is the regular US consumer copy, identified by its June 1, 1968 cover date. TeenSet was a Los Angeles-based teen music monthly that maintained closer editorial ties to the West Coast rock scene than most of its East Coast competitors, which made it a natural home for substantive Doors coverage throughout 1967 and 1968.

The cover is immediately recognizable to anyone who has spent time tracking down Doors-related print ephemera from this era. Jim Morrison occupies the entire cover frame in a close portrait shot, his face and upper torso filling nearly the full bleed. His hair is long and loose, falling past his shoulders in the style he favored through much of 1968, and he is wearing what appears to be a simple blue short-sleeve shirt, understated against the warm, slightly amber-toned background that gives the cover a soft, almost sepia quality. His expression is calm, slightly detached, the kind of look that translated well to print and that TeenSet clearly understood had commercial pull. The magazine's title, TEENSET, runs in bold white lettering across the top of the cover, followed by the tagline "THE MAGAZINE FOR TODAY'S MUSIC SCENE" in smaller type, with the cover date and price visible in the upper right corner. Below the image, a row of yellow cover lines announces the issue's contents: "EXTRA! GIANT POSTER! BEATLES & BLONDES!", "AN AFTERNOON WITH JIM MORRISON", "REMEMBER BEATLE CONCERTS!", and callouts for Cream, The Who, Association, and Blue Cheer. The layout is busy in the way teen magazines of this period tended to be, stacking as many names as possible along the bottom strip to catch the eye of a browser at the newsstand. The Morrison cover is one of the more striking TeenSet fronts from this run, and it is a large part of why this issue gets sought out by collectors. The interior pages 35 through 40, where Sims's article runs, would typically feature black-and-white photography interspersed with the editorial text, consistent with TeenSet's production values during this period.

Judith Sims was one of the more reliable music journalists covering the Los Angeles rock scene in the late 1960s, and her access to Morrison for this piece reflects the relatively open relationship The Doors maintained with sympathetic press outlets at the time. "An Afternoon with Jim Morrison" is a first-person, conversational piece rather than a formal profile, and it carries the kind of detail that comes from actual time spent with the subject rather than a rushed backstage exchange. By mid-1968, Morrison was a figure the mainstream teen press wanted on their covers, but few writers got the kind of relaxed, extended access that Sims describes here. That makes this article a useful primary source for researchers and serious fans, not just a collectible cover. The June 1968 timing places this piece in an interesting window: Waiting For The Sun was released in July 1968, so this interview captures Morrison in the period immediately before the band's third album dropped, which adds some contextual weight to anything he said about the band's direction.

TeenSet gave The Doors consistent coverage across this period, and collectors building a complete run of Doors-related TeenSet issues will want to cross-reference this with the May 1968 issue, the March 1968 issue, and earlier issues like the January 1968 and November 1967 copies, all of which contain relevant editorial content. The Morrison cover on this June issue makes it one of the more visually desirable entries in that run. Condition is the primary variable driving value here; copies in VG or better with no tape, minimal spine stress, and a clean cover command significantly more than reading copies. The giant Beatles poster insert mentioned on the cover is frequently missing from copies found in the secondary market, which affects both condition grading and desirability for completists.

This is a legitimate, worthwhile addition for anyone focused on Jim Morrison print ephemera or on building a serious TeenSet run from the Doors years. The Sims article has genuine editorial merit beyond its collectibility, and the Morrison cover portrait is among the cleaner, more composed images the magazine produced. It is not scarce in absolute terms, but finding a copy in solid condition with the poster insert intact takes patience. Recommended without reservation for Doors print collectors, with the usual caveat that condition is everything at this age.