Herps in Popular culture

Whats the deal with lizards?

I do not typically associate herps with music but they do come up in some areas. These reptiles and amphibians are not referenced specifically but are used to portray a multitude of different styles. For instance Jim Morrison of The Doors was the self proclaimed "Lizard King", he used this title as an alter ego much like Mr. Mojo Risin'. In one of his poems that they seldom performed he exclaims "I am the Lizard King, I can do anything!".This may seem strange to some of you but followers of their music find it very fitting. They have an eerie blues style that is at times vile and supernatural. This title "Lizard King" actually says a lot about their music. They had a more darker style than any of the other bands popular at the time, lizards as well as other reptiles are generally portrayed as devilish, they are cold beasts, appropriate for Jim. The Doors also reference snakes in many of their songs. The song "The End" is one of their darker tracks that is about a goodbye to a lover, childhood, and life in general. Jim sings about a snake which helps highlight the darkness of the The End's meanings. I think their use of herps in this way was to give them a more mysterious repulsive and forbidden feeling to their music. Plenty of other bands give reference to reptiles and it is generally for darker songs, portraying reptiles in a darker mystical sense.
One of the most recognizable and covered Jazz standards is a song called Chameleon by Herbie Hancock off their Head Hunters album. The song itself is based around a consistent bass line, extremely funky. They may have named the song this because of the chameleon's color changing abilities or just after their appearance. The one pictured here would definitely play funk. Another famous chameleon is Karma Chameleon by Culture Club, in my opinion a terrible song but they use the reptile's color changing ability to help get their message across.
The term "lounge lizard" has been around for nearly a century. Used to describe the jazz musicians playing the gig at the bar and insinuates that they are somehow tacky or tasteless, always trying to pick up women, and generally slinky and cold. It seems to me that society has a very skewed opinion about reptiles, just because they are viewed as "cold" blooded, have dry scaly skin, and are usually not very charming. They get a bad rap for no reason but there are some positive cases, mostly in the chameleon department, Geico insurance has a gecko that sells the insurance for them as some type of gimmick and he is very charming.