No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins, Danny Sugerman
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Book Reviews of No One Here Gets Out Alive
Book Review: Great rock & roll book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Best rock bio I have read. Jim was a tortured soul who bled the blues.Book Review: IT'LL KEEP YOU READING TILL THE "END OF THE NIGHT"
Summary: 4 Stars
When "No One Here Gets Out Alive" (the first of what by now are at least half a dozen biographies of Doors poet and singer Jim Morrison) was first published in 1980, it was a huge best-seller and very popular amongst my crowd of friends. I was urged to read the book by many of them, but, despite being a Doors fan then and to this day, I suppose my head was somewhere else back then, and I never did. Flash forward 28 years, and I am replacing all six of my weathered Doors studio LPs with 40th anniversary deluxe CDs (and it really is remarkable how well those old albums hold up today!) and getting very much into a Morrison frame of mind. So I just picked up and finally read Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman's biography, and can now see what my buddies and buddyettes were raving about almost three decades ago. This is indeed a very well written, impeccably researched and compulsively readable look at the life of the so-called Lizard King. Though only 27 when he died, Morrison's short life was jam packed with truly remarkable incidents, providing the book's authors with more than ample material for their biography. Impressively, according to the book, Hopkins interviewed almost 200 of Jim's friends, relatives and associates before writing began, and Sugerman worked in the Doors' office.
The book takes us from Morrison's childhood as a "Navy brat," being shuttled by his family from homes in Florida to Virginia and California, to his student days at the UCLA film school, and on to his first meetings with Ray Manzarek and the rest of his band members. We learn of the Doors' meteoric ascent into rock superstardom, and then of the crash and burn following arrests in New Haven, Arizona and Miami. One of my favorite tales in the book, which I'd never heard before, concerns how Morrison, tripping on 10,000 "mikes" (!) of LSD, performed the so-called "Oedipal section" of "The End" in public for the first time, thus getting the nascent band banned from the Whiskey A Go Go for perpetuity! Readers of this biography will probably be struck with the thought that it is incredible that Morrison managed to last until the age of 27. The life he lived was truly--and sometimes literally--on the edge; besides the massive quantities of drugs and booze he consumed, a favorite hobby of his was, apparently, hanging off of hotel balconies by his fingertips! And while one of my fellow reviewers has accused this book of being mere "hagiography," the Morrison presented here is anything but a saint. The authors do take pains to show what an "alcohol-soaked, self-indulgent jerk" he could be, as well as his other, better side; that of a highly intelligent, sensitive, questing, and extremely ambitious poet, musician and filmmaker. Mixed in with the remarkable stories are a few that made me really laugh out loud, such as the one where Morrison tries to do a PSA against speed, and the one in which Jim goes to the Fillmore East to see Jefferson Airplane (another of my favorite bands) and proclaims them "the most boring band I have ever heard in my whole life." I also got a good chuckle from the authors referring to Morrison as a "sexual philanthropist"! Startling--for me, anyway--was the realization that "Mr. Mojo Risin'" is not just a nickname for Jim Morrison, but an anagram! Somehow, I'd never realized that before. The book is full of interesting tidbits like that, and to its credit, when the authors come to an area that is unclear to them (oh, such as the events surrounding their subject's death), they give us what is known or suspected and let it stand at that. The authors clearly think the world of Morrison, but still take the trouble to show the less savory side of his character (as when the young Jim makes fun of a paraplegic in a wheelchair) and to tell us what areas remain cloaked in mystery.
Having said all that, I must also report some small problems that a close reading of the book reveals. There appear hundreds of quoted conversations between Morrison and others that have to be approximated, at best, from much later interviews. There are also some statements that would seem to be factual errors. Nico is said to have appeared in the 1958 Fellini film "La Dolce Vita," whereas any film buff could tell you that the film dates from 1960. Two "midgets" are said to appear on the front cover of "Strange Days," when a close look will reveal only one. The authors tell us that the Doors appeared at the Fillmore West in early January '67, and that is true, but then go on to say that the band played at the theatre again three weeks later. In actuality, the Doors were at the Fillmore West on January 6-8, 1967 and then a mere ONE week later, from January 13-15. Other factual glitches that crop up may be due to typographical errors: Clark boots are referred to as "Clarke boots"; the date of the band's New Haven bust is given as "December 9, 1968" instead of December 9, 1967 (that's a BAD typo!); Morrison's wife, Patricia Kennealy, is repeatedly and consistently referred to as "Patricia Kennely"; and the Pere La Chaise Cimetiere, where Morrison was buried, is referred to as the "Pere La Chaise Cemetiere." Still, these are mere quibbles. "No One Here Gets Out Alive" is a fine tribute to a great artist, and I predict that once any reader turns open that by-now-classic front cover, he/she will feel compelled to "break on through to the other side." Yes, indeed, this is a book that will keep you reading till the "end of the night"....
Book Review: A good introduction to Morrison
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book in high school when it first came out. At that point Morrison had been dead for about a decade and had faded from the general public memory except for the occasional playing of "Break on Through" or "Light my Fire" as classic radio oldies. Therefore, when people my age (I was about 15) stumbled on old Doors albums or any information about Jim's seemingly tragic life we tended to be intrigued that there was more to Jim than just a couple of Top 40 hits and we wanted to know more. Those of us who happened to be girls were also mesmerized by the photos of Jim showing an incredibly sexy and attractive man. Needless to say, when this book came out we were all over it. I remember at least two copies of this book circulating among my Catholic girls' high school peers for weeks, even being read by girls who were not normally into rock history. I would say this book contributed quite a bit to Jim getting a latter-day cult following of people way too young to have known who he was the first time around.
This book is a fast-paced read, co-written by Danny Sugerman who knew Jim and the Doors personally and worked for them before and after Jim's death. If you don't know much about Morrison this book is a great place to start, as it covers all the major events of his life from his childhood through his untimely death.
Since this book was written and Jim proved to be a hot commodity (anyone remember the posthumous Rolling Stone cover, "Jim Morrison: He's hot, he's sexy and he's dead"), many other Doors books have followed, including ones by ex-bandmate John Densmore, ex-girlfriend Patricia Kennealy, and another by Danny Sugerman. These books for the most part expand on or give more details about events already recounted in "No One Here Gets Out Alive". As such, people looking for more details about Morrison might be more interested in the later books and find this one lacking now that many other references are available, which was certainly not the case when the book first came out. This book is still good as an introduction to Jim's life or for the casual reader just looking for a good rock book with the requisite doses of glamour and excess.
One interesting aspect of this book is that while Sugerman knew Jim personally and (as shown by his own memoir, "Wonderland Avenue") had generally positive experiences with him, the book doesn't try to sugarcoat Jim or play down his bad points. In fact he comes off worse in this book than he does in a lot of other Jim/ Doors books.
Book Review: The Whisky a Go Go and Morrison's Hotel
Summary: 4 Stars
This book helped fuel a serious revival of interest in the music of the Doors and the late Jim Morrison, the band's lead singer. One of the coauthors, the late Danny Sugerman, was a long time employee of the band.
Almost simultaneous with the release of this biography in paperback, director Francis Ford Coppola made extensive use of the Doors' song "The End" for the soundtrack of the Viet Nam war film "Apocalypse Now." Rolling Stone magazine took notice of the trend and putting Morrison on the cover of an issue with a reminder to its readers that he was dead. In a few years time, director Oliver Stone adapted the same story for his feature film "The Doors." It should be noted that Stone's screenplay credited drummer John Densmore's book, "Riders on the Storm," as his source material rather than this title.
Morrison and his band mates, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore, made some interesting music that combined lyrics adapted from the poetry of William Blake, the classic Greek tragedy of Oedipus Rex and, seemingly, from the labels of countless empty bottles of whisky.
For myself, it was a heady time, playing Doors records on a college radio station, watching "Apocalypse Now" in its original theatrical release, and hearing Manzarek's keyboard synthezier and Krieger's guitar in the dormitories. The title of the book is, of course, taken from the song "Five to One." This is an extraordinary account of a significant band and the decline and fall of their lead singer.
Book Review: Jim Morrison
Summary: 4 Stars
To say that many of his fans are morons that get grandiose and delusional about him is an understatement. However I still find that The Doors music stands the test of time and think Morrison was a talented and interesting guy. This book, while good, could have been a lot better. The authors, one of whom knew Morrison personally, interviewed multiple people that were close to him and The Doors, but yet its hard get a true feel for what sort of person Morrison was underneath the front that he put up. Maybe this can't fully be blamed on the authors because I believe Morrison put up a wall/image at a very young age and rarely if ever ventured on the other side of it. One thing I liked about Morrisson is he seemed to have more of an interest in literature and poetry that music, and his long term aspirations were in that direction.
Overall this book is interesting/entertaining. A good portion of it is recounting of Morrisons self destructive drunken antics. The faults are it didn't get on the other side of the mask that Morrison wore, the authors were obviously overly enthusiastic fans. I also find this books habit of quoting/enacting conversations greatly annoying. I realize they interviewed people that were involved in them but how sure can we be of the accuracy of word for word quotations of words that were exchanged 30 years before this book was published.