Needing help from hardcore Doors fans.

[hangmanjury]

I'm planning to write an extended essay on Jim Morrison, and I'd like to be as accurate as I can. Having said that, there are a lot of Morrison books out there, and I'd like your input to help me narrow them down to the seminal ones. So far, I've got Ray Manzarek's book, "Light My Fire", as well as "Break On Through: The Life and Death of Jim MOrrison".

Thanks.

[Cash Lone]

Densmore (the drummer) wrote "riders on the storm" around late 80's. Danny Sugarman wrote "No one here gets out alive". Sugarmans book was the main one that everyone read for years until the glut of books came out on Morrison. I think the pagan witch chix Morrison hung out with even wrote a book about their time together.

I was talking to a major doors fan last week and he said theres a book out thats like a tour diary and its his favorite doors book out of all of them. Sorry, I dont recall the title.

[WSLer]

When The Music's Over: Stories Behind Every Doors Song (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560252669/qid=1111113363/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0932940-1920651?v=glance&s=books) by Chuck Crisafulli is just what the title says, but it gives a lot of info and insight into Morrison as well.

[Phrozen]

What is there to write? Crazy alcoholic crap poet had his bandmates turn some of his saner poems into decent music. Then crazy alcoholic poet drinks himself to death.

[WSLer]

What is there to write? Crazy alcoholic crap poet had his bandmates turn some of his saner poems into decent music. Then crazy alcoholic poet drinks himself to death.

Y'know, displaying your ignorance in public for all and sundry to see and point and laugh and comment on, isn't something to be proud of.

Think about that.

[hangmanjury]

What is there to write? Crazy alcoholic crap poet had his bandmates turn some of his saner poems into decent music. Then crazy alcoholic poet drinks himself to death.
I started this thread asking for some suggestions and input, not a flame like this. Please refrain. I just wanted suggestions. Seriously. If you want to flame Jim, start another thread. Don't do it on mine.

[Core]

The only two books on Morrison and The Doors that I've read have been Densmore's Riders on the Storm and the Sugarman & Hopkins book No One Here Gets Out Alive. Both of the books seemed to have pretty clear agendas that made me question the authors' reliability.

Densmore's book doesn't pretend to be objective, which is good, but that leaves readers with a narrator (Densmore himself) who wasn't too terribly fond of Morrison most of the time. Those times of distaste on his part sometimes lead to a marginalization of Morrison's role in the band, which is kind of a bummer, seeing as how he's the one most people are interested in reading about. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book because of some of the more personal, inside touches that Densmore gives to his narrative. His account of playing with himself during his first acid trip is particularly edifying.

The Sugarman & Hopkins book is by far the most readable of the pair, but a lot of that readability is derived from what I fear is a substantial poetic license that they take in putting together their story. It's pretty clear that the writers lionize Morrison at times, which slants the narrative by way of romanticizing Morrison's numerous personae. I think that Sugarman was a secretary or something similar for the band at one point, and as such he did have access to some inside anecdotes that others might not know about. But he does include stories that have been aggrandized (or completely fabricated) over the years after Morrison's death, and the fact that so many of the incidents he relays have since been shown as false, it's best to read this one with a grain of salt.

I can't say that I regret reading either book, but as far as presenting an acceptably unbiased account of the Doors years, both works seem lacking.

[howyadoin]

I think the pagan witch chix Morrison hung out with even wrote a book about their time together.I have no idea what language that is, but the only person in the Doors camp who's a bigger scumbag than Ray Manzarek is Danny Sugarman. The only way he could be worse is if he sold Jim Morrison's semen by the gallon.

[JeffreyWKramer]

the only person in the Doors camp who's a bigger scumbag than Ray Manzarek is Danny Sugarman. The only way he could be worse is if he sold Jim Morrison's semen by the gallon.

LOL! I've read "No One Here Gets Out Alive" a couple times, not because I find it any more informative or reality-based than any other piece of gushing fanboyism, but because it really is a pretty entertaining piece of fanboyism, and also because anyone paying attention to the facts Sugarman and Hopkins present, rather than the worshipful slant given to same, can't help but come away with the impression of Morrison as a world-class asshole of the sort who might make even Lou Reed or Bono seem humble.

The other thing I keep wondering - and this was the part inspired by Howy's statement - was whether Danny Sugarman (who was, like, twelve or thirteen years old when he first hooked up with the Doors) more wanted to *be* Jim Morrison, or whether he simply wanted to have sex with him.