Overview

Spanning the entire history of the Doors, this book will long remain the definitive biography of a band that forever changed popular music. But it's not the story you think you know.Yes, Jim Morrison died in Paris in 1971—but not in a bathtub. The other Doors were saddened and shocked but had already fired him anyway. It wasn't Jim who wrote the hits; it was guitarist Robby Krieger. It wasn't Jim who saw a bright, acid-flared future for the band but keyboardist Ray Manzarek.And so, the band that started out as the "American Rolling Stones," noted for their wildly unpredictable performances, their jazzy vibe, and the crazed monologues of their front man, ended as badly as did the sixties: abruptly, bloodily, cripplingly.Along with evoking the cultural milieu of Los Angeles in the sixties, in LoveBecomes a Funeral Pyre bestselling writer Mick Wall captures the true spirit of that tarnished age with a brilliantly penetrating and contemporary investigation into the real story of the Doors.

Reviews

"Wall's account pulls no punches, cataloguing each of the primal scenes—early performances, indecent exposure, Jim's sexuality, decline and death—with a detached, knowing eye."  —Guitarist

"[Wall's] attention to both the musical and business parts of the equation is a welcome addition…" —Kirkus Reviews

"Jim Morrison was the terrible angel of the American sixties, and his latest biographer Mick Wall tells his story with a passionate, wide-open drive, like Jim's famous Shelby GT Ford Mustang with a nitrous oxide hookup. Here James Douglas Morrison emerges more and more as a stand-up, reciting American poet, and an artist whom this author makes you really feel for." —Stephen Davis, author of Hammer of the Gods

"For Doors fans, and readers of rock biographies in general, this should be considered a must read." —Booklist

"A thorough look at the Doors' career, this book is a musical, cultural, and legacy-examining history of one of the most important bands in rock and roll." —Library Journal

"a smooth, snarky, sarcastic and pull-no-punches look" and "at his best, Wall cuts through the haze and the myths surrounding Morrison and The Doors, backing it up in interviews with girlfriends, journalists, record company flacks and drinking friends." —Tampa Tribune