The following is my opinion...
"Robby! This is God speaking and we're going to throw you right out of the universe." It wasn't God on the phone. It was Jim Morrison. I hung up. This call came through at an ungodly hour in 1966.
The opening lines kick off Robby Krieger's quasi-autobiography. It's not technically a start to finish tell-all life story; and that works well for the witty and clever Krieger. The book is written in a series of life highlight vignettes. The opening lines of this book perfectly sets the reader up for the madness of being in The Doors. Having worked briefly on a Doors documentary as a side gig years ago I have had the unfortunate or fortunate, depending on your perspective of becoming somewhat of a Doors expert. Reading through a dozen or so biographies, autobiographies and various other documentary style programs you tend to not only learn, but to retain some of the craziness that occurred in the lives of the principals, including Krieger, Morrison, John Densmore, the late Ray Manzarek, the late Paul Rothchild (producer) and Bruce Botnick (engineer).
Krieger fesses up to having the worst hair in all of rock 'n roll and that's while being in the same band with the man with the best hair in all of 20th century music, Jim Morrison. Who wouldn't have wanted those wavy thick locks? Every woman and man I ever encountered would have wanted those wavy and thick locks of Morrison's. Of course, those beautiful locks would become course and drab within a short period of time due to his massive consumption of alcohol.
Krieger offers up superbly crafted stories about the important aspects of his life in and out of the band. There are the oh, that's a great trivia moment about Krieger once having served as a golf caddy to now deceased actors, James Garner (Krieger informs us he was good enough to go pro) and Peter Lawford (who golfed in bare feet). Krieger's father and brother were better golfers than Krieger and yes, he has golfed with Alice Cooper dozens of times.
We learn of his twin brother, Ronny and his mental illnesses. Ironically, Doors drummer John Densmore also had a brother who suffered from mental illness and would eventually take his own life. It is almost unbelievable to know that two out of the four members of the band had brothers that would be lost to the pain of mental illness.
Having read and researched The Doors one doesn't need a tremendous amount of discernment to realize James Douglas Morrison suffered from mental illness as well. Clearly, by all accounts he was clinically depressed; and the horror of his hard-core alcoholism by the age of 23 is well documented from many sources. Krieger delves into some of Morrison's less sane moments, including a section on when Morrison was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. He decided he didn't want treatment, so he could experience going insane. Fortunately, rebel Jim caved when urination became so painful he couldn't take it anymore.
The sex, drugs, booze and rock 'n roll mantra is on full display in the book as Krieger details his own wildly uncontrollable addiction to heroin. One comes across reading these stories always thinking the same thing, doesn't anyone ever learn anything? The answer is clearly - no. He and his wife, Lynn somehow managed to become junkies, similar to the story of Morrison's most important "love" liaison, Pamela. She of course, would die slightly less than three years after Morrison.
Thankfully, Krieger points out all of the fabrications in the absolutely awful Oliver Stone biopic on The Doors. Stone always reported his affection for the Doors and clearly if one loved the band they never would have made a film that charts every wacky lie ever discussed. No, Jim never participated in a Wiccan wedding. The man thought astrology and psychics were stupid, so clearly Wiccan weddings wouldn't be in his realm of intelligent thought. Morrison, it has been said could talk about God for hours and he did in fact reach out to people to discuss faith. Densmore and Krieger were active in transcendental meditation and Jim thought that was silly as well.
Notably, he had multiple conversations with a journalist from the Cleveland Plains Dealer about Christianity. He wore a cross from time to time as a symbol of Christ's sacrifice. Who knows what Morrison did in his final days of life, but writing "God Help Me" repeatedly isn't something a complete non-believer would do. It may have only been a cry of self-pity, but he wrote it and that's factual.
Also, no, Morrison did not start a fire in a closet and he didn't throw a television set around. Elvis did that! We get a hint at the quirks of both John Densmore and Ray Manzarek. One, clearly was a whiner and the other an optimistic embellisher. This is all per Robby Krieger who loved all three of his band mates.
Morrison also never screamed out of a car on Sunset Boulevard reciting he was the Lizard King; and he certainly didn't walk around dishing out his poetry out loud. That would have been the anti-Jim Morrison.
The Doors were and remain to this day, one of the most significant bands to come out of rock music. Their music goes through a new resurgence about every ten years and that's good news. Some of their songs are brilliant and not only in musicianship, but also lyrically and melodically. Try listening to L.A. Woman, Roadhouse Blues, The End, Riders on the Storm and not thinking these guys were talented beyond measure. Talk about diversity and range in one band.
The only other Doors bio worth reading is "Break on Through" by Riordan and Prochnicky. That is a superb bio and it largely deals in factual material. The single most significant statement about the life of Jim Morrison is found in this bio.
"Short of some deep spiritual turnaround, which his blindness would not have allowed him to see, even if an opportunity for it had surfaced, Jim Morrison was lost. If there was a greater power that could overcome the forces that had dominated his life since he was four years old, his condition prevented him from seeing it. His only true escape was death." Morrison wasn't suicidal, but clearly he had a death wish.
Sadly, even after 50 years from his death date, it is tragic to think of Morrison's end. From a surface perspective, he had it all. He was artistically gifted, he was literally brilliant (149 I.Q.) and he was one of the most stunningly beautiful men to ever have lived. The Doors would have continued making superb music for years most likely, but it was all swept away after years of excessive alcohol use and untreated mind issues.
Robby Krieger's book is definitely worth reading; and I would say that even if you aren't a fan of The Doors. It's informative, entertaining in a mad way and written in a way that makes you flip the pages and finish it in a couple of days. Quite frankly, it was hard to put down.
To be fair, Jeff Alulis is also credited with this book.
Copyright Read On Read Now 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment