No One Here Gets Out Alive

Rating:
Summary: No One Here Gets Out Alive
Review: No one Here Gets Out Alive is the compelling biography of Jim Morrison, told through the perspective of Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman. Through their unique experiences with Jim Morrison, Hopkins and Sugerman relive his life and philosophical legacy. The story is told through the poetic eye's of Jim Morrison, yet contains many outside analytical references to his behavior and persona. Morrison's essence is brought to life as his magnetic personality is captured through abstract dialog and inspiring stories. Morrison's tragic life is traced back from his childhood to the deeply spiritual awakenings that shaped his monumental life. One of Morrison's early memories was of a graphically depicted car accident in the dessert of New Mexico. Morrison portrays a prophetic Native American entering his soul, thus changing him forever. As Jim Morrison continued discovering himself through college, he became influenced by the new revolution in modern authors like Jack Kerouac and poetry from the Beat generation. However, Jim's ultimate inspiration came from within. The freestyle tone of the book is to the far extreme of non-conventional literature. The imagery provided within Morrison's tales paints an eclectic picture containing the memories Jim created. One who reads this book must step outside mediocrity and become open to a bold perception of the world. No One Here Gets Out Alive is a pivotal view at one of America's great modern poets and is recommended to those who appreciate great minds.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Well-Assembled.
Review: "No One Here Gets Out Alive" is always signaled as the definitive biography of Jim Morrison. I see it more as a good read, a very good read. There have been some plausible accusations of serious myth-making taking place in the writing of this book (Ray Manzarek is said to have crossed out "the bad stuff"). James Riordan's "Break On Through" is a better, more-detailed and captivating book in my opinion. But "No One Here Gets Out Alive" plays like what it has been accused of being, a great myth. It is kind of appropriate, considering Morrison is essentially a myth onto himself. His image has not died and the music is still alive and well among the youth (I'm not complaining, hot chicks love "Light My Fire" whenever I put it on). The book is a must for Doors fans, it is a document of the life and times of Morrison, of the era in which he flourished and it celebrates the power and poetry of his songs. It is a neat visual experience in the descriptions of Jim's stage performances and in his primal acts we see a blue-print for the madness we so regularly see in today's rock acts. Reading the book is like reading some kind of modern legend. It is also packed with some great photos of Jim and the band (some album covers are included). The story of The Doors has always been a big epic drenched in excess, insane genius, artistic tenderness and even tragic romance. You can see where all the great songs come from. Jim Morrison was a brilliant artist, his songs are timeless and he was also a fantastic poet capable of creating very captivating images in wonderful songs like "The Crystal Ship" and "End Of The Night," he took us on dark, hypnotic journeys in "The End" and "When The Music's Over" and simply recorded some great music. "No One Here Gets Out Alive" celebrates more the image than the man, and yet is also a fascinating examination of the life. I will never tire of reading Jim's lyrics and hearing The Doors' best songs, "No One Here Gets Out Alive" is a book for fans who feel the same.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Loved It !!
Review: I already knew about Jim Morrison and the Doors through their music. Which I really like listening to. And when I found this book at Barnes and Nobles, I was happy to see that they had a biography on Jim Morrisons' life. Because I really like his music and wanted to get to know more about his life. Once I was done with this book, there was so much that I learned about him and everything he went through and experienced. I would recommend this book to anyone who is open minded and likes the doors.

Rating:
Summary: A flawed portrait of a flawed man
Review: In "No One Here Gets Out Alive," we learn that Doors singer/songwriter Jim Morrison was an obnoxious drunk. He used people. He psychologically abused those closest to him. And this is in a book sanitized by the self-appointed maintenance man of Morrison's memory, former Doors office boy Danny Sugerman.

What I don't understand is why such behavior surprises anyone. Great artists (which Morrison was, in my opinion) aren't always great human beings. Often, just the opposite is true. Arthur Rimbaud, whose work influenced Morrison's, was described as mean and ruthless. Dylan Thomas's widow wrote that "genius is selfish." But you won't find any real insight into Morrison -- the artist or the man -- in this biography.

As a book, "No One Here..." often reads as if it were written for a small group of insiders. I don't know if this is the result of bad editing (indiscriminate cutting) or just too many "cooks" -- Sugerman, Jerry Hopkins, editors at the publishing house. It sometimes borders on incoherent. But I have to give credit where credit is due -- the book covers a lot of ground, particularly about Jim's life before the Doors. And it led me to a lot of great literature: I read the book as a high-school student, and it led me to Kerouac, Rimbaud and Baudelaire.

But one man's demise is another man's meal ticket: Morrison's early, mysterious death has made Sugerman a wealthy man. Not the sort of endeavor that Morrison would respect. Of course, the incredibly pompous Ray Manzarek hasn't been shy about exploiting the Morrison legend, either. But at least Mr. Manzarek made music with the man. Sugerman just opened his mail.

Rating:
Summary: The Eros of Dionysus Living
Review: .
Hopkins and Sugerman's book, "No One Here Gets Out Alive" is a interesting, detailed and fascinating read. I've yet to compare it to Manzarek's and Denzmore's versions of Morrison's life, but I can say this book had me very absorbed with much thinking. I have seen the Val Kilmer movie prior and mentally attempted to piece the parts from the movie and to fill in the many other parts into the gaps. What I found of much more significance and pleasure in this book, was the ideas that Morrision thought, the books he read and the thinkers who influenced him. I found myself reading the quotes that were taken from him over and over again which very much help get the feel of where his mind was at. This book was highly interesting.

As I read this book I couldn't help to compare Morrison with the type of men Socrates was described to have taught in "The Republic of Plato." He just fit this very type of student so well that I found myself comparing him to what Socrates spoke and to that of an interpretive essay on this subject by Alan Bloom, a translator of Plato. And so I will just make a few comments on this book's description of Jim Morrison with the type of man Socrates sought after. This is not such a far fetched analysis, as Morrison himself was a reader of Nietzsche, and in agreement of such, an advent admirer of the chaotic, destructive, artistic and creative personality of the Greek god Dionysus.

Jim Morrison was a man of desires, someone who lived to fulfill them, to walk in them, breath them who would cross many boundaries others would not dare to. This is an intense kind of person. And you can see that in Jim's influence from the Jack Kerouac character of Dean Moriarty (Neil Cassidy), a total Dionysan, chaotic character of eros, a Dr. Faust in wild indulgent living.

The fight of the Apollonian nature, that of rationalism and duty, to that of the Dionysan nature of chaotic and erotic desires is from Greek tragedy and comes from eros, as the erotic man, and eros is a mad master. Eros will break the laws, cross all boundaries and make a man an enemy of other men. While politics always seem hostile to such, Morrison's early statement of describing himself and The Doors as "erotic politicians" makes sense in that it is the eros that leads a man to being either a tyrant or a philosopher, that is either a man of exploitation or a man of thinking. While these may seem entirely different, it is two sides of the same coin. One looks externally unsatisfied, while the other internally, who becomes satisfied.

The tyrant is willing to both think and do things that cross all boundaries, while the thinker will only be willing to think such things without horror, yet each one of these men are willing to see beyond the laws and conventions in their quest for nature.

"Eros is a demonic voice. The tyrant and the philosopher are united in their sense of their radical incompleteness and their longing for wholeness, in their passion and in their singlemindedness. They are the truly dedicated men." Allan Bloom, Interpretative Essay on The Republic of Plato, p. 424

This is the type of man that the Greek philosopher Socrates sought for, a man who lived by his desires. Both men fell into the Dionysan chaotic nature of passionate walk in indulgence and gratification, however the tyrant could never be fulfilled, while the philosopher can. The result was Socrates had successful students who sought philosophy and knowledge, as in Plato and Xenophon, to those who left to the path of the tyrants, such as Alcibiades and Critias.

You can see this pattern in Morrison's life, his knowledge and desire to excel in philosophical thinking, in poetry and social revolutionary thought as in Nietzsche,.Rimaud and Norman O. Scott. You can see this in Morrison's interest in tragedy and existential relationships and his subsequent lifestyle (Weber) of heavy indulgence in drinking and wreckless living, his boredom in what others would consider such a great achievement and his search towards poetry and theater, unsatisfied with his accomplishments. Ultimately, it is the path of the tyrant that is self-destructive, the life of the fast lane of the speeding bullet of Dean Moriarty, of Faust, of 6 years from the beginning of The Doors to the death of Jim Morrison.

Rating:
Summary: Good, comprehensive bio
Review: Who were the Doors? Well, picture 4 beach bums who got together with a defiant poet who knew nothing about singing or writing music. He ended up writing and singing some of the finest--and weirdest--songs of the decade. The lead singer/poet Jim Morrison grew up drawing rude pictures in school and just generally being a class clown. After high school he went to every major college from coast to coast and then enrolled in film school in Venice Beach, only to decide he wanted to quit. Then he went and lived in the desert for awhile, probably on snakes and cactus milk. After that, he and his band seemingly had an overnight success with their undying classic "Light My Fire" and bar-rooms turned to stadiums. Morrison led a very fast and adventurous even dangerous and careless life, always tempting fate (and death), and hungry for new experiuences; he even went through a witchcraft ( or Wiccan, for all you purists out there) wedding with a woman he'd met and grew fond of; it included pagan chants, oaths, and of course, the proverbial slicing 'n' dicing of wrists and drinking of... yup, you guessed it. But the whole thing was a sham. For one thing, Morrison was dead drunk throughout the whole ritual and when he finally came to one of his unusual clear states of mind, the same woman told him she was pregnant with his child. So, he did what any loving father-to-be would do--he told her to get an abortion. Morrison rarely bathed, and although he had money coming out of his eyeballs, he lived on sidewalk benches a little too often, especially in his final months in Paris. One night, in his Paris hotel suite he shot himself up with heroin or some other junk, and while taking a rare and well-needed bath, he slipped away from this life with a glowing smile on his face. His girlfriend Pam died the same way two years later, minus the bathtub and smile.

David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"

Rating:
Summary: No Hero but a Little Worship
Review: I first read this book in 1984 and I have re-read it several times in the intervening years. The story of how it came to be published is quite well-known. Jerry Hopkins is a journalist who interviewed Jim Morrison on several occasions during his lifetime. After Morrison dies, Hopkins began work on a biography. Following several unsuccessful years of attempting to get the completed biography published, Jerry Hopkins meets Danny Sugerman. Sugerman was a teenage admirer of The Doors and eventually wrangled an office job out of a sympathetic Morrison (a more complete story of Sugerman is told in his autobiography "Wonderland Avenue"). In any event, Sugerman adds his perspective and personal anecdotes to the story and, helped by the resurgence of interest in the music of The Doors, the book is eventually published in 1981.

I think the argument that the book is hero-worship is only partially true. Certainly Danny Sugerman had feelings for Morrison that were akin to idolatry and that comes across in the book. On the other hand, Jerry Hopkins was a working journalist and his professionalism and research is also evident. While reading the book it is in most instances possible to determine what was written by Hopkins and what was penned by Sugerman. I suppose this incongruity might be irksome to some but the narrative does flow and does not detract from the overall story of the life of Jim Morrison.

In the almost 20 years that have elapsed since I first read No One Here Gets Out Alive I have read everything I could get my hands on that in any way concerned Jim Morrison and The Doors. I have yet to read a more definitive account or one which largely contradicted anything contained in this book. That's not to say that there aren't other good books or interesting perspectives, only that this is the wellspring of Jim Morrison-related literature.

This book is of obvious interest to any one who likes the music of The Doors and/or finds Jim Morrison fascinating. I fall into both categories. However, Jim Morrison was not a particularly admirable fellow. He did experiment with drugs, he often treated his friends badly, he was fairly promiscuous (even carelessly impregnating a girlfriend and then shirking responsibility), etc. Of course Morrison did have many good characteristics as well. His love of reading, sense of humor and displays of genuine affection are intermingled with his faults. I believe this book does a generally good job of portraying a reasonable facsimile of Jim Morrison.

For me this book sparked an even greater interest in Morrison and The Doors which continues to this day. At the same time, this book also provides a good antidote to hero-worship. As a cautionary note to those who choose to view Jim Morrison through rose-colored glasses, I suggest that you don't read the Hopkins/Sugerman biography. Those that do choose to read the biography carefully will have, as James Joyce wrote, "discovered to their vast discomfiture that their idol had feet of clay, after placing him upon a pedestal."

Rating:
Summary: Far Too Romantic a Portrait
Review: I have been a fan of the Doors ever since I was two - my parents used to play their greatest hits in our library. By the time I was in high school I knew all their music, and at the time they may have been my favorite band. However, at this point (the late 90's) I knew little about books and movies that had come out on them, and nothing at all about how they were thought of by many of their fans and critics. I obviously knew they were a counter-culture sort of group, but I suppose I was somewhat innocent in my approach to them. Since those days I have seen films on the band, read accounts by individual members, and read several biographies, including No One Here Gets Out Alive. I feel that the book has more flaws than virtues. The foreword suffers from a lack of originality. In addition to borrowing from Herndon's "James Dean: A Short Life," there also is a heavy influence from Kerouac's "On the Road" where they talk about the supposed "mad ones" Morrison was in a class with. (Remember Sal Paradise talking about Dean Moriarty as one of the "mad ones," and how he was attracted to them?) Unfortunately, there is hero-worship by the authors, as well as the quality of being too melodramatic. The content is also limited, since there is not enough discussion of the songs, albums, and musically creative environment the group worked in when Morrison was "on the beam." It would be interesting to know Morrison's thought process and inspiration behind songs, (there isn't enough on this), along with details of recording sessions.
It must be known that a derangement of the senses is not rational. Too much literature and film has glorified Morrison's drug and alcohol abuse causing grotesque behavior as some sort of philosophy of life and inner genius. The persons responsible for the literature and film really have used calculated techniques to sell products. Hero worship has shown to be a major selling point of works related to the Doors and Morrison. For youngsters in high school or younger it is not difficult to idolize this skewed portrait of Morrison, while older and more mature fans may very well grow to hate the man for what he has been portrayed as. What matters most about Morrison is his art. He was an intelligent and unique person as well, but his flaws need to be represented as what they were, not as his lasting legacy. It is my opinion that his drug use often got in the way of the good aspects of his personality, creating a deranged and pathetic figure. He also, (his drug abuse could have contributed), did not face up enough to the numerous difficulties that he faced in life (his parents old fashioned views, film school trendy half-wits slamming his work, and troubles with the law), and this may be what hurt him in the end. These difficulties have to be shown for what they were, and then the world will be able to more fully appreciate the aspects of what made Morrison the artist he was. If mainstream works of bloated literature and film continue to romanticize about the worst aspects of Morrison, he and the rest of the Doors will never be appreciated in the ways they should be. I hope some day a person will go through the trouble of writing a critical but always thoughtful work on the band, and Morrison.
On a more positive note, a reason to read this book would be to examine the romanticized viewpoint of the Doors that has largely become accepted. Also, many other bands are name checked in the book that deserve to be heard, (Love, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Buffalo Springfield and many others.) Lastly, although many of the quotations from philosophers and poets are inappropriate, the younger reader is introduced to some great thinkers and artists in the history of Western thought, and can explore them on their own time.

Rating:
Summary: A Mad Genius!!
Review: There was a time when I hated reading
autobiographies/biographies of any kind. My thought
process was simple: what could be possibly so exciting
about stars' famed people's lives that I could not
incorporate in mine? I was so wrong. I just realized
it.

The biography of Jim Morrison was handed down to me by
my very close friend and one time my partner. He told
me "You must absolutely read this one" and I did. If
not for the dispassionate kisses that transpired
between us, I thank him profusely for introducing me
to the life of one of the legends of rock and roll.

Who was Jim Morrison? A freaked out personality, a bad
dream, a bad childhood, an insane creature of the
night or just a plain normal human being. Who was he
and why was he that way? After reading the book, I
tried answering these questions but gave up. Gave up
to let Mr.Morrison be. This book deals with hiss life
and more. His poetry. His life. For most part it does
deal with Jim Morrison the way he was : A person. The
very rare smiles, the even more rare sensitivity, the
ideals, the philosophies - everything that made the
man a person.

The madness existing is explained beautifully. The
demons etched out rather well. The book takes us
through three stages: When the bow is drawn, to the
arrow flying to the finale with the arrow falling...

From his indepth intellectual lyrics to the
soulfulness to the brashness of the person...In short
this one's a must must read....and I am glad I did
cherish it!!

Rating:
Summary: I WAS 16 WHEN I FIRST READ THIS BOOK IN THE EARLY 80'S
Review: One of my all time favorite books

how many times in history do the forces of the universe converge and bring together the talent such as this? I read with fascination about Morrison's early life. His study of the great poets and philosophers and his understanding of them. He graduated from Cinematography school at UCLA in the early 60's before meeting up with equally intellectual and talented minds to form one of the most successful groups of the 60's. His professors called his papers "worthy of a dissertation" and assumed that he had researched at the library of congress.

Sure, he is portrayed as a alcoholic and a drug abuser, but this book focused on the positive as well.

imagine the day he reunited with Ray Manzarek on the beach after a year of partying on rooftops and writing poetry. He dropped to his knees in the sand and recited the lyrics to moonlight drive:

Lets swim to the moon
Lets climb through the tide
Penetrate the evening
That the city sleeps to hide

I was hooked and life was never the same................