No One Here Gets Out Alive

Jun 25, 2012 Jason Koivu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

If you're a Doors fan, this is essential reading. If you're a fan of late 60s music, especially the L.A. scene, you'll find this enjoyable. If you're everyone else? Then this is not ~~the droid~~ the book you're looking for. It's rather sycophantic and not well-written. However, to me it was the Bible when I read it as a 16 year old Morrison fanatic (he and I share the same birthday, which I thought at the time meant I could pretty much see into his soul...ahhh teenagers), but No One Here Gets Out A...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Cormac Zoso rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone wanting to know proper etiquette of a rock legend

Recommended to Cormac by: Miss Maggie M'Gill

This is the book that is responsible for making the three surviving members of The Doors rich beyond their dreams. When this came out way back in 1980, The Doors were a band many people had heard of but in general (readers please note i said 'in general') were not one mentioned in the same breath as The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles, probably the four biggest, most famous, and ultimately most respected and durable bands to come from the '60s. Certainly the sales of their...more This is the book that is responsible for making the three surviving members of The Doors rich beyond their dreams. When this came out way back in 1980, The Doors were a band many people had heard of but in general (readers please note i said 'in general') were not one mentioned in the same breath as The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles, probably the four biggest, most famous, and ultimately most respected and durable bands to come from the '60s. Certainly the sales of their back catalogs bear this out.

But in 1980 after we had been thru the big fade of the huge arena rock dinosaurs (i.e. Zep and The Who would lose original members about this time and while it would effect both while oddly the Stones never were affected by death or desertion of members), after we had been through Punk and the great anti-major-record-label-establishment-rock bands it gave birth to (which for the few bands that made it big such as The Clash soon enough came to find that the excess and pampering they had bemoaned the established dinosaur bands for wallowing in was actually something they liked very well too and wallowed in it blissfully as their music softened like a neglected sharp tool to be left in the middle-of-the-road where major record labels are most happy and would make these post-punk slags filthy rich and filthy lazy just in time for MTV to help make this easily digestible pap more marketable still and them even richer still), and as the cold-sweat horrors of glam/hair metal was just starting to be spat out from the bowels of the major record labels' A&R divisions and gaining purchase on the concrete paths of said-Morrison's beloved Sunset Strip and which no doubt would have the corpse of said-Morrison retching and convulsing with dry heaves in a Paris cemetery or perhaps in a shallow grave outside of Jackson, Mississippi, where years after his alleged death in a Paris bathtub he was ultimately and gleefully stomped into oblivion by a group of good ol' boys wrecked on broken chromosomes, methamphetamine, and Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, we were lost, all of us, in times that had no direction or clarity and through that fog we witnessed the birthing of the plasticine bust of Ronald Reagan and his bobble-headed second wife (whom he had 'traded-up' for from his bobble-breasted first wife) and at bottom what we truly needed was a four-day weekend of drawn curtains, cable TV, and Quaaludes.

And then came Jim Morrison stumbling, swaggering, shaman-dancing back onto the scene. I would estimate that ninety percent of the people who read this book at the time could not identify a Doors song even with the threatened loss of their limbs on the line. Perhaps, 'Light My Fire' was playing on a radio station somewhere in the United States late at night once a month by some DJ claiming to have drank with the lead singer of that band but other than that The Doors were not news and were relegated to the back racks of Top Forty-driven chain record stores such as Tower, Coconut's, Sam Goody or, for Chicagoans, Flipside and Rose Records where teens would occasionally pull out an LP and turn to their friends with a stoned-stupid laugh and utter with convinced-cleverness, "Look ... The Doors ... where's The Windows?" and his companions would join him in a group stoned-stupid laugh at the cleverness of us and the dumbness of them.

But by the time this book came into paperback, those same teens had a much-read, much-underlined, and much-passage-memorized copy adding heft to the sagging back pocket of their single pair of Jordache jeans as that copy of the book made the rounds like the town pump. The Doors albums went back into the charts, their songs were played hourly on the computer-assisted playlists of every Metromedia music-format radio station across the country and suddenly Jim Morrison was on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine with the ever-accurate headline, "He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead" ... leave it to Jann Wenner to spell correctly. And The Doors were back in the spotlight and just as it was the first time around, the second spin of fame had Morrison far outdistancing the other three "backup musicians" in the interest-quotient among the new fans of the band. Not that I think they minded. The royalty checks hitting their mailboxes every month or so must have looked like typos to Krieger, Densmore, and Manzarek, the three who stood behind Morrison as he cavorted through his short life. And suddenly teens were posturing just as the book described ... cheeks sucked in, hips pushed out, and a far-away vague look that gave the lil girls a shiver deep down there.

While the writing I suppose was fairly sophomoric, the authors' writing that is, it was a perfect fit for the stoned, mouth-breathers whose lips beat out the tame and timid tempo of the words. But one can never just blame the authors as I am sure the poor put-upon schlub appointed to 'edit' the 'rock bios' that come through most any publishing house no doubt are instructed to 'dumb it down' to the fourth grade reading requirements of say the Alabama Department of Education. Rock fans can't be expected to read above that level certainly and so sitting around stoned with friends as the one who nearly made it into the honors courses of shop class read aloud to the others as Morrison moaned stoned and beautiful in the background, the new disciples cotton-mouthed and hanging on every word of either the singer or the reader since attempting to include both among the frayed, arcing, and sputtering synapses would have been a multitasking death wish for this crowd. But it got the story across and ultimately that is all that matters unless you're begging to be Ernest Hemingway or Judith Krantz.

So for the stories, the myths, and more, this book hit home for a new generation that would later blushingly admit to their roommate in the repressed homosexuality of a frat house bedroom as they tried to decide whether to pop their collars for that night's date rape that they, yes, they, the cool and effeminate boy exchanging loving looks in the one mirror in said bedroom "were into The Doors for a summer" whilst again the Lizard King clutches at the memory of his bloated heart considering the prospect that his work was ultimately judged by the same selfish swine that caused the S&L crash a short time later.

However, at bottom and in the end beautiful friend The Doors climbed that ladder of fame nearly to the level of the 'Big Four' from the '60s while securing themselves a hallowed place in the fable of American Rock Music. Well above Grand Funk Railroad but too weird to pry-bar their name alongside those faces on the big rock. As for now, well they recently received a classy documentary effort shown by no less than PBS American Masters and narrated by that acting-oddball of a self-proclaimed Doors' fan Johnny Depp (the more you know about him, the more you gotta like him) ... sadly this leaves them somewhere near the middle of the road though please note that it was just PBS and no doubt was financed through the sales of hash brownies amongst the employees.(less)

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Jun 13, 2011 Zach Bartell rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is a very good book. I enjoyed reading it, and it introduced me to some of the philosophical ideas that Jim was into, like Nietzche's ideas about classical archetypes (prompting me to look further), and just generally the idea that theatrical performances are very important and can seem to liberate people, as could have been the case in the late 60's when the Doors took the stage for the first time in coastal California. Jim was not just "a character" as some people might say, nor was he ju...more

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Nov 19, 2009 Cwn_annwn_13 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-my-shelf-home-library

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...more

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Dec 16, 2008 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, non-fiction

I am a long-time Doors fan. I own all their music and still include it in my music rotation - nearly 40 years after my first exposure to them. Morrison was a very bright man cursed with uncommonly good looks and a ferocious thirst for large quantities of whiskey. The latter led him to an early grave. This book colorfully accounts for his genius and outrageous appetites that led to his early death at age 27. The author dares suggest what Doors fans find heretical: Morrison wasn't a very good sing...more

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Jan 29, 2009 Eric Althoff rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am of the opinion that most rock biographies are identical: From humble beginnings, the talented-though-unstable musician rises through hardship and adversity to the heights of stardom, where he experiences success and drugs/booze/women, and then falls gradually or swiftly from grace. "No One Here Gets Out Alive" does not much stray from that arc, but it is the energy and passion of the tale itself that makes it such a fascinating read.

Jerry Hopkins interviewed Jim Morrison for Rolling Stone s...more I am of the opinion that most rock biographies are identical: From humble beginnings, the talented-though-unstable musician rises through hardship and adversity to the heights of stardom, where he experiences success and drugs/booze/women, and then falls gradually or swiftly from grace. "No One Here Gets Out Alive" does not much stray from that arc, but it is the energy and passion of the tale itself that makes it such a fascinating read.

Jerry Hopkins interviewed Jim Morrison for Rolling Stone several times during his brief life, and he and Danny Sugarman bring this first-hand knowledge to their thoroughly researched biography of one of classic rock's most fascinating yet most mercurial talents. Each chapter is told as if around a campfire, recounting not only the most sordid details but also the atmosphere, the personalities present, the emotions and the dangers and the triumphs that followed Morrison and the Doors on their meteoric rise into the rock pantheon. The epic drinking is here, as are the hordes of women and Morrison's notorious court cases, but so too is his little-seen humanity, his insecurity at being famous, his desire to be taken seriously as a poet, his aspirations to be more than just a car wreck spectacle for the public's enjoyment.

The authors approach their subject with both a clear love for their young subjects as well as their music--they are far more interested in helping us to try and understand the mystery than in hanging out the dirty laundry. In that way, this is a far more classy affair than the multitudes of "unauthorized" music bios that have followed since. It reads not as a requiem, but rather a celebration--chastizing Morrison for his unacceptable episodes without also condemning. Terrific pictures accompany the text, showing Morrison's physical as well as pscyhological spiral.

The book is a swift read, an absolute page-turner, and brings just a little bit of needed light to bear on America's foremost poet/musician, gone from us too soon.(less)

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Jan 26, 2013 Forever rated it 5 of 5 stars

LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! It took me two weeks to fully read it, as I was not a fast reader, but I read it diligently,about 20-30 pps. or a little more each day until I was finished. I read this book in the summer of 1994, right before my senior year in high school. After I finished this book, I felt awakened and inspired. I ended up loving The Doors music and exploring music more from the classic rock/1960's era. All through my senior year of high school, I was deeply inspired to write some of the be...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 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 anni...more 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"....(less)

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Jul 29, 2011 Jamie Sigal rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was going through boxes the other day and I came across this book, the same copy I bought with the $5 my grandmother gave me for my fifteenth birthday about a million years ago. It was a hugely influential book on my life way back in the day and it was kind of funny reading it from an adult's perspective. Some of the antics Morrison got up to that seemed to cool when I was kid seemed purely asinine now, but for the most part Jim holds up as a cool guy, interesting lyricist, and a wonderful ent...more

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Jan 20, 2011 Daniel rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book. But then again, I am a huge fan of this band, so my opinion should be discounted immediately. While Jim Morrison does tend to have a fanatical following, people who are perhaps unaware that at the end of the day this band was guilty of creating mostly self-indulgent mediocre art, his story is still rather fascinating.

Any time a group of American musicians find themselves in and out of contentious and memorable periods of history there is going to be some element of relevance...more

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Oct 23, 2010 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographies

I read this book in 1987 when a huge Doors fan in my high school science class loaned me a cassette tape of music that would forever change what I thought about fire, and pretty much everything else. It became a part of my permanent collection of books and I read it a second time in August 1998 shortly after a news bite in Time magazine made note that the 30-year lease on his grave at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris would expire on July 6, 2001 because the caretakers were "tired of picking up be...more I read this book in 1987 when a huge Doors fan in my high school science class loaned me a cassette tape of music that would forever change what I thought about fire, and pretty much everything else. It became a part of my permanent collection of books and I read it a second time in August 1998 shortly after a news bite in Time magazine made note that the 30-year lease on his grave at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris would expire on July 6, 2001 because the caretakers were "tired of picking up beer cans and condoms" left in the area there. The magazine tidbit pondered where Jim should go once that happened. Notable suggestions included, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, London and Oliver Stone's Home in Greater L.A. Graceland was also on the list, but the con given in argument against that was, "Not enough Morrison impersonators - crowd would look Elvis-heavy". I am happy to report that his lease was extended and that fans and curious tourists alike, continue to include the gravesite on their "must-see" list of Paris.

The book is a revealing (as most biographies are) look at Jim's life.I found it extremely tense throughout most of it because of his relentless plunge downward through a haze of booze and drugs. However, Jerry Hopkins and Daniel Sugerman do an excellent job of telling his story in the way true friends would...with brutal honesty and the sharing of poignant memories in a true genius's existence. There is quite a bit of mystery surrounding Jim's death and to this day there are those who whole heartedly believe that Jim did not die of a heart attack in a bathtub (which is the official reason on record), but that he "quietly disappeared" during that 4th of July weekend in 1971, "to find the peace to write and the freedom of anonymity."

Don't forget to check out the film, "The Doors" for more. Be prepared for Oliver Stone's vision (you either like it or you don't) and the clever casting of Val Kilmer who performs many of the songs himself and being able to differentiate between his voice and Jim's is a true challenge.(less)

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Oct 23, 2009 Kevin Ignacio is currently reading it

Shelves: english-1

I am reading the book "No One Here gets Out Alive" by Danny Daniel Sugerman. This book is a biography about the life of a widely known classic rock legend, Jim Morrison. It tells the life including his struggles and uprisings to stardom in the early 70's alongside with his band mates forming the musical group "The Doors". The reason as to why this man has grabbed the interests of many is due to his deep, mezmerizing lyrics and chaotic life. His life included the common use of heavy drugs and alc...more

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Jun 01, 2009 Mark added it

Shelves: books-that-changed-everything

This is the first book I'm putting in my books that changed everything shelf. I first saw a girl reading this on the bus from school in the 70s. She must've been in high school and I had the vague sense that it was something illicit, part of the drug culture. I also remember a newspaper article that said Morrison called himself the "lizard king," which I associated with satanism. Somehow I got over these childhood prejudices and embraced the Doors' music when I was in high school myself. I was i...more

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Feb 03, 2009 Jim Cherry rated it 3 of 5 stars

No One Here Gets Out Alive probably deserves a couple more stars on this review for its place in Rock ‘n’ Roll history. After all it provided a resurrection for The Doors and Jim Morrison, as well as laying out the Morrison mythology and opening The Doors for the next generation of fans.

No One Here was written by Jerry Hopkins, who had interviewed Morrison for Rolling Stone Magazine and after Morrison’s death found himself more affected than he thought he should be, so he wrote book. During the...more No One Here Gets Out Alive probably deserves a couple more stars on this review for its place in Rock ‘n’ Roll history. After all it provided a resurrection for The Doors and Jim Morrison, as well as laying out the Morrison mythology and opening The Doors for the next generation of fans.

No One Here was written by Jerry Hopkins, who had interviewed Morrison for Rolling Stone Magazine and after Morrison’s death found himself more affected than he thought he should be, so he wrote book. During the 70’s there wasn’t much interest in Jim Morrison and/or The Doors and he couldn’t find a publisher, so Hopkins put the book away and went on to other things. That’s where Danny Sugerman enters the story or rather re-enters the picture. Sugerman was a teenager that was hanging around The Doors office so Jim Morrison hired him to answer fan mail. When he ran across Hopkins and the No One Here manuscript he asked if he could try to sell the manuscript Hopkins said “sure.” Sugerman then rewrote parts of it, some say in conjunction with Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek as ghost writer. Then Sugerman shopped the manuscript around again until he found a sympathetic editor at Warner Books, and then in unconscious synchronicity, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now sparked The Doors renascence in 1979/1980.

No One Here lays out and outlines the basic mythology and legend of Jim Morrison that is still in operation today. Morrison was the first born of career Navy man and a somewhat eccentric wife, they moved all around the country as Jim’s father’s assignments changed, from San Diego to Virginia to New Mexico where at about age 5 or 6 Morrison experienced a mystical experience which deeply affected his life. On the way to New Mexico Jim’s father came upon an accident where a truckload of Indians had overturned and there were bodies and blood on the highway. Morrison felt as if at that moment the soul of a dead Indian leapt into his. Morrison also latter said that it was the first time he tasted fear because his father and mother couldn’t do anything, and his mother may have solidified the incident in Jim’s mind by trying to reassure him that it was all a dream. With all the moving around Jim became a rather shy and bookish kid, reading everything he could get his hands on. He also became a double threat at school, a smart kid and a joker who’s antics some times disturbed the class. He also started keeping journals and writing poetry. He decided to go to film school and enrolled at UCLA, not without some resistance from his father. At UCLA Morrison wrote essays on the history and theory of the cinema, and made a movie that seemed to have impressed no one except Ray Manzarek. Manzarek and Morrison seemed to have been friends at UCLA or maybe acquaintances, but Morrison was in one of Ray’s films and filled in as a guitar player (it was unplugged) when Manzarek’s band needed a guitar player to fulfill a contract. Morrison left UCLA, a lot of biographies claim Morrison dropped out of school but it was only two weeks before he was due to graduate. Morrison headed to Venice Beach and lived on a friends rooftop where he took, from all reports, a lot of LSD and wrote most of The Doors first two albums worth of songs. Jim then “ran into” Manzarek on the beach and read him Moonlight Drive and the two decided to form a band and “make a million dollars.”
The Doors started playing together and working clubs on Sunset Boulevard until they worked their way up to The Whisky a go-go where they became the house band.. One night under a particularly large dose of LSD Morrison added the Oedipal section to The End, they were fired from The Whisky. But they also gained a recording contract from Elektra Records. Morrison went on to become one of the most provocative performers in Rock “n’ Roll creating some of the “firsts” in Rock ‘n’ Roll, such as being the first rock star arrested on-stage. In 5 years The Doors created some of the classic songs of Rock ‘n’ Roll, notably, Light My Fire, Hello, I Love You, Roadhouse Blues, L.A. Woman, Love Her Madly and Riders On The Storm. Morrison’s destructive urges took him to Paris where he died under mysterious circumstances, which No One Here tries to exploit, exaggerating the mystery surrounding the circumstances of his death. But it worked and the outlines of this myth still haunt Doors fans old and new to this day. Jim Morrison has become the iconic image of a rock star to us, even rock stars look to Morrison for their idea of a rock star.

No One Here Gets Out Alive is a good starter kit for fandom but not the definitive biography, it hedges too much on the side of idolatry. Morrison is the almost superhuman superman that can take the most amount of drugs, gets all the most beautiful women, walks on the edges of buildings without falling, we can see Morrison but the focus isn’t pulled clear enough of the outlines of legend.(less)

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Jul 11, 2011 Khris Sellin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was never a huge Doors fan. Sure, I like the music, and we may have even owned a couple albums and/or 45s. Knew that there was some mystery surrounding Jim Morrison's death but didn't really know (or care) much more than that.
But it's summer, and I thought, rock star bio - sounds like a great one for a summer read.
Fascinating story. I have a much better appreciation of the man, the band, & the music. It's almost equal to the feeling I got after visiting Graceland, not being a big Elvis fa...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Robb Ellis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Haunting and fascinating. Jim Morrison may be one of the most fascinating persons in history. While the rest of The Doors were like any other rock band, into the music and fame, the book portrays Jim as not caring about that at all. Those who tried to use him as a spokesperson for political movements, he mocked, and he would often insult his fans for the hell of it, using the stage to conduct his love for psychological experiments on the crowds. Jim used his stardom to find what he was looking f...more

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Sep 29, 2008 Stacey rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was a huge doors fan when I was a teenager and I read this book over and over again. I mean I kept it tied up with string to keep it together. I think if Jim Morrison were alive today he'd be on one the reality tv shows still reciting his poetry in a drunken stupor fighting with Danny Bonaduce.

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Nov 24, 2012 Sean Chick rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the book that helped revive interest in the Doors and was among the first rock biographies. Although it details many drunken exploits, it is tasteful in other regards. Most of all, it strikes one as fair. The teenage Morrison is depicted as a rebellious, angry, and downright cruel. As a young man he was overly fond of excess. Towards the end he started to find wisdom and probably died before he got there. Most of all, the book shows the depth of his knowledge and makes clear that had he...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Gerry rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: music

I read this book the year the Oliver Stone movie came out, I read the book first. Jerry Hopkins of course wrote the book on Elvis prior to this. As a kid from Los Angeles CA The Doors had a storied history in Venice Beach. Though I appreciated the nostalgic look back on Venice Beach through the eyes of this book, I was equally surprised by the amount of substance abuse which ironically enough made the story more interesting. I forgot about this great read until a friend of mine posted hers on he...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Janina rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: music, never-again, biography

I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of The Doors. I tried once but it's just not my music. Nevertheless, I thought I should at least read a biography of Jim Morrison. Although I don't like his music, many other musicians and bands I appreciate, have cited him as a major influence and it is undeniable that Jim Morrison/The Doors have left there mark on music history. So I found this book in my local library and picked it up.

"No one here gets out alive" tells the story of Jim Morrison, from when...more

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Jan 13, 2010 Dan O'Keefe rated it 5 of 5 stars

It's Jim Morrison!

I was surprised (not really) at how similar his choices in literature was to me. Nietzsche, Verlaine, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Artaud, and a helluva lot more. The man was really an enigma to a lot of people; I think most people assume that he was just this druggie/drunk hippie who didn't have a real thought in his head.

Thing is, the Doors were doing things differently than anyone else. They make the point in this book that Morrison was trying to create high art and to treat music...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jim Morrison was a very interesting man. It is hard to see who he truly was just by reading a biography on him. But he was explained to be a very philosophical man who was living in the wrong time. Who wrote lyrics that were supposibly beautiful but could only make sense in his own soul. Take for instance the experience of the indians dying on the side of the road, some see it as a metaphor, he sees it as realistic and a view of someone he could not save.
I really did not like the point of how h...more Jim Morrison was a very interesting man. It is hard to see who he truly was just by reading a biography on him. But he was explained to be a very philosophical man who was living in the wrong time. Who wrote lyrics that were supposibly beautiful but could only make sense in his own soul. Take for instance the experience of the indians dying on the side of the road, some see it as a metaphor, he sees it as realistic and a view of someone he could not save.
I really did not like the point of how he was so embedded in drugs, and into himself that he just did not realize how good he had everything. he had a band, he had a "cosmic love" that he did not even stay true too. He cheated here and there with different woman. It is not even in my part to judge this man, but here we are years later, writing just a book about his life. About how he showed his true colors and took the world by storm. So many people were into his music, into his look, and into the vulgar language he used. Morrison was becoming just a stick in the mud, someone who couldn't get away from himself. He soon realized all the pressures around him and he could not handle it.
Now I skipped about 2 chapters in the end, i felt like his charade of drug use was getting to me. Reading about how his wife and him would have fights, about how band members would have to chase him around to get him to come to shows. Why did they ever think it was worth it? The money was worth it? He was their friend? They wanted the band to stay alive, because he was their lead singer. And they just kept pumping songs out of him left and right, but it might of been what he wanted in the end.
I find it intricate the way he died. Unknown, and willing to stop drinking the poision. But hadn't he been so procure to keep going? He died like many other rockstars, someone who just killed themself out of stupidity, and he was too addicted to drugs. Now this is all he is, a wasted rockstar, who has a few books published about his life, records, history, fame. But wait, he is not here to actually feel the way it feels to be praised for his accomplishment. He ruined his image, going up on stages drunk, ballistic, out of his mind. I have listened to some of his music, and truthfully I would like his poems more. Because I like the beginning of 'The Soft Parade' when he is just shouting out words about the lord and prayers. and in other songs and in shows he would shout random things to the audiences sometimes, throwing in swears. Fooling around with the police, he was just a man who couldn't stay out of trouble and wanted to live beyond the rules.
Jim Morrison you were not a bad man. You were yourself, but the way you lived could not describe you. I'm just one of the millions of people who listen to your music, and read an o'l biography about you. Why didn't you try to live without what killed you? You were smart and you had a poetic side. This is just a book, you were a life, and you created music out of your own words. No one even knows if you are alive or dead, but maybe it is true, you never get out alive.(less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Beem Weeks rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the one that started the flood of Jim Morrison biographies. An interesting slant on the myth and the legend that grew up around the fast life and early death of a great American poet. Written by Danny Sugerman, an employee in charge of fan mail at The Doors' office, he had a fly-on-the-wall view of the chaos that swirled around Morrison and the band. He tells what he saw, situations he remembers, moments lost to time but for his recollections. Sure, some of the events are disputed by sur...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Russell rated it 5 of 5 stars

I found this in my parent's garage back in '97. When I approached my mother about it, she forgot all about putting it away when we moved ten years prior. Nevertheless, she recommended it to me. This became my "silent reading" book for Sophomore English. Even at that young age (14) The Doors were one of my favorite acts, and to read something like this was a true gift. I really enjoyed reading about Morrison's younger days - growing up in Tallahassee, going to blues bars before he could drive, co...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Nick Montgomery added it

This was the first "adult" paperback I ever read, at 13 I guess. I loved the Doors and this bio really covered some territory, characterizing the self-destructive but brilliant life of "Jim." I still retain images from this book, from the family road trip encountering dead Indians, Jim's smashing empty bottles against the wall, which were just before full, to delicate scenes in Jim's final days in Paris. As to the latter, I made sure as a young 15 year old to seek out and find the gravesite in...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Cindi rated it 3 of 5 stars

This rock bio gets three stars because it's meticulously researched and reported. But the prose itself has little life. It reads life a lab report on the slide specimen of an exotic species. If you want to read a fantastic rockstar bio, read The Dirt by Neil Strauss (it's great even if you hate Motley Crue) or Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zepplin Saga. The prose on that one is as delightfully overblown as Robert Plant's hair circa 1972. This book is recommended for fans of Jim Morrison who can st...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Svetlana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Speaking frankly I don't know what to think about this book...
From one hand I enjoyed the reading.
But from the other hand I couldn't get rid of the thought that I was reading just a fanfic about Jim Morrison! It felt like it was the good collection of fairy tails about him! Sugerman and Hopkins just couldn't know a lot of situations which are described in their book.
The only obvious advantage of 'No one here gets alive' is well described atmosphere of 1960's. The authors know this time very wel...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Norberto Gomez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jim Morrison was not your typical rock star. He was an avid reader of philosophers' works from his youth until the time of his death. He actually finished high school and even college (although doing poorly on a final in film school). He was a person who liked to push things. Pushing limits was what he found exhilerating. He'd take ridiculous amounts of acid, attempt to start riots, and drunkenly stagger across ledges of 10 story buildings just to have a laugh and see how his friends would react...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Ac added it

There's not much to say on this one. A pretty accurate account of Jim Morrison's life. I have been reading this in pieces over the last few months as I just re-discovered it after unpacking all my books in the new library. A good read for the die-hard fans and those interested in what all the hype was.

The funny thing is, I always thought that Jim was enigmatic. After reading this, he is just a complicated soul lost in a time that was also very complex. He was no different than a lot of people; h...more

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Nov 02, 2010 Anthony Crutcher rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is an account of The Doors and their lead singer Jim Morrison. The book is a biography of the band with interviews from the members throughout. The author is an enthusiast of the band and even worked for them at one time. As a writer this book talk me that having personal accounts in a biography shed a lot of light on the subject. I read this book when i first started writing and it impressed and made me a fan of The Doors. Going the extra mile to get as much true information in your p...more

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