Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors

Delta, 1991. — 336 p.Doors drummer Densmore, who had a love-hate relationship with lead singer Morrison, sympathetically chronicles the self-destructive Lizard King's rise and fall. Such is the mystique, the iconoclastic reverence, the enduring commercial success and marketability of Jim Morrison, enigmatic lead singer of the Doors, 19 years after his death, that Densmore, founding Doors member and drummer, is repeatedly upstaged in his own autobiography. Densmore's inside-out account of the group's history perceptively examines relationships, dynamics, creative evolution, difficulties, and artistry, but Morrison in his many guises-angst-ridden poet, Lizard King, pop icon, and alcoholic-invariably dominates every chapter, story, and anecdote. In fact, Densmore addresses significant chunks of italicized text directly to Morrison in a therapeutic attempt to reconcile his own ambiguous feelings, often becoming overly confessional. This book should be very popular, especially as filmmaker Oliver Stone's anticipated Doors movie will undoubtedly create a new wave of Jim Morrison/Doors mania.