Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre: A Biography of the Doors - Softcover

Wall, Mick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1613738927 ISBN 13: 9781613738924

Publisher: Chicago Review Press, 2017

Synopsis

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 Love Becomes 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.

About this title

About the Author:

Mick Wall is England’s best-known rock writer. He is the founder of Classic Rock magazine; a contributor to Mojo, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and others; and the author of the definitive biographies of Axl Rose (W.A.R.), Led Zeppelin (When Giants Walked the Earth), and Metallica (Enter Night). He is also the author of Getcha Rocks Off, a semi-fictional account of the music scene in the 1980s. 

Review:

“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

"What sets this book apart is that Wall, while getting all the facts and stories and behind-the-music tales down, also offers his own insight and commentary. In the process, he also deconstructs the well-oiled “Myths” of both the Doors and Jim Morrison." —Houston Press


"This is quite simply the best biography of The Doors as a band, as a myth, as an American experience that has yet been offered." —Aquarian Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1613738927
• ISBN 13: 9781613738924
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 440