2009 – The official Roadrunner Records web site has been updated with top-album picks for 2008 from a number of artists that are signed to the label, including members of MACHINE HEAD, MEGADETH, DEVILDRIVER, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and TRIVIUM. A few of the selections follow below. The entire list can be found at this location.
Shawn Drover (MEGADETH)
01. CYNIC – Traced in Air
02. TESTAMENT – The Information Damnation
03. MESHUGGAH – Obzen
04. CHILDREN OF BODOM – Blooddrunk
05. OPETH – Watershed
06. EVERGREY – Torn
07. BLOTTED SCIENCE – The Machinations of Dementia
08. AIRBOURNE – Runnin’ Wild
09. INTO ETERNITY – The Incurable Tragedy
10. BRAIN DRILL – Apocalyptic Feasting
Frédéric Leclercq (DRAGONFORCE)
01. GUNS N’ ROSES – Chinese Democracy
02. DISTURBED – Indestructible
03. SLIPKNOT – All Hope Is Gone
04. CYNIC – Traced in Air
05. CRADLE OF FILTH – Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder
06. ULTRA VOMIT – Objectif Thunes
07. SEBASTIEN TELLIER – Sexuality
08. ALICE COOPER – Along Came a Spider
09. MOTLEY CRUE – Saints of Los Angeles
10. METALLICA – Death Magnetic
Matt Heafy (TRIVIUM)
01. COLDPLAY – Viva La Vida
02. COLDPLAY – Prospekt’s March
03. MAXIMUM THE HORMONE – Tsume Tsume Tsume
04. LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – Mozart’s Requiem
05. GOJIRA – The Way Of All Flesh
06. AMON AMARTH – Twilight of the Thunder God
07. SLIPKNOT – All Hope Is Gone
08. OPETH – Watershed
09. METALLICA – Death Magnetic
10. TRIVIUM – Shogun
Robb Flynn (MACHINE HEAD)
01. ALL SHALL PERISH – Awaken The Dreamers
02. METALLICA – Death Magnetic
03. TRIVIUM – Shogun
04. WINDS OF PLAGUE – Decimate The Weak
05. LIL WAYNE – The Carter III
06. LA COKA NOSTRA – A Brand You Can Trust
07. SLIPKNOT – All Hope Is Gone
08. WHITECHAPEL – This Is Exile
09. MESHUGGAH – Bleed
10. BLEEDING THROUGH – Sister Charlatan
Joel Stroetzel (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE)
01. KINGS OF LEON – Only by the Night
02. RYAN ADAMS AND THE CARDINALS – Cardinology
03. RADIOHEAD – In Rainbows
04. TOMMY EMMANUEL – Center Stage
05. ALL THAT REMAINS – Overcome
06. NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
07. Augustana – Can’t Love (Can’t Hurt
08. IN FLAMES – A Sense of Purpose
09. NADA SURF – Lucky
10. RAY LAMONTAGNE – Gossip in the Grain
Paolo Gregoletto (TRIVIUM)
01. METALLICA – Death Magnetic
02. MACHINE HEAD – The Blackening Special Edition
03. COLDPLAY – Viva La Vida
04. GOJIRA – The Way of All Flesh
05. SLIPKNOT – All Hope Is Gone
06. AMON AMARTH – Twilight of the Thunder God
07. PROTEST THE HERO – Fortress
08. AC/DC – Black Ice
09. OPETH – Watershed
10. TRIVIUM – Shogun
Max Cavalera (SOULFLY; CAVALERA CONSPIRACY; SEPULTURA)
01. BAD BRAINS – Build a Nation
02. DISFEAR – Live the Storm
03. GOJIRA – The Way of All Flesh
04. GOGOL BORDELLO – Gypsy Punks
05. TURBO TRIO – Turbo Trio
06. INCITE – Divided We Fail
07. AGNOSTIC FRONT – Warriors
08. AMON AMARTH – Twilight of the Thunder God
09. AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED – Insect Warfare
10. HIRAX – The New Age of Terror
Justin Foley (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE)
01. CYNIC – Traced in Air
02. MESHUGGAH – Obzen
03. CULT OF LUNA – Eternal Kingdom
04. SIGUR ROS – Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
05. GOJIRA – The Way Of All Flesh
06. MOGWAI – The Hawk Is Howling
07. NINE INCH NAILS – The Slip
08. UNDEROATH – Lost In The Sound Of Separation
Michael Spretizer (DEVILDRIVER)
01. THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE – Walking With Strangers
02. AMON AMARTH – Twilight of the Thunder God
03. MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE – If
04. ALL THAT REMAINS – Overcome
05. GOJIRA – The Way of All Flesh
06. IN FLAMES – A Sense of Purpose
07. CHILDREN OF BODOM – Blood Drunk
08. OPETH – Watershed
09. RAUNCHY – Wasteland Discotheque
10. TESTAMENT – The Formation of Damnation
Jonathan Miller (DEVILDRIVER)
01. IN THIS MOMENT – Dream
02. GUNS N’ ROSES – Chinese Democracy
03. SLIPKNOT – All Hope Is Gone
04. SHINY TOY GUNS – Seasons of Poison
05. ENYA – …And Winter Came
06. ALL THAT REMAINS – Overcome
07. METALLICA – Death Magnetic
08. ALL SHALL PERISH – Awaken The Dreamers
09. MUDVAYNE – The New Game
10. TRIVIUM – Shogun
1969 – The Rolling Stones go to No. 5 in the American album charts with their new release Beggars Banquet.
In 1968 the Rolling Stones hired Jimmy Miller from Spoencer Davis Group and Traffic fame. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were look for a new boost of new blood into the production of their music. This relationship was such a success that it continued thru 1973.
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, was released as a single-only that May, becoming a major hit.
Beggars Banquet was Brian Jones’ last full effort with The Rolling Stones. In addition to his slide work on “No Expectations”, he played harmonica on “Dear Doctor”, Parachute Woman and “Prodigal Son”, sitar and tambura on “Street Fighting Man”, mellotron on “Jigsaw Puzzle” and “Stray Cat Blues”, and provided backing vocals on “Sympathy for the Devil”.
Recorded in England and mixed in Los Angeles California, both Decca Records in England and London Records rejected the planned cover design – a graffiti-covered lavatory, and the band held back the album for a may 1968 release. By November, however, The Rolling Stones gave in, allowing the album to be released in December with a simple imitation invitation card cover.
The idea for a plain album cover was also implemented by the Beatles for the White Album, which was released one month prior to Beggars Banquet. This similarity, coupled with Beggars Banquet’s later release, garnered the Rolling Stones accusations of imitating the Beatles. In 1984, the original cover art was released with the initial CD remastering of Beggars Banquet.
Track listing All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.
“Sympathy for the Devil” – 6:27
Keith Richards on bass; Nicky Hopkins on piano; Rocky Dijon on percussion
“No Expectations” – 4:02
Brian Jones on slide guitar, Nicky Hopkins on piano
“Dear Doctor” – 3:26
Brian Jones on harmonica
“Parachute Woman” – 2:23
Mick Jagger on harmonica
“Jigsaw Puzzle” – 6:17
Keith Richards on acoustic guitar and electric slide guitar, Brian Jones on Mellotron, Nicky Hopkins on piano
“Street Fighting Man” – 3:18
Keith Richards on bass, Brian Jones on sitar and tambura, Dave Mason on shehani
“Prodigal Son” (Rev. Robert Wilkins) – 2:55
Brian Jones on harmonica
“Stray Cat Blues” – 4:40
Brian Jones on Mellotron
“Factory Girl” – 2:12
Ric Grech on fiddle, Dave Mason on Mellotron using the mandolin sound
“Salt of the Earth” – 4:51
First verse sung by Keith Richards.
Personnel
Mick Jagger – vocals, backing vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards – acoustic and electric guitar, bass, vocals
Brian Jones – acoustic slide guitar, backing vocals, sitar, tamboura, mellotron, harmonica
Charlie Watts – drums, percussion
Bill Wyman – bass, backing vocals, percussion
Rocky Dijon – congas
Ric Grech – fiddle
Nicky Hopkins – piano
Dave Mason – mellotron, shehnai
Jimmy Miller – backing vocals
Marianne Faithfull – backing vocals
Anita Pallenberg – backing vocals
Watts Street Gospel Choir – backing vocals
1949 – Bruce Springsteen is born in Freehold, N.J., which last time we looked was indeed still in the U.S.A.
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American songwriter, singer and guitarist. He has recorded and toured with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock infused with pop hooks, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered around his native New Jersey. His eloquence in expressing ordinary, everyday problems has earned him numerous awards, including eighteen Grammy Awards and an Academy Award, along with a notoriously dedicated and devoted global fan base. His most famous albums, Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A., epitomize his penchant for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily life. He has sold over 65 million albums in the U.S, and 120 million worldwide.
Springsteen’s lyrics often concern men and women struggling to make ends meet. He has gradually become identified with progressive politics. Springsteen is also noted for his support of various relief and rebuilding efforts in New Jersey and elsewhere, and for his response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, on which his album The Rising reflects.
Springsteen’s recordings have tended to alternate between commercially accessible rock albums and somber folk-oriented works. Much of his status stems from the concerts and marathon shows in which he and the E Street Band present intense ballads, rousing anthems, and party rock and roll songs, amongst which Springsteen intersperses long, whimsical or deeply emotional stories.
Springsteen has long had the nickname “The Boss”, a term which he was initially reported to hate but now seems to have come to terms with, as he sometimes jokingly refers to himself as such on stage. The nickname originated when a young Springsteen, playing club gigs with a band in the 1960s, took on the task of collecting the band’s nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates.
Life and career
Early years
Springsteen was born at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey. He spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Boro. He lived off South Street in Freehold Boro and attended Freehold Regional High School (today known as Freehold Borough High School). His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was a bus driver of Dutch and Irish ancestry. His mother, Adele Ann Zirilli, was a legal secretary of Italian ancestry. He has an older sister, Virginia, and a younger sister, Pamela. Pamela Springsteen had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time.
Raised a Roman Catholic,
In ninth grade he transferred to the public Freehold Regional High School, but did not fit in there either. He completed high school but felt so uncomfortable that he skipped his own graduation ceremony.
Springsteen had been inspired to take up music at the age of seven after seeing Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show. At 13, he bought his first guitar for $18; later, his mother took out a loan to buy the 16-year-old Springsteen a $60 Kent guitar, an event he later memorialized in his song “The Wish”.
In 1965, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in town. They helped him become the lead guitarist of The Castiles, and later lead singer of the group. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township, New Jersey and played a variety of venues, including Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. Marion Vinyard said that she believed Springsteen when, as a young man, he said he was going to make it big.
Cities such as Asbury Park, New Jersey inspired the themes of ordinary life in Bruce Springsteen’s music.
Cities such as Asbury Park, New Jersey inspired the themes of ordinary life in Bruce Springsteen’s music.
In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey. From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed around New Jersey with guitarist Steve Van Zandt, organist Danny Federici, drummer Vini Lopez, and later bassist Vinnie Roslin, in a band called Child, subsequently renamed Steel Mill (with the addition of guitarist Robbin Thompson). They went on to play the mid-Atlantic college circuit, and also briefly in California. During this time Springsteen also performed regularly at small clubs in Asbury Park and along the Jersey Shore, quickly gathering a cult following. Other acts followed over the next two years, as Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and songwriting style: Dr Zoom & the Sonic Boom (early-mid 1971), Sundance Blues Band (mid 1971), and The Bruce Springsteen Band (mid 1971-mid 1972). With the addition of pianist David Sancious, the core of what would later become the E Street Band was formed, with occasional temporary additions such as horns sections, “The Zoomettes” (a group of female backing vocalists for “Dr Zoom”) and Southside Johnny Lyon on harmonica. Musical genres explored included blues, R&B, jazz, church music, early rock’n'roll, and soul. His prolific songwriting ability, with more words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums, brought his skill to the attention of several people who were about to change his life: new managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, and legendary Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond, who, under Appel’s pressure, auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.
Even after gaining international acclaim, Springsteen’s New Jersey roots reverberated in his music, and he routinely praised “the great state of New Jersey” in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, he routinely sold out consecutive nights in major New Jersey and Philadelphia venues and, much like the Grateful Dead, had song lists that varied significantly from one night to the next. He also made many surprise appearances at The Stone Pony and other shore nightclubs over the years, becoming the foremost exponent of the Jersey Shore sound.
1972–1974
Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, with the help of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same record label a decade earlier. Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him, thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named as such for a couple more years). His debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, The track “Spirit in the Night” especially showed Morrison’s influence, while “Lost in the Flood” was the first of many portraits of Vietnam veterans and “Growin’ Up” his first take on the recurring theme of adolescence.
In September 1973 his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen’s songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R&B vibe and the lyrics often romanticizing teenage street life. “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” and “Incident on 57th Street” would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” would rank among Springsteen’s most beloved concert numbers.
In the May 22, 1974 issue of Boston’s The Real Paper, music critic Jon Landau wrote after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.” head” that he couldn’t explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that “Miami” Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time to help Springsteen organize the horns section on “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” (it is his only contribution written on the album,) and eventually led to his joining of the E Street Band. Van Zandt had been a long time friend of Springsteen and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds Springsteen was hearing. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was not satisfied, and, upon first hearing the finished album, threw the record into the alley and told Jon Landau he would rather just cut the album live at The Bottom Line, a place he often played.
The woman in his life during this time was part-time live-in 20-year-old girlfriend Karen Darvin of Dallas, Texas who was in New York City pursuing a career in dancing.
1975–1981
On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York’s Bottom Line club; it attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, Rolling Stone magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of Born to Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success: while there were no real hit singles, “Born to Run”, “Thunder Road”, “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out” and “Jungleland” all received massive FM radio airplay and remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations to this day. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, some fans consider this among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen’s finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.
A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for over two years, during which time he kept The E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, the new songs he was writing and often debuting on stage had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen finally returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point of Springsteen’s career. Gone were the rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first three albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen’s growing intellectual and political awareness. Some fans consider Darkness Springsteen’s best and most consistent record; tracks such as “Badlands” and “The Promised Land” became concert staples for decades to come, while the track “Prove It All Night” received a significant amount of radio airplay (#33, Billboard Hot 100). Other fans would prefer the work of the adventurous early Springsteen. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity of its shows.
By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had achieved a U.S. number one pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings’ “Blinded by the Light” in early 1977. Patti Smith reached number 13 with her take on Springsteen’s unreleased “Because the Night” (which Smith co-wrote) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit number two in 1979 with Springsteen’s also-unreleased “Fire”.
Springsteen in concert on The River Tour. Drammenshallen, Drammen, Norway, May 5, 1981.
Springsteen in concert on The River Tour. Drammenshallen, Drammen, Norway, May 5, 1981.
In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated setlist while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer’s No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and filmings of Springsteen’s fabled live act, as well as Springsteen’s first tentative dip into political involvement.
Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, “Hungry Heart”, but also included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads. The album sold well, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen’s first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.
1982–1989
The River was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic Nebraska. According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. The title track on this album is about the murder spree of Charles Starkweather. The album actually started (according to Marsh) as a demo tape for new songs to be played with the E Street Band – but during the recording process, Springsteen and producer Landau realized they worked better as solo acoustic numbers; several attempts at re-recording the songs in the studio with the E Street Band led them to realize that the original recording, made on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck in Springsteen’s home, were the best versions they were going to get. However, the sessions with the E Street Band were not all for naught, as the band recorded several new songs that Springsteen had written in addition to the Nebraska material, including Born in the U.S.A. and Glory Days. These new songs would not see release until 2 years later, forming the basis of Springsteen’s next album.
While Nebraska did not sell especially well, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named “Album of the Year” by Rolling Stone magazine’s critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2′s album, The Joshua Tree. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraska’s release.
Springsteen probably is best known for his album Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. alone and became one of the best-selling albums of all time with seven singles hitting the top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen’s friends and bandmates. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by Chrysler Corporation for using the song in a car commercial. (In later years, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only with acoustic guitar to make the song’s original meaning more explicitly clear. An acoustic version also appeared on Tracks, a later album.) “Dancing in the Dark” was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress’s career. The song Cover Me was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer’s work, Springsteen wrote another one for her, “Protection.” A number of the videos for the album were made by noted film directors Brian De Palma or John Sayles.
During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour he met actress Julianne Phillips. They were married in Lake Oswego, Oregon, on May 13, 1985 surrounded by intense media attention. Opposites in background, their marriage was not to be long-lived. Springsteen’s 1987 album Tunnel of Love described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship and during the subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour, Springsteen took up with backup singer Patti Scialfa, as reported by many tabloids. Subsequently, Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. The divorce was finalized in 1989.
The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen’s visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (this was further helped by releasing Arthur Baker dance mixes of three of the singles). Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also released on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and also became a huge success, selling 13 million units in the U.S. and becoming the first box set to debut at No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the best selling live albums of all time. It summed up Springsteen’s career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen’s difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to “Racing in the Street”. Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album’s song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.
After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his first marriage, to Julianne Phillips. Reflecting the challenges of love in Brilliant Disguise, Springsteen sang:
I heard somebody call your name, from underneath our willow. I saw something tucked in shame, underneath your pillow. Well I’ve tried so hard baby, but I just can’t see. What a woman like you is doing with me.
The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements; during the European leg in 1988, Springsteen’s relationship with E Street Band backup singer Patti Scialfa became public. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the truly worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In the fall of 1989, he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California.
1990s
Springsteen married Scialfa in 1991; they have three children Evan James (b.1990), Jessica Rae (b.1991) and Sam Ryan (b.1994).
In 1992, after risking charges of “going Hollywood” by moving to Los Angeles (a radical move for someone so linked to the blue-collar life of the Jersey Shore) and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once. Human Touch and Lucky Town were even more introspective than any of his previous work. Also different about these albums was the confidence he displayed. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, at points during the Lucky Town album, Springsteen actually claims happiness for himself.
Some E Street Band fans voiced (and continue to voice) a low opinion of these albums, (especially Human Touch), and did not follow the subsequent “Other Band” Tour. For other fans, however, who had only come to know Springsteen after the 1975 consolidation of the E Street Band, the “Other Band” Tour was an exciting opportunity to see Springsteen develop a working onstage relationship with a different group of musicians, and to see him explore the Asbury Park soul-and-gospel base in some of his classic material.
An electric band appearance on the acoustic MTV Unplugged television program (that was later released as In Concert/MTV Plugged) was poorly received and further cemented fan dissatisfaction. Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech:
“ I’ve gotta thank him because — what would I conceivably have written about without him? I mean, you can imagine that if everything had gone great between us, we would have had disaster. I would have written just happy songs – and I tried it in the early ’90s and it didn’t work; the public didn’t like it. ”
A multiple Grammy Award winner, Springsteen also won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song “Streets of Philadelphia”, which appeared in the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS. The music video for the song shows Springsteen’s actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This was a technique developed on the “Brilliant Disguise” video.
In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first Greatest Hits album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary Blood Brothers), he released his second (mostly) solo guitar album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, inspired by “Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass,” a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Dale Maharidge. This was generally less well-received than the similar Nebraska, due to the minimal melody, twangy vocals, and political nature of most of the songs, although some praised it for giving voice to immigrants and others who rarely have one in American culture. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour that followed successfully featured many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to be quiet during the performances.
Following the tour, Springsteen moved back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, another precursor to the E Street Band’s upcoming re-birth appeared in the form of a sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, Tracks. In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band officially came together again and went on the extensive Reunion Tour, lasting over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey to kick off the American leg of the tour.
2000s
Springsteen’s Reunion Tour with the E Street Band ended with a triumphant ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in mid-2000 and controversy over a new song, “American Skin (41 Shots)”, about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. The final shows at Madison Square Garden were recorded and resulted in an HBO Concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York City.
In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O’Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen’s best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on The Today Show, The Rising Tour commenced, barnstorming through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe to promote the album in 2002, then returning for large-scale, multiple-night stadium shows in 2003. While Springsteen had maintained a loyal hardcore fan base everywhere (and particularly in Europe), his general popularity had dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the U.S. But it was still strong in Europe and along the U.S. coasts, and he played an unprecedented 10 nights in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, a ticket-selling feat to which no other musical act has come close. During these shows Springsteen thanked those fans who were attending multiple shows and those who were coming from long distances or another country; the advent of robust Bruce-oriented online communities had made such practices more common. The Rising Tour came to a final conclusion with three nights in Shea Stadium, highlighted by renewed controversy over “American Skin” and a guest appearance by Bob Dylan.
During the 2000s, Springsteen became a visible advocate for the revitalization of Asbury Park, and he’s played an annual series of winter holiday concerts there to benefit various local businesses, organizations and causes. These shows are explicitly intended for the devoted fans, featuring numbers such as the unreleased (until Tracks) E Street Shuffle outtake “Thundercrack”, a rollicking group-participation song that would mystify casual Springsteen fans. He also frequently rehearses for tours in Asbury Park; some of his most devoted followers even go so far as to stand outside the building to hear what fragments they can of the upcoming shows. The song “My City of Ruins” was originally written about Asbury Park, in honor of the attempts to revitalize the city. Looking for an appropriate song for a post-Sept. 11 benefit concert honoring New York City, he selected “My City of Ruins,” which was immediately recognized as an emotional highlight of the concert, with its gospel themes and its heartfelt exhortations to “Rise up!” The song became associated with post-9/11 New York, and he chose it to close “The Rising” album and as an encore on the subsequent tour.
At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Springsteen performed The Clash’s “London Calling” along with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt in tribute to Joe Strummer; Springsteen and the Clash had once been considered multiple-album-dueling rivals at the time of the double The River and the triple Sandinista!.
Springsteen and the Sessions Band performing in Milan in 2006
Springsteen and the Sessions Band performing in Milan in 2006
In 2004, Springsteen announced that he and the E Street Band would participate in a politically motivated “Vote for Change” tour, in conjunction with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bright Eyes, Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne and other musicians. All concerts were to be held in swing states, to benefit America Coming Together and to encourage people to register and vote. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen held one more such concert in New Jersey, when polls showed that state surprisingly close. While in past years Springsteen had played benefits for causes in which he believed – against nuclear energy, for Vietnam veterans, Amnesty International and the Christic Institute – he had always refrained from explicitly endorsing candidates for political office (indeed he had rejected the efforts of Walter Mondale to attract an endorsement during the 1984 Reagan “Born in the U.S.A.” flap). This new stance led to criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen’s “No Surrender” became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry’s unsuccessful presidential campaign; in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.
Devils & Dust was released on April 26, 2005, and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad although with a little more instrumentation. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier during, or shortly after, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, a couple of them being performed then but never released. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier’s feelings and fears during the Iraq War. Starbucks rejected a co-branding deal for the album, due in part to some sexually explicit content but also because of Springsteen’s anti-corporate politics. The album entered the album charts at No. 1 in 10 countries (United States, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland). Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album’s release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and everywhere (other than in Europe) tickets were easier to get than in the past. Unlike his mid-1990s solo tour, he performed on piano, electric piano, pump organ, autoharp, ukulele, banjo, electric guitar and stomping board, as well as acoustic guitar and harmonica, adding variety to the solo sound. (Offstage synthesizer, guitar and percussion also are used for some songs.) Unearthly renditions of “Reason to Believe”, “The Promised Land”, and Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream” jolted audiences to attention, while rarities, frequent set list changes, and a willingness to keep trying even through audible piano mistakes kept most of his loyal audiences happy.
In November 2005, New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine sponsored a U.S. Senate resolution to honor Springsteen on the 30th anniversary of the release of his Born to Run album. In general, resolutions honoring native sons are passed with a simple voice vote. For unstated reasons, this resolution was killed in committee. Also in November 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio started a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week radio station on Channel 10 called “E Street Radio.” This channel featured commercial-free Bruce Springsteen music, including rare tracks, interviews and daily concerts of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recorded throughout their career.
In April 2006, Springsteen released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. It was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians, including only Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and The Miami Horns from past efforts. In contrast to previous albums, this was recorded in only three one-day sessions, and frequently one can hear Springsteen calling out key changes live as the band explores its way through the tracks. The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour began the same month, featuring the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed the Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to the Sessions Band). Seeger Sessions material was heavily featured, as well as a handful of (usually drastically rearranged) Springsteen numbers. The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, By the end of 2006, the Seeger Sessions tour toured Europe twice and toured America for only a short span. Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin, containing selections from three nights of November 2006 shows at the The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, was released the following June.
Springsteen’s most recent album, titled Magic, was released on October 2, 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it featured 10 new Springsteen songs plus “Long Walk Home,” performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), “Terry’s Song,” a tribute to Springsteen’s long-time assistant Terry Magovern who died on July 30, 2007.
An accompanying tour with the E Street Band began at the Hartford Civic Center with the album’s release and was routed through North America and Europe. Springsteen and the band performed live on NBC’s Today Show in advance of the opener.
Longtime E Street Band organist Danny Federici had taken a leave of absence from touring in November 2007 due to melanoma.
In April 2008, Springsteen announced his endorsement of U.S. Senator Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign.
On June 18, 2008 Springsteen appeared live from Europe at the Tim Russert tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to play one of Russert’s favorite songs, “Thunder Road,” at which Springsteen dedicated the song to Russert, who was “one of Springsteen’s biggest fans.”
Springsteen will reportedly serve as the halftime performance at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009.
Personal life
Bruce Springsteen
Born September 23, 1949 (1949-09-23) (age 59)
Long Branch, New Jersey
Spouse(s) Julianne Phillips (1985-1989)
Patti Scialfa (1991-present)
Bruce was the second of three children born to Douglas Frederick Springsteen (1925-1998) and Adele Ann Zirilli (born 1925). He has an older sister named Virginia (born ca. 1948) and a younger sister Pamela Springsteen (born February 8, 1962) a former actress and photographer. He grew up as the youngest child up until the age of 12, when Pamela was born.
Springsteen was a bachelor until the age of 35, when he married Julianne Phillips (born May 6, 1960). They married on May 13, 1985 the groom was nearly 36 and the bride had just turned 25 one week prior. The marriage helped her acting career flourish. They were opposites in background and his traveling took its toll on the marriage. The final blow came when Bruce began an affair with Patti Scialfa (born July 29, 1953). Phillips and Springsteen separated in September 1988 and on August 30, 1988 Julianne filed for divorce. The Springsteen/Phillips divorce was finalized on March 1, 1989.
Patti Scialfa (born July 29, 1953) and Springsteen had dated briefly in 1984 shortly after she joined the band, but the relationship ended shortly thereafter. The couple started an affair in the late-1980s, around 1987-1988; the affair was the final blow to Springsteen’s already troubled marriage. After his wife filed for divorce he began living with Scialfa in 1988. They had a son, Evan James Springsteen (born July 25, 1990). Bruce and Patti married June 8, 1991 when she was pregnant with their second child, daughter Jessica Rae (born December 30, 1991). The couple had their youngest child Sam Ryan (born January 5, 1994). The family lives in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
E Street Band
The E Street Band is considered to have started in October 1972, even though it was not officially known as such until September 1974. The E Street Band was inactive from the end of 1988 through early 1999, except for a brief reunion in 1995. The Magic tour came to a close at Milwaukee’s Roadhouse at the Lakefront on August 30, 2008, the tour’s 100th show.
Current members
* Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano
* Garry Tallent – bass guitar, tuba
* Clarence “Big Man” Clemons – saxophone, percussion, backing vocals, larger-than-life persona and Springsteen foil
* Max Weinberg – drums, percussion (joined September 1974)
* Roy Bittan – piano, synthesizer (joined September 1974)
* Steven Van Zandt – lead guitar, backing vocals, mandolin (officially joined July 1975 after playing in previous bands; left in 1984 to go solo; rejoined in early 1995, however made appearances during the “Other Band” Tour).
* Nils Lofgren – guitar, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals (replaced Steven Van Zandt in June 1984; remained in group after Van Zandt returned)
* Patti Scialfa – backing and duet vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion (joined June 1984; became Springsteen’s wife in 1991; they have a daughter and two sons)
* Soozie Tyrell – violin, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals (joined 2002, occasional appearances before that)
* Charles Giordano – organ, accordion Giordano, originally a Sessions Band member, joined the E-Street Band on a temporary basis in late 2007 during the illness of Danny Federici. He continued playing with The E-Street Band after Federici died in April 2008.
Former members
* Vinnie “Mad Dog” Lopez – drums (inception through February 1974, when asked to resign)
* David Sancious – keyboards (June 1973 to August 1974)
* Ernest “Boom” Carter – drums (February to August 1974)
* Suki Lahav – violin, backing vocals (September 1974 to March 1975)
* Danny Federici – organ, accordion, glockenspiel (died April 17, 2008 after a struggle with melanoma)
Film connections
Springsteen’s music has long been intertwined with film. It made its first appearance in the 1983 John Sayles’ film Baby, It’s You, which featured several songs from Born to Run. The relationship Springsteen established with Sayles would re-surface in later years, with Sayles directing videos for songs from Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love. The song “(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day” was written for the early Michael J. Fox/Joan Jett vehicle Light of Day. His work has been used in films (winning him an Oscar for his song “Streets of Philadelphia”). Additionally his 1995 song “Secret Garden” appeared on the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise film Jerry Maguire, the song “My City of Ruins”, from the 2002 album The Rising, appeared in the film Jersey Girl, and “The Fuse” (also from The Rising) was featured during the closing credits of The 25th Hour (2002).
In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including The Indian Runner, written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen’s song “Highway Patrolman”. He was nominated for a second Oscar for “Dead Man Walkin’”, from the movie Dead Man Walking. In addition, “Lift Me Up” ran over the credits for the John Sayles film Limbo.
Springsteen also made a cameo appearance in the John Cusack film High Fidelity. In the film, Cusack’s character, Rob, imagines Springsteen giving him advice on his fractured love life.
In the 1997 film The Wedding Singer “Hungry Heart” is used.
In the 1999 Adam Sandler film Big Daddy, Growin’ Up is used.
In the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, main character Shuya Nanahara styles his hair to look like Springsteen’s. His favorite song is “Born To Run”, which plays in his mind throughout the 1999 novel Battle Royale upon which the film is based.
Discography
Main article: Bruce Springsteen discography
Major studio albums:
* 1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
* 1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
* 1975: Born to Run
* 1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town
* 1980: The River
* 1982: Nebraska
* 1984: Born in the U.S.A.
* 1987: Tunnel of Love
* 1992: Human Touch
* 1992: Lucky Town
* 1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad
* 2002: The Rising
* 2005: Devils & Dust
* 2006: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
* 2007: Magic
Samples
* Download sample of “Thunder Road” from Born to Run.
* Download sample of “Dancing in the Dark” from Born in the U.S.A.
Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards
Springsteen has won 18 Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given for, not the year in which the ceremony was held):
* Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1984, “Dancing in the Dark”
* Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1987, “Tunnel of Love”
* Song of the Year, 1994, “Streets of Philadelphia”
* Best Rock Song, 1994, “Streets of Philadelphia”
* Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, 1994, “Streets of Philadelphia”
* Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, 1994, “Streets of Philadelphia”
* Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1996, The Ghost of Tom Joad
* Best Rock Album, 2002, The Rising
* Best Rock Song, 2002, “The Rising”
* Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2002, “The Rising”
* Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 2003, “Disorder in the House” (with Warren Zevon)
* Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, “Code of Silence”
* Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, “Devils & Dust”
* Best Traditional Folk Album, 2006, The Seeger Sessions: We Shall Overcome
* Best Long Form Music Video, 2006, “Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born to Run”
* Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, “Radio Nowhere”
* Best Rock Song, 2007, “Radio Nowhere”
* Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2007, “Once Upon A Time In The West”
Only one of these awards has been one of the cross-genre “major” ones (Song, Record, or Album of the Year); he has been nominated a number of other times for the majors, but failed to win.
Academy Awards
* Academy Award for Best Song, 1993, “Streets of Philadelphia” from Philadelphia
Emmy Awards
* The Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City HBO special won two technical Emmy Awards in 2001.
Other recognition
* Polar Music Prize in 1997.
* Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999
* Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1999
* Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. 2007
* “Born to Run” named “The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey” by the New Jersey state legislature (something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song “is about leaving New Jersey”)
* The minor planet 23990, discovered Sept. 4 1999 by I. P. Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor
* Banner hung from the rafters of New Jersey’s Izod Center, honoring his 15 nights of sold-out shows there in one stand in 1999
* Banner hung from the rafters of Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center in the colors of the Philadelphia Flyers, honoring Springsteen’s 45 Philadelphia sold-out shows.
* Ranked #23 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, 2004.
* In October 2007, Eye Weekly ran a cover-story that dubbed Springsteen ‘Indie-Rock Icon of the Year’.
* In May of 2008, Springsteen was 1 of 15 of the first class to be inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
* Made TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People Of The Year 2008 list.
Web domain dispute
In November 2000, Springsteen filed legal action against Jeff Burgar which accused him of registering the domain brucespringsteen.com (along with several other celebrity domains) in bad faith to funnel web users to his Celebrity 1000 portal site. Once the legal complaint was filed, Burgar pointed the domain to a Springsteen biography and message board. Burgar claims to be running a Springsteen fan club.
In February 2001, Springsteen lost his dispute with Burgar. A WIPO panel ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Burgar.
Sirius Radio
The E Street Band currently has their own channel on Sirius Satellite Radio.
1943 – Jim Morrison of the Doors is born in Melbourne, Fla., the son of a U.S. Navy admiral.
James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943—July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and film director. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history. and the director of a documentary and short film. Morrison was known for his baritone vocals.
Biography
Early years
Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Scottish and Irish ethnic heritage.
In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song “Dawn’s Highway” from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs “Peace Frog” and “Ghost Song”.
Indians scattered on dawn’s highway bleeding
Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile eggshell mind
Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems and interviews. Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison’s family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. However, the book The Doors written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison’s account of the incident was from the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, “We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him . He always thought about that crying Indian.” This is contrasted sharply with Morrison’s tale of “Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death”. In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, “He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don’t even know if that’s true.”
With his father in the Navy, Morrison’s family moved often. He spent part of his childhood in San Diego, California. In 1958, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California. However, he graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia in June 1961. His father was also stationed at Mayport Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.
Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee where he appeared in a school recruitment film.
In January 1964 Morrison moved to Los Angeles, California. He completed his undergraduate degree in UCLA’s film school, the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. He made two films while attending UCLA. First Love, the first of these films, was released to the public when it appeared in a documentary about the film Obscura. During these years, while living in Venice Beach, he became friends with writers at the Los Angeles Free Press. Morrison was an advocate of the underground newspaper until his death in 1971.
The Doors
In 1965, after graduating from UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison. Known as “The Young Lion” photo session, the pictures included the shot that was later featured on the Best of the Doors LP cover.
Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors. Shortly thereafter, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore’s recommendation and was then added to the lineup.
It is widely believed that the Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception (a reference to the ‘unlocking’ of ‘doors’ of perception through psychedelic drug use), Huxley’s own title was a quote from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Light My Fire”, “Love Me Two Times”, “Love Her Madly” and “Touch Me”.
In 1967, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for “Break On Through”, which was to be their first single release. The video featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make music videos, including “The Unknown Soldier”, “Moonlight Drive”, and “People Are Strange”.
In June 1966, Morrison and The Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go on the last week of the residency of Van Morrison’s band Them.
The Doors achieved national recognition after signing with Elektra Records in 1967.
By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of “Alabama Song”, from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s operetta, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs “The End”, “When The Music’s Over”, and “Celebration of the Lizard”.
In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner sleeve for the songs they had written.
After this, Morrison started to show up for recording sessions inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song “Five To One”). He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties.
By 1969, the formerly svelte singer gained weight, grew a beard, and began dressing more casually – abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans and T-shirts.
During a 1969 concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days later for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of The Doors’ scheduled concerts were canceled.
Following The Soft Parade, The Doors released the Morrison Hotel LP. After a lengthy break the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild — who had overseen all their previous recordings — left the project. Engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
Solo: poetry and film
Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he studied the related fields of theater, film and cinematography.
He self-published two volumes of his poetry in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison’s thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison’s lifetime.
Morrison befriended Beat Poet Michael McClure who wrote the afterword for Danny Sugerman’s biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects to include a film version of McClure’s infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played Billy The Kid.
After his death two volumes of Morrison’s poetry were published. The contents of the books were selected and arranged by Morrison’s friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson’s parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success.
Morrison recorded his own poetry in a mausoleum in a professional sound studio on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison’s personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors’ An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family.
Morrison’s best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film.
Personal life
Morrison’s family
Morrison’s early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison’s brother Andy explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as “dressing down”. This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.
Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison’s music ascended to the top of the charts in 1967 he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with The Doors’ self-titled debut album.
In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison’s father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son’s musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him nonetheless.
Women in his life
Morrison met his long-term companion, and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname “Morrison” with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. After Courson’s death in 1974 the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under “Estate Controversy”).
Courson and Morrison’s relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship.
In 1970 Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister, however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. Kenneally discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.
Morrison also regularly had sex with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities in their own right, including Nico, the singer associated with The Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on-again-off-again relationship with 16 Magazine’s editor in chief Gloria Stavers and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison’s son was shown to be a fraud.
Death
Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971, taking up residence in an apartment. Once there, Morrison grew a beard.
It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as “drunken gibberish”. The session included a version of a song-in-progress, “Orange County Suite”, which can be heard on the bootleg Lost Paris Tapes.
Morrison died on July 3, 1971, aged 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison’s cause of death.
In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman’s account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, inhaling the substance because he thought it was cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison’s death, at times saying that she had killed her common-law husband, or that his death was her fault. Courson’s story of Morrison’s unintentional ingestion of heroin, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson’s heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.
Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison’s death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Varda say Courson lied to police who responded to the death scene and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.
In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins says that 20 years after Morrison’s death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison’s death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and had thrown up blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive and so she called for medical assistance.
Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.
However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death. This theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.
In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugarman and Hopkins gave some credence to the theory that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”.
In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison’s, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumor and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy, in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club,
Grave site
Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris, one of the city’s most visited tourist attractions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it which was stolen in 1973. In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed a bust of Morrison and the new gravestone with Morrison’s name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death; In the 1990s a flat stone was placed on the grave, possibly by his birth family, with the Greek inscription: ???? ??? ??????? ??????. Mikulin later made two more Morrison portraits in bronze but is awaiting the license to place a new sculpture on the tomb.
Estate controversy
In his will, made in Los Angeles County on February 12, 1969, Morrison (who described himself as “an unmarried person”) left his entire estate to Courson, also naming her co-executor with his attorney, Max Fink. She thus inherited everything upon Morrison’s death in 1971.
When Courson died in 1974, a battle ensued between Morrison’s and Courson’s parents over who had legal claim to Morrison’s estate. Since Morrison left a will the question was effectively moot. Upon his death his property became Courson’s; and on her death her property passed to her next heirs at law, her parents. Morrison’s parents contested the will under which Courson and now her parents had inherited their son’s property.
To bolster their positions Courson’s parents presented a document they claimed she had acquired in Colorado, apparently an application for a declaration that she and Morrison had contracted a common-law marriage under the laws of that state. The ability to contract a common-law marriage was abolished in California in 1896, but the state’s conflict of laws rules provided for recognition of common-law marriages lawfully contracted in foreign jurisdictions — and Colorado was one of the 11 U.S. jurisdictions that still recognized common-law marriage. As long as a common-law marriage was lawfully contracted under Colorado law it was recognized as a marriage under California law.
Artistic roots
As a naval family the Morrisons relocated frequently. Consequently Morrison’s early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school. Nonetheless he proved to be an intelligent and capable student drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy and psychology, among other fields.
Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced Morrison’s thinking and, perhaps, behavior. While still in his teens Morrison discovered the works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He was also drawn to the poetry of William Blake, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac also had a strong influence on Morrison’s outlook and manner of expression; Morrison was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac’s On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the works of the French writer Céline. Céline’s book, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake’s Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison’s early songs, “End of the Night”. Morrison later met and befriended Michael McClure, a well known beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison’s lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft.
Morrison’s vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Julian Beck’s Living Theater.
Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest, particularly Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer’s The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song “Not to Touch the Earth”.
Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures. While he was still in school, his family moved to New Mexico where he got to see some of the places and artifacts important to the Southwest Indigenous cultures. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places such as lizards, snakes, deserts and “ancient lakes” that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretation of the practices of a Native American “shaman” were worked into parts of Morrison’s stage routine, notably in his interpretation of the Ghost Dance, and a song on his later poetry album, The Ghost Song. The songs “My Wild Love” and “Wild Child” were also inspired by his ideas of Native American rhythm and ritual. He also consumed 8 buttons of peyote and tripped for a week and wrote about seeing the “God of Peyote”.
Influence
Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers/writers in rock history as The Doors’ catalog has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous and mysterious. The leather trousers he was fond of wearing both on stage and off have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.
Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After Morrison’s death, Pop was considered as a replacement lead singer for The Doors; the surviving Doors gave him some of Morrison’s belongings and hired him as a vocalist for a series of shows.
Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled “The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir”. In this book, Fowlie recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s verse into English. “I don’t read French easily”, he wrote, “…your book travels around with me.” Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud.
Scott Weiland, the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, as well as Scott Stapp of Creed, claim Morrison to be their biggest influence and inspiration. Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver have both covered “Roadhouse Blues” by the Doors. Weiland also filled in for Morrison to perform “Break On Through” with the rest of the Doors. Stapp filled in for Morrison for “Light my fire”, “Riders on the Storm” and “Roadhouse Blues” on VH1 Storytellers. Creed performed their version of “Riders on the Storm” with Robbie Krieger for the 1999 Woodstock Festival.
The book The Doors by the remaining Doors quotes Morrison’s close friend Frank Lisciandro as saying that too many people took a remark of Morrison’s that he was interested in revolt, disorder, and chaos “to mean that he was an anarchist, a revolutionary, or, worse yet, a nihilist. Hardly anyone noticed that Jim was restating Rimbaud and the Surreal poets.”
Books
By Jim Morrison
* The Lords and The New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
* An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
* Wilderness The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
* The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5
About Jim Morrison
* Linda Ashcroft, Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, (1997) ISBN 1-56025-249-9
* Lester Bangs, “Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later” in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
* Patricia Butler, Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison, (1998) ISBN 0-8256-7341-0
* Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-592-40064-7
* John Densmore, Riders On The Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
* Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
* Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
* Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
* Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
* Patricia Kennealy, Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison (1992) ISBN 0-525-93419-7
* Frank Lisciandro, Morrison — A Feast Of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6
* Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison — An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) ISBN 0-85965-246-7
* Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0L. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
* Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison’s Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145-173.
* Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
* Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
* James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through : The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
* Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony…Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN 0-9766590-0-X
* The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X
Films
By Jim Morrison
* HWY: An American Pastoral (1969)
* A Feast of Friends (1970)
Documentaries featuring Jim Morrison
* The Doors Are Open (1968)
* Live in Europe (1968)
* Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1968)
* Feast of Friends (1969)
* The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981)
* The Doors: Dance on Fire (1985)
* The Soft Parade, a Retrospective (1991)
* Final 24: Jim Morrison (2008), The Biography Channel
Films about Jim Morrison
* The Doors (1991), A film by director Oliver Stone, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. Kilmer’s performance was praised by critics. Members of the group criticized Stone’s portrayal of Morrison, however.
Footnotes
1. ^ Bio of Jim Morrison.
2. ^ a b “See e.g., Morrison poem backs climate plea”, BBC News, January 31, 2007.
3. ^ Bio of Jim Morrison.
4. ^ “Dead Famous: Jim Morrison”, The Biography Channel. (Retrieved Dec. 2, 2007).
5. ^ Riordan, James (1992). Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison, HarperCollins. pp. 32. ISBN 0688119158.
6. ^ Walters, Glenn D. (2006). Lifestyle theory: Past, Present And Future, Nova Publishers. pp. 78. ISBN 1600210333.
7. ^ “Recruitment Film”. Retrieved on 2008-08-24.
8. ^ “FSU Arrest”. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
9. ^ Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith, “Criticism Lighting His Fire: Perspectives on Jim Morrison from the Los Angeles Free Press, Down Beat, and The Miami Herald (master’s thesis, Interdepartmental Program in Liberal Arts, Louisiana State University, 2007). Available at “http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11162007-105056/”.
10. ^ Getlen, Larry, Opportunity knocked so The Doors kicked it down, http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20030616a1.asp, retrieved on 24 August 2008
11. ^ Paul Lawrence (2002). “The Doors and Them: twin Morrisons of different mothers”. waiting-forthe-sun.net. Retrieved on 2008-07-07.
12. ^ Hinton (1997), page 67.
13. ^ Corry Arnold (2006-01-23). “The History of the Whisky-A-Go-Go”. chickenonaunicyle.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-30.
14. ^ “Glossary entry for The Doors”. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. from Van Morrison website. Photo of both Morrisons on stage. Access date 2007-05-26.
15. ^ “Doors 1966 – June 1966″. doorshistory.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
16. ^ Leopold, Todd, Confessions of a record label owner, http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/19/holzman.elektra/index.html, retrieved on 9 September 2007
17. ^ Light My Fire, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595880/light_my_fire, retrieved on 24 August 2008
18. ^ When the Doors went on Sullivan, http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/03/ed.sullivan.sidebar/index.html, retrieved on 9 September 2007
19. ^ The Doors: Biography: Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thedoors/biography, retrieved on 24 August 2008
20. ^ Dead Rock Star to Get Pardon?, http://www.wltx.com/fyi/story.aspx?storyid=48833, retrieved on 9 September 2007
21. ^ Notable Actors – UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, http://www.tft.ucla.edu/alumni/notable-actors/, retrieved on 3 December 2008
22. ^ McClure, Michael, Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend, http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Players/Personal/mcclure_recalls.html, retrieved on 9 September 2008
23. ^ Unterberger, Richie, Liner Notes for Diane Hildebrand’s “Early Morning Blues and Greens, http://www.richieunterberger.com/diane.html, retrieved on 24 August 2008
24. ^ HWY: An American Pastoral, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388097/combined, retrieved on 24 August 2008
25. ^ Jim Morrison Biography, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1930:2450/1/Jim_Morrison.htm, retrieved on 24 August 2008
26. ^ Letter from Jim’s Father to probation department 1970
27. ^ Hoover, Elizabeth, The Death of Jim Morrison, http://www.americanheritage.com/entertainment/articles/web/20060703-jim-morrison-doors-drugs-rock-n-roll-aldous-huxley-paris-heroin-pamela-courson.shtml, retrieved on 24 August 2008
28. ^ Jim Morrison Biography, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1930:2450/4/Jim_Morrison.htm, retrieved on 24 August 2008
29. ^ Kennealy, Patricia (1992). Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison. New York: Dutton/Penguin. pp. p.63. ISBN 0-525-93419-7.
30. ^ Kennealy (1992) plate 7, p.175
31. ^ Davis, Steven (2004) “The Last Days of Jim Morrison” in Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 December 2007
32. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp.314-16
33. ^ “Ask Ray Manzarek” Transcript, Talk, BBC, 10 April 2002,
34. ^ Ronay, Alain (2002) “Jim and I – Friends Until Death”. Originally published in KING. Retrieved 25 December 2007
35. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp: 385-92 quotes from Ronay’s interview in Paris-Match
36. ^ Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, No One Here Gets Out Alive page 373
37. ^ Hopkins, Jerry; and Danny Sugerman (1980) No One Here Gets Out Alive ISBN 0-85965-138-X
38. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp.344-6
39. ^ Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, No One Here Gets Out Alive page 375, also see copyright in front of book on new material added in 1995
40. ^ Walt, Vivienne, How Jim Morrison Died, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1643884,00.html, retrieved on 24 August 2008
41. ^ “The shocking truth about Jim Morrison’s death surfaces”. AndhraNews.net story, July 8, 2007.
42. ^ “The shocking truth about how my pal Jim Morrison REALLY died”, mailonsunday.co.uk Accessed July 13, 2007.
43. ^ Doland, Angela, Morrison Bathtub Death Story Questioned, http://news.aol.com/entertainment/music/story/_a/morrison-bathtub-death-story-questioned/20070711145609990001, retrieved on 24 August 2008
44. ^ Mladen Mikulin – Sculptor
45. ^ photo of defaced bust on Morrison’s grave before it was stolen.
46. ^ Jim Morrison, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5221/is_2005/ai_n19141572/pg_2, retrieved on 24 August 2008
47. ^ The Stooges: Biography: Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thestooges/biography, retrieved on 24 August 2008
48. ^ Webb, Robert, ROCK & POP: STORY OF THE SONG – ‘THE PASSENGER’ Iggy Pop (1977), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20051014/ai_n15713651, retrieved on 24 August 2008
49. ^ The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres), The Doors, page 104
50. ^ Biography Channel documentary
51. ^ The Doors (1991)
and TRIVIUM. A few of the selections follow below. The entire list can be found at this location.
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