The Rock and Roll Book of the Dead

by David Comfort

Once you're dead, you're made for life. --Jimi Hendrix

Hendrix. Janis. Morrison. Elvis. Lennon. Cobain. Garcia.

Their reckless brilliance held the key to their self-destruction. Their deaths had much in common--and, surprisingly, so did their lives. From lonely childhoods marred by loss to groundbreaking music and turbulent careers that ended tragically and suspiciously, David Comfort explodes the myths as he



   • The sinister roles of Hendrix's manager and girlfriend in his death and subsequent cover-up


   • The bizarre odyssey of Jim Morrison's corpse


   • Why Kurt Cobain was worth more dead than alive to Courtney Love


   • The twisted motives that caused John Lennon to sail through the Devil's Triangle to Bermuda--nearly going down in a storm--shortly before he was fatally shot


   • The crippling disease and "miracle" drug that drove Elvis to suicide


Charismatic and gifted, but also isolated and conflicted, these are not the rock icons you thought you knew. Here are their larger-than-life stories of turmoil and excess that led to their early deaths and ultimate immortality. It's a wild ride to the other side of fame.

"Fame is the soul eater." --Jerry Garcia

"Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground." --John Lennon

Includes Rare Photos

David Comfort is the author of three bestselling nonfiction books. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines, including Eclectic Literary Forum, Pacific Review, Coe Review, and Belletrist Review. He has been the recipient of several literary prizes and a finalist for such prestigious awards as the Nelson Algren Award and America's Best. A former rock musician, he has spent over 30 years studying rock music, particularly the revolutionary and fatalistic pioneers of the 1960s. He lives in Santa Rosa, California.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Ruthann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down, it made me think of all the great music I listened to growing up and how different rock music is today. Everybody has a song or two from at least one of these musicians that relates to something that has happened to them in their lifetime.

[Dad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check the reviews on Amazon.com -- much better than anything I could write.

[Lisa Kizer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these kinds of books. A lot of new facts/stories I have never read or heard of before. The researcher in me is thrilled when only a few times do those facts not check out as true. 1. on page 65, author implies "smells like teen spirit" by Nirvana is from a douche commercial. 2. pg. 103 says that Ken Kesey called coke the Nazi drug when it was speed. 3. page 126 Says that Themis is an earth goddess when she is a goddess of memory 4. Lennons' security Doug MacDougall was not FBI. 5. page 243 Jagger married Jerry Hall in a Hindi wedding not a Bianca in a Voodoo wedding.
Something else I noticed in this book it seemed to have a theme. Not "everybody must get stoned" but more like almost everybody is gay (or more like bisexual). I believe he stated that all but Gerry Garcia had at least one gay experience - even Elvis near the end of the book.

[Ann Mason]

All the great R & R stars I grew up with. I remember their deaths and how they effected the music world. If you are into music and Biographies, Then this is a good read for you

[MrMelB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro into lives of talented artists who pushed it too far... just be warned, if you plan on reading any autobiographies on/ by the people in the book rather steer clear as there are spoilers.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

In The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead, author David Comfort takes a hard look at the brief bright lives of the artists he describes as "rock's seven immortals" - Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain and Jerry Garcia. The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead is essentially a collection of abbreviated biographies, culled from existing biographies and articles, with interludes on various topics (drugs, death fixation, love, mental illness, etc.) that tie these seven stories together.

I confess I was skeptical going into this book. Tying Morrison, Hendrix and Joplin together makes sense, given their ages and proximity to each other. Garcia seemed a stretch given his relatively long life, as did Cobain, who came along so much later. Lennon fit the bill, though his end was not at his own hands, and Elvis...well, Elvis just seems like he's from a different planet altogether than the rest of "The Seven". Still, with Comfort as a guide, you soon begin to see the patterns and note what ties each of these doomed artists together (namely heroin, lots and lots of heroin). Reading this was frustrating in that you see talented young musicians - of any generation - squander talent, fame, money and everything else they worked for in a seemingly never-ending cycle.

The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead is obviously a labor of love for Comfort, who, if the bibliography and copious footnotes are any indication, did a great deal of research for this book. He presents a very vivid picture of the life, struggles and final days of each star, though midway through I started to chafe at the volume of material taken from other sources. The aggregated biographies have a VH1 Behind the Music tone, and take emphasis away from the author's own observations and analysis, and had me questioning whether there was enough original material to warrant a full book.

I had some other issues with the book as well. I was a bit taken aback at Comfort's characterization of the deaths of Hendrix and Cobain as murders. Even if there is circumstantial evidence to support those claims, it seemed presumptuous to call their deaths homicide in the same manner as Lennon's. There were also a couple of minor inaccuracies that bothered me, such as citing Elvis's infatuation with "Marvel Comics" and "Captain America" when it was Captain Marvel, a totally different character from a totally different publisher, that made such an impression on the King. Elsewhere he claims Morrison's dark poetry was the precursor to death metal (which is wrong, but that's just my opinion) and proceeds to list six "death metal" bands, of which exactly one qualifies as death metal. These are arguably minor errors, but if those are the ones I caught as a comics and metal fan, it makes me wonder what others I may have missed.

Those issues aside, The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead is an interesting read, especially for those not already familiar with each artist. I still think Phil Lynott, Freddie Mercury or Bon Scott would have made more appropriate additions to this fellowship than Garcia or Cobain, but I did come away with a bit more appreciation for those two artists. I wouldn't call this essential reading, but The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead is an entertaining book that should appeal to classic rock fans.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what I expected with this book and for that I'm happy because it was a pleasant surprise. It had a lot of great interlude chapters about how the seven rock stars who died before their time were connected, from their quest for love to their mutual appreciation of death and suicide. When Comfort actually analyzed the rock stars it was informative and fresh. The majority of the book though recounts the rockers' lives and their deaths with a few conspiracy theories thrown in. At times Comfort seems to be stirring the pot of conspiracy and makes a lot of assertions that feel like their from sleazier biographies but it helps make the book more entertaining. Overall, if you've read individual biographies of the rock stars mentioned you'll know almost everything going in, but the interlude chapters are where the meat is and where Comfort's voice is heard.

[Debi · Rating 1 out of 5]

First Mr. Comfort needs to hire a new editor. This book has so many problems I had to force myself to read the half I read. Second I am not sure what happened but Mr. Comfort seems to have written every negative thing he could find or make up about these seven people's lives. There are so many things wrong with this book. quotes are taken out of context, songs lyrics misquoted and a whole lot of presumption on Mr. Comforts part. This book has no redeeming qualities. I regret the waste of my vacation time even opening this book. Gave it one star because there are no negative stars.

[Patrick Macke · Rating 4 out of 5]

not to be confused with books about the "27" phenomenon, this book tells the stories of 7 legends who died too soon ... it focuses on the death circumstances, and while all essentially offed themselves, if you believe this telling, at least 2 of the 7 had help

[Andrew Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too bad, though light on in factual references more background than necessary in some cases.