Alice Cooper admits she already knew Jim Morrison would die early

Alice Cooper has been active in the music world for over 50 years. His first album, Pretties for You (released when his artistic name actually named a band), came out in 1969. This allowed him to meet several artists who are no longer with us — such as Jim Morrison, vocalist of The Doors who left us in 1971, at the age of 27.

In a statement to the magazine Classic RockVincent Furnier, the man behind the alter ego Alice Cooper, brought a series of reflections on the relationship he had with Morrison. Initially, the artist said that he met Jim and his partners The Doors in the early days living in Los Angeles.

“When my band moved from Arizona to Los Angeles, we didn’t know anyone. One night we played in a tiny place, and the wife of one of the band members The Doors I was there because I was a friend of the woman who ran the nightclub. She told her husband that we were really cool and different from anyone else, so they came to see us and kind of took us under their wings from then on. That was very kind of them. I think they liked that we had this nefarious reputation and were seen as a bit ‘over the top’.”

Right away, Alice defined the Doors as “the best band in Los Angeles”, especially on stage. “They never played the song ‘The End’ the same way twice, but they were so united that they were always on the same frequency. They made the most interesting records and their sound was totally unique,” ​​he declared, before characterizing the band’s individual talents:

“Jim Morrison he was a poet, no one played the guitar like Robby Krieger, the keyboards of Ray Manzarek were the heart of their sound and John Densmore He was a great jazz drummer. We visited them at [estúdio] Sunset Sound when they were doing Strange Days (1967 album) and it was really cool to see them working.”

Alice Cooper, The Doors and Jim Morrison

As I spent more time with the The Doors, Alice Cooper was able to get to know the members better. Specifically regarding Jim Morrison, the singer said that “there was no real way to be his best friend”, but that there was a “connection” as they were both vocalists and drank.

“Robby Krieger there’s a great story where we were opening the The Doors at a theater in Portland, Oregon. He goes in for soundcheck, and Jim and I are hanging from the balcony with a 20-foot drop, having made a bet to see who could stay there the longest. Maybe we were drunk, but at the time it seemed like a good idea.”

The most sentimental part of the story comes next. Cooper highlighted that Morrison He was the type who knew he would not live long.

“There are certain people you meet and you know they won’t be around forever, and Jim was one of those people. The guy was a genius — and I don’t usually say that word around. However, he didn’t treat himself very well. He ate pills the same way you eat candy. And he drank a lot. He could have died 100 times. He was a fearless man, who took risks. You’d be at a party and see him standing on the edge of a 300-foot-high building, balancing with a bottle of whiskey in each hand: that was a normal day for him.”

Reaction to death

Finally, Alice Cooper revealed what his reaction was upon learning of the death of Jim Morrison. The vocalist of The Doors was found dead on July 3, 1971, at the age of 27, in an apartment in Paris, France. The official cause was “heart failure,” but no autopsy was performed on his body. Those close to him say he suffered a heroin overdose.

“To be honest, when I found out that Jim had died in Paris, at the age of 27, I told people that I was more surprised that he made it to 27. But I will say this: I never saw him out of control on stage or in the studio. He believed it was perfectly normal to get high, as long as when it came time to do what you do for a living, you were focused. The other 22 hours of the day he needed someone to take care of him.”