Jim Morrison (11)

Jim Morrison
1943-1971
Doors singer; Lizard King
Cause of Death: Suspected heroin OD
Wallow in the Mire: Morrison’s memory has sustained considerable abuse since his interment in Paris’s Père Lachaise cemetery. Nonetheless, Doors drummer John Densmore has refused multimillion-dollar offers for use of Doors music in ads—against protests from keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger, who enlisted ex-Cult singer Ian Astbury to fill Morrison’s leather trousers in a 2002 tour as Doors of the 21st Century. A suit from Densmore and Morrison’s estate (the parents of Morrison and of his late wife Pamela Courson) forced a name change—to “D21C.”
Touch Me, Jay-Z: The Doors didn’t become massive until 1979, when “The End” was featured in Apocalypse Now. After 1980, Morrison bio No One Here Gets Out Alive became a bestseller, and a greatest-hits album sold 2 million copies. Interest remained steady until spiking at Oliver Stone’s Val Kilmer–starring The Doors, which dealt a near-lethal blow to Morrison’s dark aura by co-starring Meg Ryan. Redemption came in 2001, when Jay-Z’s “Takeover” built its ominous momentum on a sample of the Doors’ “Five to One.”