A biography for John Densmorehasn’t been written yet.
“I had the first XJ6 and then they became real popular with lawyers so I had to move on. The only problem with Jaguar is that you have to go to the gas station every couple blocks, and a mechanic once told me that if you don't have the right attitude when you walk up to a Jag, it won't start.”
“I still think that if one of Jim's masterpieces were downgraded to sell crap, I would get sick.”
“I knew Jim was going down, but was very pleased that somehow, despite his self-destruction, when we rehearsed, wrote songs and recorded, he showed up. He pulled it together.”
“We drummers all know that our mother's heartbeat was the first instrument we heard. As a race, we've all been trying to get back to that womb. That's why rhythm makes us move... dance.”
“Everyone is so desperate to get attention for their project, they will do almost anything, and the corporate world has always encouraged this.”
“I'm from the Vietnam generation.”
“Some genres of rock 'n' roll attract more of the party animals. I guess the Stones partied a bit. I think The Doors were more like The Beatles backstage - friends hanging out and whatever. It wasn't crazy. Everything was pretty subdued.”
“I stumbled onto Peggy Feury in the '80s. I recognized her brilliance immediately; it took her awhile to recognize mine.”
“Legislating morality doesn't work (see: Prohibition). It produced the Mafia.”
“If I had been the drummer for the Grassroots, it probably wouldn't have cut me to the core when I heard John Lennon's 'Revolution' selling tennis shoes... and Nikes, to boot! That song was the soundtrack to part of my youth, when the streets were filled with passionate citizens expressing their First Amendment right to free speech.”
“The one constant thread through my life so far is that I have been constantly fed and nourished by music.”
“I'm not the fastest drummer in the world, but I'm very into dynamics and knowing that there's space in between the notes and you got to breathe.”
“Death trumps everything.”
“Being a writer is a very difficult craft. Just like learning an instrument, it takes a long time and I couldn't really say I was a writer even after my first memoir.”
“We knew we were tight and good, but we didn't know we were going to be the band to help each generation cut its umbilical cord.”
“If somebody makes a really wonderful, ecological car, I'm down, no matter where it comes from.”
“I've hung out and performed with many Native American musicians, and my experience is that the first peoples of this land are incredibly open, warm and forgiving.”
“The Doors are etched on my forehead and always will be.”
“I like to drum for various theatrical things.”
“Eddie Vedder? My God, there's a singer.”