Drums & Demons

"Jim was one of the rare players who danced on the edge. . . . I finished this book slack-jawed, trying to come to grips with this amazing, tragic story." —Mickey Hart, Grateful Dead

"When people say that Jim Gordon is the greatest rock 'n' roll drummer who ever lived, I think it's true, beyond anybody." —Eric Clapton


Eric Clapton wasn't the only musician who believed in Jim Gordon's talent. Just ask any of the world-famous musicians who also played with him—John Lennon, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker, and many more. But as bestselling author Joel Selvin reveals in Drums & Demons, the story of Jim Gordon is the most wrenching rock opera ever.


This riveting narrative follows Gordon as the very chemicals in his brain that gifted him also destroyed him. An undiagnosed schizophrenic, Gordon descended from the absolute heights of the rock world to working with a Santa Monica dive-bar band for $30 a night. And then he committed the most shocking crime in rock history.


Based on extensive research, Drums & Demons is at once an epic journey through an artist's monumental musical contributions, a rollicking history of rock drumming, and a terrifying downward spiral into unimaginable madness that Gordon fought a valiant but losing battle against. One of the great untold stories of rock is finally being told.


"[Selvin] brings Gordon's darkness into the light." —Questlove


"This affecting account sheds new light on one of rock's most complicated figures." —Publishers Weekly

"Selvin . . . presents Jim Gordon's complex, tragic story fully in the round, as only he can." —Mick Wall, author of Life in the Fast Lane and When Giants Walked the Earth