Defend the Indefensible: Phish & Spin Doctors Or Any Jam Band (That Isn't DMB)

IT'S EASY TO IGNORE.

God. I hate Phish! My sixth grade theacher played a Phish album one too many times for my taste.

But they were on the Simpsons! The Simpsons!!!!!!!!

ergo, they make it onto the simpsons.

I would also like to point out that I have also seen shows by the Cro-Mags (opening for Venom), Public Enemy, My Bloody Valentine, Plastikman on the Fuk tour in 95 and Senor Coconut last year, so it's not like I'm some stinky hippy.

I've often considered editing together a compilation of some choice live moments, dispersing it under a false band name, and seeing if I can trick the hipster world into hyping it. !!! and LCD Soundsystem owe a lot more to Phish and their ilk than either would probably care to admit (!!! at The Wire/Empty Bottle Fest: "we ain't no fuckin jamband! you never seen no fucking jamband do this!" etc.)

a) not dismiss because of their "admittedly terrible studio albums"

and

b) go to a show (OR have gone to a show in the past cuz "they've fallen off of late) surrounded by people who I find generally unpleasant and whom can be "somewhat rightly dismissed"

Not much left is there (oh wait, I can buy Phish bootlegs from their "prime" era on eBay can't I! Well nevermind.)

PS, I can see somehow see the self-righteous "I listen to and appreciate everything" crowd listening to Phish before they listen to John Tesh or Kenny G or whomever.

everytime i have seen phish on t.v. i have been struck by what bad musicians they are. they did two songs on SNL and it was just weird how clunky their playing was. i thought that was at least half of the appeal of jam bands, like prog rock. that the bands were really good at guitar school noodling.

i like big head todd and the monsters. or at least some old songs that i remember. do they count? probably not. not like the disco biscuits count.

If anybody seriously wants to investigate my claims, I'd recommend the following:

Slip Stitch and Pass - The best of the non-Live Phish series releases, it's a good taste of their gooey funk 97 period, even if it's far from the peak (if you can track down either 12/6/97 Detroit or 12/7/97 Dayton, those are better examples of this period. No official release yet, though Dayton was released on their online mp3 distro system).

Live Phish 11 (11/19/97) - The "Ghost" on the first disc is hot, see above.

Live Phish 15 (10/31/96) - A lot of their Halloween shows (where they traditionally covered an entire album) are more novelty than quality, but this one, where they covered Remain in Light, overcomes the gimmick. The more cohesive groove-oriented, heavy-percussion, sparse interplay they found here set the tone for their improvisational peak in 1997.

Live Phish 20 (12/29/94) - The "David Bowie" on the second disc is a lengthy example of their more experimental playing; more texture than danceability.

I've found all of these on slsk rather easily.

once I hooked up with a Phish fan hippie girl, and it was a bad waste of my gooey spunk =(

But couldn't their jamming tendencies be coming from somewhere other than Phish and the Dead? Y'know, like extended disco dubs, krautrock and prog?

"Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" by the Spin Doctors, on the other hand, sound like they could've been 1976 Steve Miller or 1979 Joe Jackson hits, and sound nothing at all like the Grateful Dead or Phish. They are two of the best rock hits of the mid '90s, easy. (The Spin Doctors have two or three other okay songs, too.)

I also sort of like Gov't Mule sometimes, if they count.

Call it convergent evolution then.

So far chuck is pretty otm, except I like Big Fat Funky Booty better than he does. And Rob Mitchum's live Phish selections seem good - Slip Stitch and Pass is definitely the most cost-effective intro to that stuff.

I appreciate their synthesis of many styles into something that is so very their own

Why?

Well, he CAN, I guess. But hell if he does on any Nirvana records. Much less any records by his lame-o powerpop band. (At least none I'VE ever heard. Feel free to cite examples I've missed, by all means.) The stiff-assed motherfucker should buy some goddamn Ted Nugent or Rick Derringer or Nazareth or Babe Ruth or Stooges or Rose Tattoo or Rockets albums (or hell, *Appetite for Destruction*, or anything by AC/DC before Bon died, or anything by Aerosmith before they went through rehab) and study what hard rock drumming is supposed to sound like, for crissakes.

Gear is right on about Chuck's point -- I for one am thankful that Nirvana didn't try to go for a more "Nazareth" sound with the rhythm section. Regardless, other stuff Grohl has done IS closer to the things you mentioned -- he kills the drums on the last Killing Joke album (search "Seeing Red") and that Queens of the Stone Age song with the stutter-y fills is TOTAL AC/DC Phil Rudd ("No One Knows").

I've seen the guy drum live, and it's pretty impressive -- and he couldn't be further from stiff. I don't know, obviously it comes down to personal preference in styles, but to claim he's a bad drummer is simply preposterous.

Did a jamband kill your brother, Alex?

i only can say that 'two princess' is quality pop music unlike the garbage pop music of beyonce, taylor swift and the like... celebrated around here

O yr gonna be a treat