should i give the grateful dead a chance?

Do not give the Grateful Dead a chance. I have given the Grateful Dead several chances, and they continue to bore me solid. Friends say "Oh, you're into 60s garage, listen to their first album..." nope, sorry, it's still uninspired hippie stoner jams. Friends say "Oh, you like spacerock, listen to this or that experimental jam album..." nope, sorry, it's still uninspired hippie stoner jam drivel. Friends say "Oh, you have to listen to it on acid to get it." I listened to it on acid. It only stretched the INTERMINABLE boredom to the breaking point where it was a relief to sit and listen to radio static afterwards.

I think that Deadheadism is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. If you have it, you will like them. If you do not have it, then no ammount of "Dude, no, you have to hear this most ultimate jam session that they did on this super-rare collectible live bootleg out-take from 1973..." in the world will ever convince you to find even a modicum of interest.

I know that calling a band "boring" is verboten on this forum. The Dead are not just boring, they are interminable, self indulgent, they noodle, they wibble, they do not drone in a transcendant manner, no they ANNIHILATE any sense of enjoyment of music to the point where I would rather listen to elevator music rather than the Dead. In fact, that is what they are. They are the elevator music of hippie stoner jam psychedelia.

Do not waste your time. Sing along with the hoover instead.

A: God this band are shit.

(Keith Richards tells that gag - which is a bit rich considering that 'Can You Hear Me Knocking' sounds just like the Dead...)

I think they're worth checking out rather than applying some knee jerk reaction. But obviously lots of people don't agree.

Did you even read my fucking post? This is not some knee jerk reaction. This is a carefully thought out aesthetic decision that I have reached after repeated exposure and more consideration that I would give to most bands who repeatedly bombarded me with shit.

Everything about the Grateful Dead is repulsive - the music (yes I *can* judge them on a minute or so), the fans, the mythology.... They're a crystallisation of everything I dislike in music.

The thing is, I love the IDEA of the Dead - the endless noodling jams, those moments of improvisation when they reach the mythical 'zone', the community of fans, all those bootlegs to tick off and collect, the Verlaine-esque sound of Garcia's gtr, the vast quantities of drugs etc etc.

But - their recs just never seem to live up to the rep - before I ever listened to them, I imagined they were like the most mega-cosmic freak out group of all time, but when I finally did spin a few of their albs all I got was wimpy country-lite w/ really terrible singing. They rarely seem to rock out in any meaningful way, their cover versions are just AWFUL (esp. the 'bluesy' Pigpen-led stuff) and Hunter's lyrics are hippy bilge.

Without wishing to sound too alt snooty, Ghost and esp. Acid Mothers Temple do the whole folk-psych rock jam thing w/ so much more passion, imagination and freaky fun.

No, I don't think I recall the Dead ever having extended sax solos in any of their songs.

You obviously never heard Branford Marsalis jam with them, then.

I knew when I saw this thread appear it would be full of the usual "the Dead are the worst band ever" stuff... they seem to be one of a small handful of bands it's ok to heap your worst insults on around here. So I'll do my usual and say yes "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead" are full of concise, well-written pop songs, their mid 70's LPs on their own label are amazing ("Blues for Allah" is my pick), and as great a guitarist as Tom Verlaine is, Garcia is better. He's a better vocalist, too. I know that for whatever reason the Dead are a band many people will just never permit themselves to like, so I expect to make no converts.

I think SY owe a lot to the dead in the way that they'd start a song and then they would use that as a basis for a jam and get back to the song.

The singing isn't to everyone's tastes but at a time when ppl are listening to Thom Yorke that isn't such a big problem.

For myself, they don't trouble my interest, and I can't say they will be anytime soon.

You obviously never heard Branford Marsalis jam with them, then.

Nope, and although I'm sure he's, uh, "funkier" than his brother, I can't imagine his jams with the Dead approach the instrumental break of "Can You Hear Me Knocking" (which was, after all, used by many a black "urban" radio station in the 1970s as promo music). Anyway, the point was that the claim that "Can You Hear Me Knocking" sounds like the Dead is way, way off-base.

''I think that Deadheadism is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. If you have it, you will like them. If you do not have it, then no ammount of "Dude, no, you have to hear this most ultimate jam session that they did on this super-rare collectible live bootleg out- take from 1973..." in the world will ever convince you to find even a modicum of interest.''

it's bollocks! any band will have it's fans and haters but to dismiss it as 'chemical imbalance' is bullshit. Plus the 'annihalate' line (see dave q's ans).

Personally, the only song of theirs that I can instantly recognize is "Touch Of Grey". I'm fine with that.

If you're still hell bent on checking out the Dead, I'd start with any of the Dick's Picks live releases from 1972 or earlier. Even then, listening to them are like trying to dig for gold in a mine that's been completely played out. There's a lot of shovelling involved for very little payoff.

How is the Grateful Dead any different?

There must just be a neurotransmitter that makes people like SHIT, that is the explanation.

Both could be true I guess, one bobby song & one Jerry song, both about subjects that deadheads would likely have wanted to avoid thinking about.

The Bo Diddley set on Dick's Picks Vol. 30 is sounding really good tonight.

Man I haven’t listened to that set in so long, it is great in the right mood. Might slap that on after this 7/10/90 show on YouTube. A Bruce show!

I got to think Jerry at times just liked being able to just sit back and play guitar. One of the sad things about the Dead losing Pigpen was that they did not have him to MC and play blues.

I'd like to imagine on some alternate Earth 2 version of the Dead that Pigpen became a Bay area healthnut early on and was still apart of the band through the Discodead era.

I'd eventually like to hear some of the Dead/Allman Brothers jamming at Watkins Glen. I know that Jerry and Dickie played together but I have never heard those. I kinda think the shows were inconsistent in quality perhaps?

Some clips w Duane, jamming "Spanish Key" for inst, have been on YouTube, dunno if from Watkins Glen.
Tom Constanten on GoFundMe now:

T.C., as he became known, appeared on Anthem of the Sun, Aoxomoxoa, and Live/Dead

love TC's playing on the Mountains of the Moon from Playboy After Dark.

XP Duane and Barry had already died before the Watkins Glen fest.

I've read a dismissal of the concluding all-star jam that blames the failure of the moment on "The Allman's were on Coke, the Dead were on Acid & Pot, and the Band were all drunk [or on Heroin], so there was no possibility of anything gelling."

Not quite the Watkins Glen thing, but the RFK Stadium 6/10/73 (which I believe is on all streaming services) release from a few years ago features a full set of Dickey Betts and Butch playing with the Dead. It's not life changing, but a fun set.

This was quite an undertaking by someone

https://archive.org/details/DarkStar_1972

so an even more tedious grayfolded?

(1973 Dark Stars by the same person is great, too)

Just finished the Slipknot episode of the Deadcast. Spoiler alert! ‼️ the edit they play for the final few minutes completely rules.

Loved the Help on the Way one, excited for this

XP for whatever reason i immediately thought the band Slipknot was also involved in the episode

Slipknot episode was top tier Deadcast.

1976 was a cool weird year, deep dive on This Day

https://archive.org/details/gd1976-09-27.171281.mtx.seamons.ht177.flac16/gd76-09-27d1t05.flac

The Kings Solomon’s Marbles ep delivered as well. Love the audio of the band working out weird lost Phil songs toward the end.

the Cafe Au Go Go 9/29/69, starts off gnarly but gets there

https://archive.org/details/gd69-09-29.aud.early.hollister.79.sbeok.shnf/gd69-09-29t01.shn

Grateful Dead Partners with Pantone to Create "Grateful Red" & "Stealie Blue," Two Colors Inseparable From The Band's Legacy, Iconography & Community
First Ever Pantone Merch Collaboration Launches Today
New Partnership Celebrates Grateful Dead's 60th Anniversary, With More To Be Announced Soon

Today, the Grateful Dead announce a new partnership with Pantone, the global color authority and provider of professional color language standards and digital solutions for the design community, to reveal the creation of "Grateful Red" and "Stealie Blue": two colors that have been synonymous with the band for the past 60 years, and now immortalized as part of their ever-growing legacy. The colors were scanned from an original pressing of the Bear's Choice album, which was the first time the stealie was used on an official Grateful Dead release. From the quintessential Steal Your Face logo, to the epochal swirls of tie-dye that have brightened the crowds at a record-setting 2,318 concerts, to the world of iconography and hundreds of collaborations that have defined the last six decades, these two distinct hues are woven into the fabric of the Grateful Dead's flourishing fandom, community and catalog.

Through Pantone's work with the band, "Grateful Red" and "Stealie Blue" have been officially inked into culture, bringing the lexicon of Dead Heads into the universal language of color. As part of the collaboration, Pantone celebrates their first ever official merch collection featuring Grateful Red Steal Your Face Stealie Blue T-Shirt, Grateful Dead Pantone Hoodie, Grateful Dead Pantone Mug alongside a few more items. Fans can check out the collection here.

"We're thrilled to unveil the official Grateful Dead Steal Your Face trademark colors. These iconic shades are instantly recognizable and deeply tied to the band's identity, making it an honor to see the Grateful Dead officially represented by Pantone." - Mark Pinkus, President, Rhino Entertainment

"The Grateful Dead's visual iconography is unmatched in the music world. The Dead's Steal Your Face logo is their most recognizable icon, with three equally essential key elements: the 13-point lightning bolt, and the two colours, red and blue, that make up the logo's primary design elements. These shades of red and blue are uniquely and identifiably Grateful Dead icons on their own. To now have two pantone colours immortalizing these shades of red and blue as the official colours of the Grateful Dead is a huge honour." - David Lemieux, Grateful Dead Legacy Manager and Archivist

"Just like the music of the iconic Grateful Dead, color can evoke emotions and feelings that can engulf you into a different world. Memorializing and standardizing the iconic colors that showcase the band’s originality and ensuring their legacy lives on through a visual language, is both meaningful and inspiring and we are proud to be a part of it." - Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute

As with so many official GD products, I ask myself “who buys this stuff?!?!?”

a significant portion of the population of the city where I live ;)

Unlike my city, which doesn't truck with such nonsense. (I may, in fact, be lying.)

Forgive me if this podcast episode has already been posted in one of these threads, but the “Dark Star” episode is proving really interesting.

https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-165-dark-star-by-the-grateful-dead/

https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/donna-jean-godchaux-mackay-grateful-dead-singer-dies-obituary-1236103585/

RIP DONNA JEAN

rip donna jean

RIP

I will say one thing that's been nice to see in recent years is the stupid misogyny and hate she got from a lot of Dead fans fading away and being replaced by more love and respect. I do still get bummed that she wasn't included in the Fare Thee Well shows back in 2015.

one time I mistook a GD track w/her as being something by Kate Bush, lol <3

RIP. i always loved finding a live show when she got to perform "Sunrise" - always got big Fairport Convention vibes from that one.

RIP, she seemed really cool in her segment in the documentary. She was a part of the Dead at arguably their creative zenith. I'd say "Weather Report Suite" was one of the tunes she really shines in doing the duel vocals with Bob.

Don't really know a bunch of JGB, but I checked out a couple of the live shows put out and she sounds quite good on both gigs.

As I have read, she had a tough time with the live crew sometimes part of that from the equipment of the era too, in that she could not get very good monitoring of her own voice.

The Muscle Shoals documentary?

She is the center interview of one of the episodes of Martin Scorsese's documentary.

She sounds good on records, I think she struggled with the stage volume mostly. rip. There’s a whole ass GD lineup in jam heaven now…

Yeah, aiui, she was never given a good vocal monitor and had a lot of trouble hearing herself on stage.

easy to get past all that once you remember the vocals were never the dead's live strong suit

I think she's pretty great on her songs though, particularly "Sunrise" and "You Ain't Woman Enough".

Is Eyes of the World the center of the Grateful Dead Venn Diagram? It feels like the song that the GD cover bands and the later jam bands end up sounding like the most.

It's the most jazzy maybe?

... like on the famous without a net eyes, branford marsalys' said he was hearing it for the first time when he played on it, he just intuitively knew where to go with it.

It's a tune with a steady upbeat and straight up strummed chords, it's one you can pick up on an acoustic pretty easy I would figure.

Back in the 90s, I went a few times to see an Muncie/Indy jam band called the The Why Store which were popular enough to get a major deal and put out some CDs. Still going in fact. I saw them in their early days as I was from Muncie and the Deadhead college kids were a big part of their fan base playing at the Bluebird or The Patio and went pretty quick to playing some bigger places like The Vogue or Jakes. In those earlier gigs I seem to remember them busting out "Eyes of the World" or even the whole "Help on the Way/Franklin's Tower" run and them obviously being big with the audiences they were getting.

it's easily their worst gateway song just in terms of hippy/jam band music.

I mostly love the song but it feels like eating frosting at some moments if you know what I mean.

exactly! it's "sugar magnolia" on feelgood vibe steroids

i started listening to the Venetta deadcast episode and was about to turn it off as I thought they were getting way into the weeds about the post WWII dairy/yogurt industry, but then the reveal that Huey Lewis was driving mass quantities of yogurt across the northwest in a truck without refrigeration was hilarious.

i've just pitched myself the newest remake of smokey and the bandit

the fact that the one-armed man from twin peaks is in that episode is amazing, too.

A three-hour Deadcast episode on Blues for Allah just appeared in my feed. Slightly embarrassed by how excited I am for this.

I have a lot of thoughts about "Eyes." Really didn't like it when I first heard it, it felt like they were writing for the crowd in a way that didn't appeal. but now I mainly hear the jazz in it and how it's a great platform for soloing

The version on without a net with Branford Marsalis sounds like an extended “what’s going on/mercy mercy me” jam, it totally rules