What is your opinion of The Grateful Dead?

[CTyankee]

We have a friend who is a deadhead at age 60. I can't figure it out. Maybe he's just being a little wistful about his youthful enjoyment of music and just never got over it...

[hlthe2b]

1. I wasn't a big fan, but I didn't dislike them either. I think of Al Franken though...

he was a BIG deadhead.

[Lochloosa]

8. So is Al Gore.

[msongs]

2. snooze inducing nt

[mr_lebowski]

3. Being a Deadhead at 60 makes a lot of sense ... he grew up with the Dead ...

No different than others still loving the Beatles, Elton, The Stones ... it's what they grew up with.

Dead & Company are on a big US tour right now, selling out large venues across the country. My little bro (who's only 41) listens to the Dead all the time, and went to the Shoreline (Mt View, CA) show at the beginning of June.

The Dead still have a HUGE following.

Also, although I have to be 'in the mood', I love the Dead as well. Not a 'Deadhead', only saw 'em live once, but I've listened to tons of their music over the years. They were a one-of-a-kind group ... either you like 'em or you don't, but those who DO ... tend to love them. Just one of those things.

[CTyankee]

7. My son is 50 and he thinks deadheads are those who never got over being a teenager and

discovering rock music. He himself was a HUGE Monkees and Beatles fan so he knows all about this. I don't know why he has such a view but there it is.

[mr_lebowski]

13. If you're 60, living in a VW van, following the (remaining members of) GD around, still dropping

acid and begging for 'Miracle Tickets' in the parking lot of every show involving Bob Weir ... then yeah, you probably more or less meet your son's 'definition'. Though I'm not entirely sure it's bad thing if it works for you!

But 'Deadhead' actually just means ... you love the Dead's music, and like to go see them play live at least occasionally. You know, like a fan of any band.

[CTyankee]

17. Actually, my husband and I have a friend who is 60, living a "sorta" existence and has been

homeless and he is a huge deadhead. But he actually is suffering from depression and is on meds. I suspect he goes off his meds sometimes because he "doesn't feel like himself" on them.

[shanny]

30. all due respect to your son, but being a HUGE Monkees -and- Beatles fan

sounds like blasphemy...just sayin'

[CTyankee]

43. He would kinda agree with you now. Then he was around 15 and was just discovering rock

in some of its forms. He then formed a garage band with his buddies and it was kind of a slippery slope he was on. I despaired.

Now he is a prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA's office and a pretty awesome guy...

[WA-03 Democrat]

4. Spoiled kids from Palo Alto

At the right place at the right time. Better then Christian Country Music is the best I can say.

[Lochloosa]

6. Poor and from Florida when I would go to the shows.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

[pangaia]

29. Boy, I'll say....

[Kali]

10. ...

[lapucelle]

14. Is that accurate? They were spoiled rich kids? Where did you read that?

[mr_lebowski]

18. No, it's not, it's ridiculous ... and esp. unlikely with a 60 year old person ... (nt)

[WA-03 Democrat]

24. They are from Palo Alto

Look it up...Google, Wikipedia etc.

Palo Alto is not a poor area. It’s is one of the richest cities in the US with Stanford University. They were not from Richmond or Oakland. They had instruments, they had cars, they were close to the city and I would say got lucky but maybe more importantly did show up.

Put Jerry in North Dakota and say it would be the same would be a large leap.

[link:https://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/10/14/remembering-stanfords-bohemian-quarter/|

[Blues Heron]

31. Put Jerry on a north bound train you say?

LOL

[WA-03 Democrat]

34. Driving that train...

High on Cocaine!

Okay I love them

[Blues Heron]

37. heh heh

Wave that flag!

[lapucelle]

33. Are the Excelsior District and Menlo Park (where Garcia grew up) wealthy areas?

I've never heard them referred to as "spoiled rich kids".

[WA-03 Democrat]

36. Menlo Park, Los Altos, Woodland, Atherton and PA are rich

I regret calling them spoiled. I don’t know that. They had advantages others did not. My opinion is where they where, who was around, coupled with a great work ethic got them a perfect point of entry for entertainment at that time.

[Lochloosa]

39. Do you have a clue how old Bob Weir was when he met Jerry?

If not, you should learn about a topic before spouting off nonsense.

[WA-03 Democrat]

50. Yes

He was 16.

“On New Year's Eve, 1963, 16-year-old Weir and another underage friend were wandering the back alleys of Palo Alto, looking for a club that would admit them, when they heard banjo music. They followed the music to its source, Dana Morgan's Music Store. Here, a young Jerry Garcia, oblivious to the date, was waiting for his students to arrive. Weir and Garcia spent the night playing music together and then decided to form a band.” Wikipedia Bob Weir

Bob was from Atherton.

[mr_lebowski]

53. NOW those areas are ridiculously rich, but in the 1960's?

Not nearly as much, and certainly not 'universally' rich anywhere near the degree they are now.

Okay, I'll give you Atherton, and probably most of Los Altos ... East Palo Alto was a craphole then and not all of Palo Alto was wealthy at all. And there were plenty of very wealthy areas in Oakland back then, and some in Richmond too (referring to the post you replied to).

Naming a city of where someone hails from, circa mid 1960's in N. Cal ... doesn't tell you much, unless it's a handful of places like Atherton, Orinda, or Alamo/Danville.

Need to also know the neighborhood ... is it Piedmont? Is it Montclair? Or is it Fruitvale? Nob Hill, or Hunters Point?

Know what I'm saying?

[WA-03 Democrat]

66. Agree different times

Your right, today, steps away from the richest high walled mansions in Atherton are the low income housing in Redwood City. East Palo Alto was the murder capital a couple of years in the 80s. They put in the Four Seasons and IKEA and started buying up the land. I have lived in both Palo Alto and Menlo Park at different times over the last 50 years. It is now a ton of tech money.

The Menlo Circus Club is an example that the area has been well off for over a hundred years.

It is a bubble and the genesis point of many innovations-like HP, the barcode, fiber optic amps, Google, Fakebook and The Grateful Dead too.

P.s. I love Oakland!

[LuckyCharms]

48. When Jerry Garcia was 4 years old, his finger was chopped off by

his brother Tiff in a firewood cutting accident. When he was 5 years old, he witnessed the drowning of his father. After the death of his father, Jerry's mother took over the ownership of his father's bar. So Jerry essentially grew up in a bar full of rough customers.

Sometime during his relative youth (not sure when), he was in a car accident that threw him out of his shoes.

In his early musical career, he lived out of a car with his songwriting partner.

Did I miss the "spoiled" part?

[WA-03 Democrat]

88. His Mother remarried

The family thankful moved out and to Menlo Park and his step father provided for Jerry and his siblings. I did not know about his Dad. That is tragic. Accidents happen to people in any economic bracket. Things did get better. He worked/taught at a music store in Palo Alto where he meet Bob.

I would recommend a good doc on Netflix called “The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip Of Bob Weir.”

You can see the family photos and where they lived.

[SHRED]

84. Spoiled?

How the fuck do you know?

[Lochloosa]

5. 62 and 32 shows later I will always be a fan

Dead shows were an experience like no other concert I've been to.

You had to have seen them live to understand.

[lapucelle]

19. You were either on the bus or off the bus.

I am one of your bus mates.

[peacefreak2.0]

40. Beat me to it!

[Chemisse]

42. I agree. Age 64 here and I will always be a Dead Head.

I love other music too, of course, but a big chuck of my musical heart belongs to the Grateful Dead.

[Kali]

9. not a hyperfan deadhead, but like 'em plenty

first concert I ever went to alone was a Dead show.

[Sherman A1]

11. No interest in them at all

If others enjoy their work, fine with me.

[ProudLib72]

12. I only got into the Dead after Jerry died.

For the longest time I was anti-Dead because of the whole scene in Boulder, CO. It just seemed lame. Then I started actually listening and realized that they produced really good, unique music. Then I felt like an asshole because I had missed out on them. I could have gone to a live show!

[Paladin]

15. Best thing Jerry Garcia ever did:

The steel guitar part in CSN&Y's immortal "Teach Your Children."

That's as close as I come to being a fan of The Grateful Dead.....

[randr]

16. The Goodness of the Dead

Fills volumes and will be handed down for generations.

[CountAllVotes]

22. So true

There will never be another Jerry Garcia!

[vlyons]

20. boring

nt

[wryter2000]

21. I'm not into the Dead

But I understand a continuing love of a band. I'm 70 and still shake my booty at Tower of Power concerts. I'll love them until someone throws dirt on my coffin.

[gtar100]

23. When they are on game, sublime.

I was late to the party though. I wouldn't consider myself a Dead Head but there is some of their music that is absolutely brilliant and mesmerizing. A birthday gift I received as a kid from my cousin that I have never forgotten was a cassette tape of Mars Hotel and it got its worth of plays for a long time.

[mr_lebowski]

25. If you lived in the Bay Area in 1995 when Jerry died, u know the outpouring of grief was incredible

Other than Lennon's ass@ssination, there's never been anything like it for a musical figure ... not MJ, not Prince, not Bob Marley ... nor do I think there ever will be again ... unless MAYBE if Bono tragically passes sometime in the near future.

Literally 100,000+ people made sojourns from across the world, and flooded into San Francisco to celebrate and grieve ... it was incredible. I was there.

And it very likely impacted more people's lives than the death of any other musician in the years that followed. Yes, it was 'their choice' to let it impact them the way it did, but the devotion of the following of the Dead has historically been like NO OTHER band. And I mean it's not even close. Jerry's death, and the subsequent retiring of the Grateful Dead as a recording and touring entity ... at least temporarily shattered the lives of 10's of 1000's of people, no joke.

[Blue Owl]

28. Head Deadhead Dead

Was the "head"line in The Onion that week...

[CTyankee]

45. Ben and Jerry named that flavor of ice cream "Cherry Garcia" I recall...

[pangaia]

26. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Brilliant band... at least it WAS.

[lapfog_1]

27. as George Carlin used to say in one of his early comedy bits

on the Dr. Deminto show when I was a young teen...

The Grateful Dead are Dead... and Grateful.

[NBachers]

32. I was walking down Mission Street in San Francisco a few days ago. I passed a kid in his twenties.

As I walked by I could hear the Dead playing through his earphones. I smiled silently to myself and walked on.

I'm 70.

[UniteFightBack]

91. Lots of young people and even some families at the Dead and Company shows. Good times are had

by all.

[lunasun]

35. I'll take some flower freak trance dancing over some neo Nazi stomping on drag queens

The GD fans hurt no one and aren’t in anyone’s face with the music or philosophy
Conservatives used to use the band and fans as a perfect example of dirty hippies
f them

[mr_lebowski]

49. What's actually kinda funny about the Dead ... if you'd never listened to 'em you'd likely think

they are super flower-power and left-wing in their lyrics ... in reality, they're actually relatively apolitical. Not saying they have any 'right-leaning' songs, cause they don't, and definitely have vaguely liberal messages in many songs, but they are by no means, say, Woody Guthrie put to trippy jam music, like some people probably think.

Their lyrics are not any more political than the Beatles, put it like that.

Which is not to say their general vibe wasn't always 'peace and love', cause it was. And that's obviously a liberal vibe

[Lochloosa]

56. You are so right. In the end there's just a song.

Stella Blue

All the years combine
They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar
In the end there's just a song
Comes crying like the wind
Through all the broken dreams
And vanished years
Stella Blue
When all the cards are down
There's nothing left to see
There's just the pavement left
And broken dreams
In the end there's still that song
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That's ever been

[mr_lebowski]

68. A Steal Your Face classic ... love this live '77 version ...

[Lochloosa]

74. Thanks for that. Nice

[lapucelle]

86. I saw them at the Palladiun that spring and they did Stella Blue.

In all the shows I went to, it think it was the only time I heard it live.

I also saw them at the Hartford Civic Center that May, where they played Brown Eyed Woman...Six months later, it snowed so hard that the roof caved in.

https://connecticuthistory.org/almost-a-tragedy-the-collapse-of-the-hartford-civic-center/

[lunasun]

61. Depends on what you define as a political issue I guess

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/two-grateful-dead-members-call-on-fans-to-support-marijuana-reform/
Just this week
Songwriter and guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, who are now part of Dead & Company, each called on their social media followers to get involved with the Cannabis Voter Project, which “aims to educate Americans about about how voting can impact cannabis policy.” Dead & Company bassist Oteik Burbridge also used his platform to promote the organization

I guess I think of songs like uncle johns band or truckin as being about everyday people so folky like Guthrie l in that sense but that’s just me my perception
Tbh I only went to thier parking lots for the party ,food , and other ” offerings “
never a concert ticket but knew the music , could here it playing if it was an outdoors stadium and plenty of flowery trance dancers around when they always came through Chicago . My friend worked at a hotel and onetime helped some trippin DHs get back to the scene. They were holding on to walls of the hotel when he walked out of work to go home super wasted and pretty far from the concert doings +campout ... . I took my kids when they returned long after Garcia’s death just so they could walk down ‘shake down street’ to see the atmosphere - no judgement but it was closed off to non ticket holders by then things had changed 🤨
That could have been the area police not the concert request .
Mano a Mano on who would expience a shakedown being a big city perhaps but never heard of any problems .

[mr_lebowski]

87. Didn't mean to imply the members aren't a bunch of liberals, just talking about the song lyrics :)

I did Dead parking lots many times in the late 80's/early 90's in the Bay Area, just to enjoy the vibe and offerings, only went inside once and watched the show though. They were always way sold-out lol ...

[Cattledog]

38. "If I had me a shotgun,

I'd blow you straight to hell."

Candyman, Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh

[Generic Brad]

41. Not my cup of tea

They never resonated with me. Thankfully, it's a big world out there and there's something for everyone.

[ADX]

44. I never got into the Dead...

...I'm more a Zeppelin kinda guy...

[mr_lebowski]

46. Me, and a few in my family are living proof these are not mutually-exclusive populations ;)

Although I definitely have listened to Zep A LOT LOT LOT more ... and seen Plant and/or Page many more times ...

[Itchinjim]

47. I'm a 60 year old Deadhead. Been following them from my teens.

To explain their appeal it basically boils down to whether you're on the bus or off the bus.

[rampartc]

51. 'maybe you just had to be there

i'm a big fan.

[MythosMaster]

52. Yes

Enjoyed! But with Garcia.

[aikoaiko]

54. The Grateful Dead experience transcends music.

They are the quintennsential good times jam
Band.

[WheelWalker]

55. They suck.

[Lochloosa]

57. You just ran out of pot.

[WheelWalker]

59. Not possible, LOL. Listening to the Dead is simply

a painfully unpleasant experience for me. I'd rather listen to Stravinsky. Or, eat a cilantro salad and suffer the heartburn.

[stopbush]

58. They're a joke, IMO.

[Lochloosa]

63. 2,318 concerts. Huge joke.

The 1998 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records recognized them with a listing under the heading, "most rock concerts performed" (2,318 concerts). They played to an estimated total of 25 million people, more than any other band, with audiences of up to 80,000 attending a single show.

[stopbush]

65. Quantity, not quality.

Yawn.

[UniteFightBack]

92. It's both since people show up. nt

[DinahMoeHum]

60. Been a Deadhead since the mid-1970's. . .and I'm 63.

I only went to a handful of their shows through the years, but I (still) have most of their LPs and CDs.

I'm not crazy about tribute bands in general, but last month at the Clearwater Festival (Great Hudson River Revival) I had the good fortune to hear two excellent bands Deadgrass and Zen Tricksters play at the various stages. Deadgrass gives GD music the acoustic bluegrass treatment while Zen Tricksters performs their original songs as well as GD music.

I also used to listen to the syndicated radio show Morning Dew, back when it was playing at Pacifica station WBAI. They disappeared a few years back, until I found out at the Clearwater Festival that they are now at WFDU-FM

And then of course, there's Grateful Dead Radio at Sirius XM. . .Channel 23.


https://www.facebook.com/deadgrasslive/

http://www.zentricksters.com/index.html

http://wfdu.fm/Hosts/morning%20dew/

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


I don't blame anybody who "never got over" listening to the Grateful Dead. Maybe they, like I, can't stand techno-pop, rap, or whatever passes for pop music these days. They could do a lot worse.

[Soxfan58]

62. I love the Dead

And I am 61. Only Deadheads can understand.

[teach1st]

64. I've been a Deadhead since 1968

They played at Greynolds Park East in North Miami in 1968 (I missed seeing them at Thee Image), and I've been hooked ever since, but mostly listen to their work prior to 1978. I have a "Steal Your Face" decal on whatever car I'm currently driving. They're not for everybody, but they are for me.

http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/greynolds-park-love-in-north-miami.html

[customerserviceguy]

67. I wasn't a fan

I just think they were a phenomenon, like the Kardashians with talent, that's all.

[pnwest]

69. Extremely talented musicians, i enjoy small doses.

[The Figment]

70. The Grateful Dead are like Harley Davidson Motorcycles,

If I have to explain, you would never understand.

[JDC]

71. The shows are fun. The music is ok, if in the background of something else going on.

[NightWatcher]

72. Donna Jean made years of their work unlistenable

[CTyankee]

73. who is donna jean?

[NightWatcher]

79. Donna Jean Godchaux was the wife of keyboardist, Keith Godchaux from 1972-1979

She was worse than the isolated tracks from Linda McCartney (Paul's wife and "backup singer&quot .

Her wails often drowned out Jerry or Bobby.

I know some will argue but I still cringe when I hear her on a track.

[DinahMoeHum]

80. Here ya go. . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Jean_Godchaux


https://web.archive.org/web/20150714185407/http://www.honesttune.com/the-music-never-stopped-the-musical-journey-of-donna-jean-godcheaux-mckay/

[CountAllVotes]

94. Donna Jean Godchaux was a back-up singer for Elvis!!

[KT2000]

75. never got them

the music to me was boring at a time there was so much dynamic stuff going on. They seem like nice people and glad they had their success.

[Claritie Pixie]

76. I respect them for what they did but don't much like their music.

[Mike Nelson]

77. I think they are...

… pretty good. Never my favorite, but I did like them. I remember my LPs Skeletons from the Closet, Wake of the Flood, and (I think) American Beauty Rose (or something like that). One of my best friends liked them like the Beatles, Stones or Zeppelin - that big, to him. I did notice that the friends more into drugs were more into the Dead...but not all... there was enough to make a generalization, tho... I liked another "drug band" more - Jefferson Airplane/Starship. All in all, the Grateful Dead were a fine band and made a lot of people happy.

[samnsara]

78. they were terrible..music sucked but message great..

[IADEMO2004]

81. Great Band Great Albums Couldn't pay me to see them live.

Endless drugged jam music to tedious for me.

[SHRED]

82. I'll have Ken Kesey (RIP) speak for me

They were magical.

[underpants]

83. Grew up 20 minutes from the Morhership

Hampton.

Loved when they came to town. It was like a circus.

A strange influence on a community who wouldn’t normally migrate to them. Parties always had a Dead song mixed with other classic rock and Jimmy Buffet.

[SHRED]

85. Touch of Grey

[Iggo]

89. Their fans aren't dicks.

Musically, The Grateful Dead just don't do it for me.

But I've been around their fans here and there for decades, and I have no complaints about them.

[UniteFightBack]

90. Easily one of my favorites. It's good music, ain't nothing to figure out. nt

[Harker]

93. I dislike their music.

I don't care for the singing voices or material, either.

Bob Weir is almost panic inducing in his awfulness. Jerry Garcia not quite so much. Close though.