I Hate the Grateful Dead
Well, that may be slightly overstated in as much as I don't think about Grateful Dead that much but I NEVER liked them, all the way back to high school. Every goddamned song in live performance sounds the same to me, and RIP Jerry, but he played the same freaking scale and licks over and over. His record with David Grisman is the only thing I can tolerate.
And I forgot to add - I also hate Hippies. I ought to know, I was one, for a brief sad era, which I do remember to some extent.
And I forgot to add - I also hate Hippies. I ought to know, I was one, for a brief sad era, which I do remember to some extent.
Comments
Art is considered repetition.
not being a pot smoker prolly kept the distance firmly in place...no offense to those who might partake.
In the last ten years I've bought some favorite shows from the "Dick's Picks" series and enjoy some of the live stuff you can stream from LMA. The jazzy improvising is pretty great sometimes.
Saw them at Rothbury this year with Warren Haynes playing JG, and they were great.
The Jerry Garcia Band stuff at eMu is pretty tasty soul-funk-jazz kind of stuff
I started this thread as an evolution from the Worn Out thread because I figured it might be controversial enough to warrant Fight Club. I do mean to try someday to see if my impressions of the Dreadful Grate still stand - sometimes I am surprised, like - In the 90's I loathed Nirvana, couldn't stand listening to them, and thought Kurt Cobain couldn't play the guitar for s**t - (am I really looking for a fight now?). However, thanks to hearing renditions of some of his songs by contestants on Rock Star INXS, namely Jordis Unga and Marty Casey, I thought, "Hmm, maybe I was hasty here", and actually grew to like and respect some of Nirvana's songs,(although I still have little use for a lot of "Grunge"). We'll just have to see if Jerry can evoke any such transformation.
I didn't get into them in high school, which is probably best in the long run. I only personally got to go to one Dead Show, but did several Phil Lesh shows when he toured with Dylan. I was surprised how friendly and fun all the people were, especially the older fans. it really is a cool community of people.
That said, I agree with you about the Dead.
Having been a teenager in the 90's, though, I'm going to pretend you didn't make any statements about Nirvana/Cobain.
Craig
Didn't they do that "Touch of Grey" song? That was pretty cool. I didn't realize they did anything else...
Grateful Dead = Nirvana=Angelo Depippa=William Shatner?
# BigD - You don't like licorice. Yet no one has called you out on that. Isn't that curious? Most people would never get into arguments over food like they do over music (or computers - hang out in computer forums and you'll see stuff that will make the emusic board of the past few months seem like a Bible study group in comparison). Why is that? Why do our musical choices so define us that attacking them can induce rage?
As for arguing about music? I like to listen to discussions because I learn. I "discover" music that thrills me that I probably wouldn't discover otherwise. I don't get upset when people don't share my musical tastes because I like what I like and I don't apologize for it, nor do I try to convince someone that my opinions are the right ones. I put it in the same category of going to a museum, seeing something that makes my eyes light up, but most people are on the other side of the room admiring another painting.
As Plong42 said over there, I am a Philistine when it comes to knowledge about music, understanding why critics would say this is great, that isn't. It reminds me of a child talking to Art Linkletter many years ago. The child (I can't remember if it was boy or girl) was explaining his relationships in the family, and Art offered a gentle correction, telling the child he couldn't be such and such. The child looked up at him and said, very firmly, "You be who you want to be and I'll be who I want to be. All right?"
That's how I feel about music. I may not understand why someone likes or dislikes this or that, but I can accept it, and maybe what I hear will change my own mind in the process.
Personally you can make fun of just about anything I like. As long as you're not being a jerk about it, I'll laugh along with you. I've seen way too many people get riled up because they were attached to a particular musician or group or computer platform (*cough* Mac *cough*) to let it get to me. My nick over yonder (along with just about every board I joined until the last year or so) was more or less poking fun at the fact that I was so heavily into independent everything - a rivethead I was dating at the time gave it to me. The reality was I had fun dancing at goth/industrial clubs even if Tahiti 80 was blaring on my stereo when I got home.
# thom
I never get upset when people don't like my music either. In fact, being a jazz fan for most of my life, I expect it. In a discussion with He Who Must Not Be Named Jr. on the emusic board, someone had the audacity to comment that they had looked at his downloads and thought they were ick. (Thom, was that you under your other screen name?). This of course provoked the expected response. I posted back that I thought his downloads were ick too, but that he probably would feel the same way about mine, and who cares? Who cares what anyone thinks of your musical taste. I agree with mommio, the best thing that musical discussion gets you is more knowledge about music. I'm more likely to change my mind upon learning something new in an argument than I am in ever getting upset.
In the early 90's I worked with a couple of guys who were dyed-in-the-wool Deadheads who took off for weeks at a time to tour. These guys would spend hours debating the relative merits of one tape's performance of "Sugar Magnolia" vs another one from 4 nights later, generally laced with comments like "You can hear where Jerry saw the stars come out" and other such gibberish.
The other thing that probably put me off even more than that was a girl I hooked up with in college (pre-"Touch of Grey"). Granted, my musical tastes in the mid 80's was a little lame, but all this chick wanted to listen to was the dead. The first few times, OK, since a tasty bowl came out, but after about the fourth time when I asked if she had any other music, she answered honestly "No, it's the Dead or nothing". I said "nothing", thinking perhaps silence, but she showed me the door. A few months later "Touch of Grey" came out and I ran into her again. Trying to spark something back up I commented that I liked that song, whereupon she threw her beer in my face. Rumor has it she married a guy who made a killing during the tech bubble and is now a diamond-encrusted country-club cougar.
The best pizza in the universe, however, is the Palace Special from Pagliai's in Iowa City, IA. Yeah, you heard me. Iowa.
Craig
Naah. Papa Del's, Champaign IL
In my defense, that was in the context of classical music. To me, good music is like the famous definition of porn: I cannot really define it, but I know it when I hear it.
The Dead do it for me for the most part, but they are also associated with an earlier, free spirited time in life. And I am listening to Cosmic Charlie, from Aoxomoxoa at the moment, in honor of this threat.
Edit: Truce?
Somehow I wouldn't be surprised.
Heh. Offense was neither intended nor taken. I'm listening to the Dead so how can I possibly be angry? (I have upgraded to Reckoning, which has always been a favorite.)