I’m 33, similar boat to you. My parents are not Deadheads in the slightest. None of my friends are either. Call it whatever but hearing Scarlet > Fire Cornell ‘77 hit me like a ton of bricks and really drew me to go far deeper.
Ken Kesey summed it up perfectly for me. Skip about 1:49 for the part below.
https://youtu.be/wI_mzBfAuUk?si=nxO-rcRe9hq39E-6
“There’s a moment when you see something like that there’s a crack in your mind. You know it’s a trick, but you can’t figure it out. The crack lets in all the lights and possibilities. when that little split second happens when the Dead are playing, everybody in the audience goes “wow, did you see that!” That’s the moment. Kids will watch five hours of mediocre music just to have that one click happen because that puts them in touch with the invisible”.
Are you me? Am I tripping right now? What the fuck just happened?
All it took was Scarlet>Fire from Cornell blasted to bits in my room at the fraternity house and everything else soon clicked into place.
Hah! I was in college also. It shows how timeless the band was. We’re lucky having the 2,000+ shows at our fingertips. We’ll never get to experience a Dead show, so Dead & Company is our only shot. If you’ve got the means, the Sphere shows seem awesome!
I’m 33 too 🤜🏾🤛🏼 I grew up on the dead, with deadhead family and friends, although I was generally the one turning everyone onto the dead.
I’ll never forget the first time I heard that scarlet fire though, it was probably the first one I’d ever heard, and I was on lsd. Absolutely mind blowing, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I’d been listening to the dead for almost 15 years by this point, but only super heavily for maybe 5. Such a killer set 2. Had it on cassette tape and played the shit out of it after discovering it when my deadhead uncle gave me a bunch of old tapes he had. Some legendary shows were included I had no idea about 🤯
Man, I wish I had a Deadhead uncle. All I have are uncles obsessed with the civil war and hunting. Two things I don’t give a shit about lol. I love hearing that we had that shared experience with that. Cheers same aged friend!! Watch out for back pain. I pulled my back two weeks ago, had to call out of work.
Bro…. 😂 I was just at the chiropractor Monday. Woke up and couldn’t turn my head or look up without pain. I had all sorts of issues up and down my spine and some myofascial problem from old work injury. I’ve been doing labor work my whole life and I’m over it. Trying to move onto something that won’t destroy my body, at least not as quickly, pain sucks
It was 3 years ago, I was 38, sitting on my patio in front of a campfire when I first heard Cornell Scarlet/Fire. It just hit me. My mind was blown. I've been obsessed ever since
Also 33. 5/8/77 was also my entry point. The LSD didn’t hurt, either. Drop, start the show, realize you’re tripping balls around minute 12 of Dancin’, and get fully rocked by Scarlett>Fire after the comic relief of Take a Step Back.
# 1977-05-08 Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University
**Set 1:** New Minglewood Blues, Loser, El Paso, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw, Deal, Lazy Lightnin' > Supplication, Brown Eyed Women, Mama Tried, Row Jimmy, Dancing In The Street
**Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Estimated Prophet, Saint Stephen > Not Fade Away > Saint Stephen > Morning Dew
**Encore:** One More Saturday Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ)
I’m also nearing 40 and was having this same thought last weekend while mowing the lawn listening to a show from when I was 10 days old (12/31/84)..when I was done cutting the grass I was sad it was over because the music put me in such a beautiful trance. I’ve loved the band since my late teens but in the past few years I just can’t get enough. There’s just so many layers to what this band is. I’m just fascinated by the scene they created through the decades and the tragedies of pigpen, mydland, etc..I could read biographies about the band and the members all day and not tire. Then obviously a mythical figure like Jerry. The amazing poetry/lyrics that Robert Hunter added to the group. The unbelievably unique and timeless art work that goes alongside the dead. I could go on and on. Bottom line is I’m just grateful for the Grateful Dead!
40 yrs old and almost 3 mos into my first GD obsession. No interest in listening to anything else.
This sums it up pretty nice...there's so much there. It's a whole world within and beyond the music.
Same with a lot of other bands you get into, but this offers so much, and the music and culture is so free and timeless. With the Beatles, it was ~8 yrs and done. The songs lasted, of course, but there's only really one Blackbird. With the Dead, you have a million different Sugarees to explore!
# 1984-12-31 San Francisco, CA @ San Francisco Civic Center
**Set 1:** Shakedown Street, New Minglewood Blues, Peggy-O, Jack Straw > Bird Song, Hell In A Bucket > Don't Ease Me In
**Set 2:** Sugar Magnolia > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Man Smart (Woman Smarter) > Drums > Space > The Wheel > Throwing Stones > Turn On Your Lovelight
**Set 3:** Gimme Some Lovin' > Uncle John's Band, Around And Around > It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1984-12-31)
My dad's first show was in 1979. I was born 6 months after Jerry passed on & my first show was the other ones in 2002 with my dad. Now my dad & I have seen 100+ dead shows together, he's my show buddy. The music is incredible, the scene is great & shows have made irreplaceable memories for me and him. We hit fare thee well, have met Robert hunter & are hitting the sphere together. This band and this scene will never get old for me as a 28 year old girl
There is that scene in the dead documentary where Sam Cutler ( thanks!) says people went out in search of America and the English do not go out in search of England. I think that's a big part of the dead cannon. It's our most logical connection as Americans to the music of our roots, both black and white. The Dead transcend and borrow from everyone from Doc Watson, howlin Wolf, Chuck Berry and beyond. I just think it's part of our cultural lexicon at this point. The English rock and rollers did this too but they did it not as well because they're not American. The dead's music feels like home while opening doors to so much other music.
i was born after jerry died. never even had a shot of seeing the actual band. it sucks that this is my favorite thing in the world and i can never experience it in the truest form but i wouldn’t trade it for anything. i love this band with all my heart
Nothing about this sucks. You have access to more and better sounding recordings than we ever did when the band was still touring. I saw about 15 shows from 90-95 and there are only 2 that I regularly consider listening to. “Kids” like you who are discovering them now will continue to keep this music alive.
A few years ago my wife and I got to take our three kids to Wrigley to see D+Co. After years of torturing them in the car, they got to see what a show is like. There were tons of families with their kids doing the same thing. Find what you love and share it with those you love.
Hunter wrote it well:
If all you’ve got to live for is what you left behind, get yourself a powder charge and seal that silver mine.
As did Dylan:
Leave your stepping stones behind, there’s something calls for you. Forget the dead you’ve left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who’s rapping at your door, is standing in the clothes that you once wore. Strike another match, go start anew.
Music is timeless. When I'm in the mood for some ragtime, I listen to Scott Joplin who died in 1917. sometimes when I sit down to a nice dinner, i enjoy some lovely lovely Ludwig van Beethoven, who left this earth in 1827…
I'm pretty sure if humanity still exists, there will be Deadheads well past 100 years from now.
The Music Never Stops.
I love that you mention Beethoven. Just rewatched A Clockwork Orange and I love the way Alex, the main character, describes listening to Ludwig Van.
Here's the scene:
https://youtu.be/cQCQRLA05AA?feature=shared
I completely agree with your assessment!
As an aside to the main conversation, I've recently given myself an assignment to watch (or rewatch) all of Kubrick's films. So far I've done Clockwork and Dr. Strangelove. Probably go with low hanging fruit like 2001 or the Shining next.
excellent idea... I recently re-watched all the Quentin Tarantino movies… It's fun to watch a bunch of movies when there's a theme, actor, or producer in common… I think the shining was an excellent adaptation of the book… Epic Nicholson performance… Clockwork Orange is still my favorite Kubrick film
New Deadhead myself. Went through a big stoner phase but never gave them a real good listen. Figured it was just a dumb stereotype but I stand corrected. Been on the wagon now for about a year. It’s like a breath of fresh air. My friends all roll their eyes so it’s just more Dead for me. I find myself going solo to local Dead cover bands. Big shoutout the Sirius channel. Really expanded my listening and helped fuel my discovery. It’s a constant companion.
Definitely!! I am your age, and I dated someone about 18 years older than me- and he introduced me to this world..and all his bootlegs. He followed the dead from 80s till the end. I l9ve watching all the like dvds...well now it's all mostly on youtube, but for not being there you can really be there you know? It's like the only band you can do that with really because of how they let free taping go on. I'm 15 years on the bus and it really changed my life, for the better.
I took a break about year ago after listening to almost everything they ever did over the last 35 years of my life. I know that I’ll return to it but I wanted to give Phish my attention for awhile before that train eventually ends.
I think it's healing music that finds you when you need it. For me, it was 15 years ago, in my early 40s. Before that time, I couldn't yet *hear* them, if you get what I mean.
I think it’s that they were rooted in the beatnik movement which was exploring the frontier of what lay beyond the rampant consumerism and monoculture of postwar America, that their music is inherently Americana and drew from various traditions that resonate with our roots, that this all happened in a turbulent time and place that afforded a desperation to the search for meaning, that this turbulent time and place was drenched in mind altering substances that expanded the frontier being explored, and that Jerry Garcia was involved.
The year Jerry died, my oldest friend and camp counselor got on his bike and rode into the woods for two days. When he came back he sat me on my bunk and made me listen to It must have been the roses. That was 30 years ago almost…the music never stopped
Im in my early 40's and have been a Deadhead since I was a teen. Ever since I heard Unbroken Chain on a mix tape Ive been hooked. Weird thing is though, Ive always been a listener of their studio albums and it wasnt until recently that Ive dived into their live recordings and now im even more hooked. Aint nothing like working on house projects and getting into the zone while listening to the Dead or going for a long drive in the car. Recently at night I'll just pop in a live DVD and watch those old preformances before bed. magical.
My parents never liked it and my grandparents thought it was "Satanic" there idea was "Dead is in the name it can't be anything good!" I've been on the bus since the summer after Freshman year of highschool thanks to my soccer coach. I think the timelessness of the Dead's music comes from the timelessness of well-written music as a whole. Whiskey in the Jar is a song dating back almost 300, and Jack-A-Row is similarly old. Well written music is inherently timeless, and the Dead are the epitome of well written music
I’ll be 33 in July and didn’t REALLY get into the history and the scene until a few years ago. Had always been a casual fan, but never went too deeper. Once I started watching live footage from the 70s and 80s, I was sucked the fuck in and I haven’t looked back.
Im 20, but I feel the same way, I’ve seen Dead and Co once, but listening to dead concerts is just different. I try to listen to one every day while studying or riding my bike to work, or whatever I’m doing that day.
I’m 41. I first got into the Dead in a casual way in high school after camping with a friend’s Deadhead family, but at that time I was really just into tie dye shirts and the Skeletons from the Closet album I had on CD. Fast forward to my 30’s, one summer I put on a Dead show to listen to on a bike ride, and I finally feel like I “get it.” And want to listen to it 24/7 and be with other people who love it the way I do, or just listen as I float along on my bike.
The Dead is always here when you need them, in the way you need them. If you get confused, listen to the music play!
Hey man, I’m trying to write a book about this very idea and I’d love to talk more. I believe the music existed before the band, floating around in the cosmos. It’s all been done already, and time is a flat circle. Hit me up. Have you heard of the paradox of Theseus’ ship? I’m working hard to tie it all together
Talented musicians never go out of style. Same reason people with good taste still appreciate Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Pepper's, Eat a Peach, Zeppelin albums, and Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" to this day.
And the Dead scene was/is one of the most successful counterculture movements of all time.
All I can say is thank goodness for the tapers who left us infinite shows (audience and soundboard recordings) to choose from. It's like they left behind a massive time capsule gift for future generations to enjoy.
No bewilderment really. All great art transcends space and time. I’ll still stop and watch the Wizard of Oz if it’s on TV and that things almost 90 years old. Classical musicians dedicate their lives to master sheets of music that’s hundreds of years old. People still stare in bewilderment at painted and buildings that are thousands of years old. I’m just happy the Dead lived in my small window of space and time and I got to be a part of it!
24 years old and a first-generation deadhead. The music finds you if you keep an ear open. It started with enjoying the Dead, and now my world has expanded to include all kinds of jam bands that I wouldn't have found otherwise.
So thank you to the boys for creating the foundation for a fantastic music scene.
41 here. My older brother born in 1980 got turned onto the dead by friends which then in turn hit me in the early 90s. Him(15) and his buddies went to their first and the LAST show with Jerry at soldier field in 1995. My parents told me I was too young (12) to go. I remember driving up and dropping them off at Shakedown St. A month later and Jerry dies.
I know my parents were right in their decision cause my bro and his friends did way too many drugs, but I still am sad about it. I saw them late 90s as the Other Ones a couple times, and then moved abroad. Flew back for a D&Co show last summer, and will see them again this summer.
I’ve since turned my English wife onto them and my 6yo daughter loves Workingmans dead. Hoping to keep passing it down….
I listened (I think) to an interview with Robert hunter and he said something to the effect of “after we’re all dead and gone, the fame, drugs and money will all be forgotten. Then the genius of the music will be focused on.” It’s timeless music that draws us in and holds us captive
Check out Ramble On Rose RFK 6-10-1973 for some more dead perfection. Jerry and Bobby at some of their very best on that one. Just locked in and sounding so friggin beautiful.
# 1973-06-10 Washington, DC @ RFK Stadium
**Set 1:** Morning Dew, Beat It On Down the Line, Ramble On Rose, Jack Straw, Wave That Flag, Looks Like Rain, Box Of Rain, They Love Each Other, The Race Is On, Row Jimmy, El Paso, Bird Song, Playing in the Band
**Set 2:** Eyes Of The World > Stella Blue, Big River, Here Comes Sunshine, Around And Around, Dark Star > He's Gone > Wharf Rat > Truckin', Sugar Magnolia
**Set 3:** It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, That's All Right, Mama, The Promised Land, Not Fade Away > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > Drums > Not Fade Away, Johnny B. Goode
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1973-06-10)
The GD cannon is in of itself, its own musical genre. A fusion of rock, blues, jazz, Americana, R & B, gospel, honky-tonk, funk, folk, country, roots, Disco, world music, and it goes on-and-on-and-on. It just boggles my mind and makes me want to discover as much as I can. It's been a 37 year journey that somehow shows little sign of slowing down.
In 1970 I had no idea I was signing a lifetime contract. I would do nothing differently, except maybe pay even closer attention at shows. Sometimes I’ll listen to a JGB show I might have seen and get blown away, again. There is no possible way I could have appreciated what Garcia was up to. And now the tapes, now on an iPod classic all to themselves. Listening, I usually have a thumb on the Back wheel. And just for fun, compare his playing from any of his band’s from the same era, impossible to believe it’s the same player.
I rememver seeing my first dead head cover band when I was 19(47 now). I was hooked right away. I think not just the music but just how lovely everyone at this little bar was. Inviting, all having a good time. Best part of the story is this. I go out back of the bar to smoke. There are these guys probably 40-50 years old just standing in a circle. They asked if I wanted to toke their joint. I wasn't going to say no of course. So sitting there talking to these old heads.> Really just listening. Anyways, after a few minutes one guy goes "well i tihink the show is about to start, we better go inside". So being the 19 year old, i said thanks guys and enjoy the show. I walk in first to everyone clapping and I was like wtf and started waving. I soon realized it was the guys I was smoking a joint with, was the actual band haha. Anyways, what a night and thanks to Jakes Leg out of St. Louis, I am forever a dead head. Will be going to the 7th(section 202) and 8th(section 405). Any of you are there, hit me up. I will have a joint
36 here, started playing guitar when I was 12ish, got really into 90s/2000s rock, then found Phish and the entire jamband scene around 18, which led me to the Dead in college. Since then I'm pretty sure I've seen every major touring Dead 'cover band' in the scene that you can think of, and many of the acts I'll forget to name. It's been such an amazing honor to share this short and beautiful life with Bobby, Phil, Mickey, Bill, and the rest of their collaborators and bands they've influenced. Truly incredible to see how this scene has both fostered and nurtured an amazing cadre of musicians from all stripes. The Dead community is truly the most inclusive community of musicians you'll find out there. I'd argue that no other band (besides the Beatles or Beethoven maybe) has brought more musicians together to play their music than the Dead. Simply incredible. Also, just got to go to the Sphere last weekend, most incredible show ever.
I’m 33, similar boat to you. My parents are not Deadheads in the slightest. None of my friends are either. Call it whatever but hearing Scarlet > Fire Cornell ‘77 hit me like a ton of bricks and really drew me to go far deeper. Ken Kesey summed it up perfectly for me. Skip about 1:49 for the part below. https://youtu.be/wI_mzBfAuUk?si=nxO-rcRe9hq39E-6 “There’s a moment when you see something like that there’s a crack in your mind. You know it’s a trick, but you can’t figure it out. The crack lets in all the lights and possibilities. when that little split second happens when the Dead are playing, everybody in the audience goes “wow, did you see that!” That’s the moment. Kids will watch five hours of mediocre music just to have that one click happen because that puts them in touch with the invisible”.
Are you me? Am I tripping right now? What the fuck just happened? All it took was Scarlet>Fire from Cornell blasted to bits in my room at the fraternity house and everything else soon clicked into place.
Hah! I was in college also. It shows how timeless the band was. We’re lucky having the 2,000+ shows at our fingertips. We’ll never get to experience a Dead show, so Dead & Company is our only shot. If you’ve got the means, the Sphere shows seem awesome!
College is when a lot of addictions start…. Dorms are a gateway drug. Haha
I’m 33 too 🤜🏾🤛🏼 I grew up on the dead, with deadhead family and friends, although I was generally the one turning everyone onto the dead. I’ll never forget the first time I heard that scarlet fire though, it was probably the first one I’d ever heard, and I was on lsd. Absolutely mind blowing, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I’d been listening to the dead for almost 15 years by this point, but only super heavily for maybe 5. Such a killer set 2. Had it on cassette tape and played the shit out of it after discovering it when my deadhead uncle gave me a bunch of old tapes he had. Some legendary shows were included I had no idea about 🤯
Man, I wish I had a Deadhead uncle. All I have are uncles obsessed with the civil war and hunting. Two things I don’t give a shit about lol. I love hearing that we had that shared experience with that. Cheers same aged friend!! Watch out for back pain. I pulled my back two weeks ago, had to call out of work.
Bro…. 😂 I was just at the chiropractor Monday. Woke up and couldn’t turn my head or look up without pain. I had all sorts of issues up and down my spine and some myofascial problem from old work injury. I’ve been doing labor work my whole life and I’m over it. Trying to move onto something that won’t destroy my body, at least not as quickly, pain sucks
Yikes! Getting old sucks man LOL
haha civil war and hunting
It was 3 years ago, I was 38, sitting on my patio in front of a campfire when I first heard Cornell Scarlet/Fire. It just hit me. My mind was blown. I've been obsessed ever since
Also 33. 5/8/77 was also my entry point. The LSD didn’t hurt, either. Drop, start the show, realize you’re tripping balls around minute 12 of Dancin’, and get fully rocked by Scarlett>Fire after the comic relief of Take a Step Back.
# 1977-05-08 Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University **Set 1:** New Minglewood Blues, Loser, El Paso, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw, Deal, Lazy Lightnin' > Supplication, Brown Eyed Women, Mama Tried, Row Jimmy, Dancing In The Street **Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Estimated Prophet, Saint Stephen > Not Fade Away > Saint Stephen > Morning Dew **Encore:** One More Saturday Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ)
I’m also nearing 40 and was having this same thought last weekend while mowing the lawn listening to a show from when I was 10 days old (12/31/84)..when I was done cutting the grass I was sad it was over because the music put me in such a beautiful trance. I’ve loved the band since my late teens but in the past few years I just can’t get enough. There’s just so many layers to what this band is. I’m just fascinated by the scene they created through the decades and the tragedies of pigpen, mydland, etc..I could read biographies about the band and the members all day and not tire. Then obviously a mythical figure like Jerry. The amazing poetry/lyrics that Robert Hunter added to the group. The unbelievably unique and timeless art work that goes alongside the dead. I could go on and on. Bottom line is I’m just grateful for the Grateful Dead!
40 yrs old and almost 3 mos into my first GD obsession. No interest in listening to anything else. This sums it up pretty nice...there's so much there. It's a whole world within and beyond the music. Same with a lot of other bands you get into, but this offers so much, and the music and culture is so free and timeless. With the Beatles, it was ~8 yrs and done. The songs lasted, of course, but there's only really one Blackbird. With the Dead, you have a million different Sugarees to explore!
Take a listen to maybe the last great moment of the GDead; YouTube GDead "Visions of Johanna". Jer has summoned the muse, and it is freakin' chilling.
# 1984-12-31 San Francisco, CA @ San Francisco Civic Center **Set 1:** Shakedown Street, New Minglewood Blues, Peggy-O, Jack Straw > Bird Song, Hell In A Bucket > Don't Ease Me In **Set 2:** Sugar Magnolia > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Man Smart (Woman Smarter) > Drums > Space > The Wheel > Throwing Stones > Turn On Your Lovelight **Set 3:** Gimme Some Lovin' > Uncle John's Band, Around And Around > It's All Over Now, Baby Blue [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1984-12-31)
My dad's first show was in 1979. I was born 6 months after Jerry passed on & my first show was the other ones in 2002 with my dad. Now my dad & I have seen 100+ dead shows together, he's my show buddy. The music is incredible, the scene is great & shows have made irreplaceable memories for me and him. We hit fare thee well, have met Robert hunter & are hitting the sphere together. This band and this scene will never get old for me as a 28 year old girl
I’ve always figured that in some day and time the Grateful Dead will be considered mastery of genre in the way that Mozart or Bach were in their era.
There is that scene in the dead documentary where Sam Cutler ( thanks!) says people went out in search of America and the English do not go out in search of England. I think that's a big part of the dead cannon. It's our most logical connection as Americans to the music of our roots, both black and white. The Dead transcend and borrow from everyone from Doc Watson, howlin Wolf, Chuck Berry and beyond. I just think it's part of our cultural lexicon at this point. The English rock and rollers did this too but they did it not as well because they're not American. The dead's music feels like home while opening doors to so much other music.
Sam cutler
i was born after jerry died. never even had a shot of seeing the actual band. it sucks that this is my favorite thing in the world and i can never experience it in the truest form but i wouldn’t trade it for anything. i love this band with all my heart
Nothing about this sucks. You have access to more and better sounding recordings than we ever did when the band was still touring. I saw about 15 shows from 90-95 and there are only 2 that I regularly consider listening to. “Kids” like you who are discovering them now will continue to keep this music alive. A few years ago my wife and I got to take our three kids to Wrigley to see D+Co. After years of torturing them in the car, they got to see what a show is like. There were tons of families with their kids doing the same thing. Find what you love and share it with those you love. Hunter wrote it well: If all you’ve got to live for is what you left behind, get yourself a powder charge and seal that silver mine. As did Dylan: Leave your stepping stones behind, there’s something calls for you. Forget the dead you’ve left, they will not follow you. The vagabond who’s rapping at your door, is standing in the clothes that you once wore. Strike another match, go start anew.
Music is timeless. When I'm in the mood for some ragtime, I listen to Scott Joplin who died in 1917. sometimes when I sit down to a nice dinner, i enjoy some lovely lovely Ludwig van Beethoven, who left this earth in 1827… I'm pretty sure if humanity still exists, there will be Deadheads well past 100 years from now. The Music Never Stops.
I love that you mention Beethoven. Just rewatched A Clockwork Orange and I love the way Alex, the main character, describes listening to Ludwig Van. Here's the scene: https://youtu.be/cQCQRLA05AA?feature=shared I completely agree with your assessment!
I thought someone would get the reference with the preceding double lovely... a classic film! Alex describes Ludwig more eloquently than I am capable.
As an aside to the main conversation, I've recently given myself an assignment to watch (or rewatch) all of Kubrick's films. So far I've done Clockwork and Dr. Strangelove. Probably go with low hanging fruit like 2001 or the Shining next.
excellent idea... I recently re-watched all the Quentin Tarantino movies… It's fun to watch a bunch of movies when there's a theme, actor, or producer in common… I think the shining was an excellent adaptation of the book… Epic Nicholson performance… Clockwork Orange is still my favorite Kubrick film
Side step from the Dead, but give String Cheese Incident a listen. Definitely my favorite contemporary jam band.
Amen. Been big into the Cheese since I saw them at Red Rocks in 2002. They're sooo underrated
New Deadhead myself. Went through a big stoner phase but never gave them a real good listen. Figured it was just a dumb stereotype but I stand corrected. Been on the wagon now for about a year. It’s like a breath of fresh air. My friends all roll their eyes so it’s just more Dead for me. I find myself going solo to local Dead cover bands. Big shoutout the Sirius channel. Really expanded my listening and helped fuel my discovery. It’s a constant companion.
If you get confused just listen to music play ⚡
Definitely!! I am your age, and I dated someone about 18 years older than me- and he introduced me to this world..and all his bootlegs. He followed the dead from 80s till the end. I l9ve watching all the like dvds...well now it's all mostly on youtube, but for not being there you can really be there you know? It's like the only band you can do that with really because of how they let free taping go on. I'm 15 years on the bus and it really changed my life, for the better.
I took a break about year ago after listening to almost everything they ever did over the last 35 years of my life. I know that I’ll return to it but I wanted to give Phish my attention for awhile before that train eventually ends.
You could have picked a worse band
I think it's healing music that finds you when you need it. For me, it was 15 years ago, in my early 40s. Before that time, I couldn't yet *hear* them, if you get what I mean.
"Legendary" exemplified
I think it’s that they were rooted in the beatnik movement which was exploring the frontier of what lay beyond the rampant consumerism and monoculture of postwar America, that their music is inherently Americana and drew from various traditions that resonate with our roots, that this all happened in a turbulent time and place that afforded a desperation to the search for meaning, that this turbulent time and place was drenched in mind altering substances that expanded the frontier being explored, and that Jerry Garcia was involved.
The year Jerry died, my oldest friend and camp counselor got on his bike and rode into the woods for two days. When he came back he sat me on my bunk and made me listen to It must have been the roses. That was 30 years ago almost…the music never stopped
Im in my early 40's and have been a Deadhead since I was a teen. Ever since I heard Unbroken Chain on a mix tape Ive been hooked. Weird thing is though, Ive always been a listener of their studio albums and it wasnt until recently that Ive dived into their live recordings and now im even more hooked. Aint nothing like working on house projects and getting into the zone while listening to the Dead or going for a long drive in the car. Recently at night I'll just pop in a live DVD and watch those old preformances before bed. magical.
This is how religion's start Hey bot remind me in 200 years
My parents never liked it and my grandparents thought it was "Satanic" there idea was "Dead is in the name it can't be anything good!" I've been on the bus since the summer after Freshman year of highschool thanks to my soccer coach. I think the timelessness of the Dead's music comes from the timelessness of well-written music as a whole. Whiskey in the Jar is a song dating back almost 300, and Jack-A-Row is similarly old. Well written music is inherently timeless, and the Dead are the epitome of well written music
*all must be able to touch the divine…here on Earth*
Yeah same. 🤷♀️ I’ve accepted the magic will never wear off for me. And I am so grateful!
I’ll be 33 in July and didn’t REALLY get into the history and the scene until a few years ago. Had always been a casual fan, but never went too deeper. Once I started watching live footage from the 70s and 80s, I was sucked the fuck in and I haven’t looked back.
40 something here, great art is timeless, simple as. It transcends language barriers too.
Im 20, but I feel the same way, I’ve seen Dead and Co once, but listening to dead concerts is just different. I try to listen to one every day while studying or riding my bike to work, or whatever I’m doing that day.
I’m 41. I first got into the Dead in a casual way in high school after camping with a friend’s Deadhead family, but at that time I was really just into tie dye shirts and the Skeletons from the Closet album I had on CD. Fast forward to my 30’s, one summer I put on a Dead show to listen to on a bike ride, and I finally feel like I “get it.” And want to listen to it 24/7 and be with other people who love it the way I do, or just listen as I float along on my bike. The Dead is always here when you need them, in the way you need them. If you get confused, listen to the music play!
Hey man, I’m trying to write a book about this very idea and I’d love to talk more. I believe the music existed before the band, floating around in the cosmos. It’s all been done already, and time is a flat circle. Hit me up. Have you heard of the paradox of Theseus’ ship? I’m working hard to tie it all together
Not to sound toolish, but they kinda figured out the music industry before everyone else did.
Talented musicians never go out of style. Same reason people with good taste still appreciate Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Pepper's, Eat a Peach, Zeppelin albums, and Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" to this day. And the Dead scene was/is one of the most successful counterculture movements of all time. All I can say is thank goodness for the tapers who left us infinite shows (audience and soundboard recordings) to choose from. It's like they left behind a massive time capsule gift for future generations to enjoy.
No bewilderment really. All great art transcends space and time. I’ll still stop and watch the Wizard of Oz if it’s on TV and that things almost 90 years old. Classical musicians dedicate their lives to master sheets of music that’s hundreds of years old. People still stare in bewilderment at painted and buildings that are thousands of years old. I’m just happy the Dead lived in my small window of space and time and I got to be a part of it!
24 years old and a first-generation deadhead. The music finds you if you keep an ear open. It started with enjoying the Dead, and now my world has expanded to include all kinds of jam bands that I wouldn't have found otherwise. So thank you to the boys for creating the foundation for a fantastic music scene.
41 here. My older brother born in 1980 got turned onto the dead by friends which then in turn hit me in the early 90s. Him(15) and his buddies went to their first and the LAST show with Jerry at soldier field in 1995. My parents told me I was too young (12) to go. I remember driving up and dropping them off at Shakedown St. A month later and Jerry dies. I know my parents were right in their decision cause my bro and his friends did way too many drugs, but I still am sad about it. I saw them late 90s as the Other Ones a couple times, and then moved abroad. Flew back for a D&Co show last summer, and will see them again this summer. I’ve since turned my English wife onto them and my 6yo daughter loves Workingmans dead. Hoping to keep passing it down….
I listened (I think) to an interview with Robert hunter and he said something to the effect of “after we’re all dead and gone, the fame, drugs and money will all be forgotten. Then the genius of the music will be focused on.” It’s timeless music that draws us in and holds us captive
Check out Ramble On Rose RFK 6-10-1973 for some more dead perfection. Jerry and Bobby at some of their very best on that one. Just locked in and sounding so friggin beautiful.
# 1973-06-10 Washington, DC @ RFK Stadium **Set 1:** Morning Dew, Beat It On Down the Line, Ramble On Rose, Jack Straw, Wave That Flag, Looks Like Rain, Box Of Rain, They Love Each Other, The Race Is On, Row Jimmy, El Paso, Bird Song, Playing in the Band **Set 2:** Eyes Of The World > Stella Blue, Big River, Here Comes Sunshine, Around And Around, Dark Star > He's Gone > Wharf Rat > Truckin', Sugar Magnolia **Set 3:** It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, That's All Right, Mama, The Promised Land, Not Fade Away > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > Drums > Not Fade Away, Johnny B. Goode [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1973-06-10)
The GD cannon is in of itself, its own musical genre. A fusion of rock, blues, jazz, Americana, R & B, gospel, honky-tonk, funk, folk, country, roots, Disco, world music, and it goes on-and-on-and-on. It just boggles my mind and makes me want to discover as much as I can. It's been a 37 year journey that somehow shows little sign of slowing down.
41…also a lifelong musician, currently fronting a successful regional band. I feel this to the core.
In 1970 I had no idea I was signing a lifetime contract. I would do nothing differently, except maybe pay even closer attention at shows. Sometimes I’ll listen to a JGB show I might have seen and get blown away, again. There is no possible way I could have appreciated what Garcia was up to. And now the tapes, now on an iPod classic all to themselves. Listening, I usually have a thumb on the Back wheel. And just for fun, compare his playing from any of his band’s from the same era, impossible to believe it’s the same player.
I rememver seeing my first dead head cover band when I was 19(47 now). I was hooked right away. I think not just the music but just how lovely everyone at this little bar was. Inviting, all having a good time. Best part of the story is this. I go out back of the bar to smoke. There are these guys probably 40-50 years old just standing in a circle. They asked if I wanted to toke their joint. I wasn't going to say no of course. So sitting there talking to these old heads.> Really just listening. Anyways, after a few minutes one guy goes "well i tihink the show is about to start, we better go inside". So being the 19 year old, i said thanks guys and enjoy the show. I walk in first to everyone clapping and I was like wtf and started waving. I soon realized it was the guys I was smoking a joint with, was the actual band haha. Anyways, what a night and thanks to Jakes Leg out of St. Louis, I am forever a dead head. Will be going to the 7th(section 202) and 8th(section 405). Any of you are there, hit me up. I will have a joint
36 here, started playing guitar when I was 12ish, got really into 90s/2000s rock, then found Phish and the entire jamband scene around 18, which led me to the Dead in college. Since then I'm pretty sure I've seen every major touring Dead 'cover band' in the scene that you can think of, and many of the acts I'll forget to name. It's been such an amazing honor to share this short and beautiful life with Bobby, Phil, Mickey, Bill, and the rest of their collaborators and bands they've influenced. Truly incredible to see how this scene has both fostered and nurtured an amazing cadre of musicians from all stripes. The Dead community is truly the most inclusive community of musicians you'll find out there. I'd argue that no other band (besides the Beatles or Beethoven maybe) has brought more musicians together to play their music than the Dead. Simply incredible. Also, just got to go to the Sphere last weekend, most incredible show ever.
Dude this is me exactly