How did these guys make it so big? Or.. Proof that acid is a mind altering drug

[DREDIOCK]

Now dont get me wrong.
I love the Grateful Dead. and this song in particular

But didnt anyone,including they themselves realize just how horrible they sound live?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EoQ3GkH4Zc&feature=related

Especially the singing. Out of sync, out of key and out of tune.
LMAO
I find this pretty consistent with live dead performances.

So what was it? the atmosphere, Were we too stoned to care?
And why do many of us still love them?
What made this band so great?

[Anodizer]

Improvisation is what made the Dead so great..  Their live shows is what made them great...
The fact that Jerry shot a lot of dope is what made them so great...

[Yeager]

I have tried several times to fall into the groove made by the Dead......but like finding Christ, I just never could do it.

[Thruster]

"What made this band so great?"

They worked their butts off. That and the fact that they didn't suck. OK, maybe a bit of counter culture nostalgia in the later years.

I never got the music like I thought I would but the shows were in themselves a pretty good time.

But they kept a schedule that would kill most of us. As a matter of fact, it killed a few of them.

[VonMessa]

As I sit here holding tickets to what will be their (and a few others) last show at the Spectrum in Philly (it's gonna be torn down soon), I can say that it's their live shows that keep me going back.

To me, personally, the studio stuff doesn't sound like them at all.  Being able to improvise, like they do live, is what makes their music what it is.  To me, the Allman's are the same way (I've seen them both more times and in more cities than I can count)  That is why the bootleg trading of Dead shows is still a very brisk enterprise.

Sadly though, the times that I have seen them without Jerry have been like a Screwdriver without the vodka.

Refreshing and enjoyable, but missing the "kick"

[bongaroo]

An 80 show.  "meah"

Lemme find some soundboards for you from 69 or 72.  I was too young to get a chance to see them before Jerry died but I already have my tickets for the Dead show in Greensboro.

Saw Ratdog a few months ago and it was a few years before that and I've seen Phil and Friends tons of times.  Nothing like a dead show.  Phil and Friends at All Good this year was diddlying awesome.

Hahaha, and I'm going to a Dead cover show this saturday here in Raleigh, free show!  w00t!

I'm a deadhead and I never saw the Grateful Dead.  Born a few decades too late I guess.

[soda72]

Cartman: Hippies.They're everywhere. They wanna save the earth, but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.



Cartman: I hate hippies! I mean, the way they always talk about "protectin' the earth" and then drive around in cars that get poor gas mileage and wear those stupid bracelets - I hate 'em! I wanna kick 'em in the nuts!



Cartman: Naw dude, Independent films are those black and white hippy movies. They're always about gay cowboys eating pudding.



Stan: I don't want to shoot the bunny.
Uncle Jimbo: No nephew of mine is going to be a tree hugger.
Cartman: Yeah, hippie. Go back to Woodstock if you don't wnat to shoot anything.


 

[zuii]

worst band of all time, the voices and instruments were out of tune almost always,
and the rhythm section was out of rhythm. the 3 chord improvisation was hack at best.

and they were HUGELY popular, ya so is madona, so was partridge family , big woop!

there is a musician joke thats been around for years,, it goes sumthin like this.


question : What did the dead-head say when he ran out of weed??
Answer   : "DUDE, this band sux"

i know ill catch flack for this one  
zuii

[bongaroo]

spinning flak gun controls to target zuii now...

[Nwbie]

Sugar Magnolia
Truckin
Casey Jones

great songs - sounds of the times
Even when the acid wore off


Garcia was a good guitar player - he just liked to jam more than anything

 

[soda72]

There are other bands that can be just as bad when under the influence...  But I wouldn't judge them based on one bad performance..(ok, maybe more than one)

The links below show Roger McGuinn performing '8 miles high'...  The 73 one is terrible, compared to the one done in the 80's and his acoustic version when he isn't quite so impaired.

Roger McGuinn -8 miles high live in 73

Roger McGuinn - Eight Miles High live filmed in the 80's

acoustic version
Roger McGuinn - Eight Miles High

[Anodizer]

Improvisation is what made the Dead so great..  Their live shows is what made them great...
The fact that Jerry shot a lot of dope is what made them so great...

I adhere to my reasons....   

Drugs are what made this band great....  The fact that they were all heavy users as well as a great majority of their audiences...
Sure, they were talented...  But you can't come up with improvisation the way they did without being at least a little wasted
off something..  Being a musician, I can tell you that I'm much more creative while under the influence than I am when sober...
Of course, my playing is more accurate when I'm sober..  But I can come up with some pretty cool stuff after a few glasses of wine..

These guys were doing more than just a few glasses of wine....

I'm not really a Dead fan/follower..  I know their history, I know their music.. 
But I absolutely hate jam-rock..  It would've been great if all there was
was the Dead..  But then bands like Phish came into play and whole new
weak-arsed genre of music for trustafarians (hippies with trust funds)
was born...Giving it's tribute to the Dead...  Hippies are bad enough..
Hippies with trust funds means we'll have a few hundred thousand
Al Gores running around , if they're not already.. 
Down with Jam-Rock...........


















 

[bongaroo]

I adhere to my reasons....   

Drugs are what made this band great....  The fact that they were all heavy users as well as a great majority of their audiences...
Sure, they were talented...  But you can't come up with improvisation the way they did without being at least a little wasted
 

I beg to differ.  Zappa was clean cut and jammed like there was no tomorrow.

[CAVPFCDD]

Ok this is in the middle of jerrys bad heroin addiction the music suffered badly

late 70s early 80s was a bad time for the dead

trust me it isnt acid doing this, they did their hour long or more psycodelic jams in the mid to late 60s

late 60s and on they began covering and writing alot of blues and country songs

check out "ladies and gentlemen the grateful dead" from 1971 at the fillmore east theater in NYC, great stuff

its ok if you dont like the band or the music but these guys have talent

the dead are known for live shows and not studio albums, thats why alot of their cds are  live shows and why they allow people to tape their shows www.archive.org has every dead show ever, as taped by fans


jerry is a fantastic guitar player like i said this isnt his prime, he really had a problem with heroin at this time

ill also admit jerrys voice is a love or hate type thing, its kind of whiney, I hate bob dylan songs sung by bob dylan because his voice is so whiney

heres a great song from their prime, this is the dead on playboy after dark  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmIu_njso4

[Dace]

I beg to differ.  Zappa was clean cut and jammed like there was no tomorrow.

Amen, brother.