I have been on both sides of the fence concerning the Grateful Dead. For many years, I was among those who just didn't get the whole GD thing,and I was a teenager in the 60's, so I had the opportunity to follow them from their very start.
About three years ago I decided to take a second look and maybe understand what all the fuss was about, similar to the process Charles described in his post #505 above, but without access to the taper culture. I came to appreciate, respect, and simply enjoy the GD and their music. Above all, it became clear that the GD were a live performance band--this was where GD happened--not in a recording studio. As Charles so accurately said, you can't just casually listen to some GD music and expect to understand what they were all about. True, GD were all about the music, but their music inspired people to a whole different way of looking at and relating to the world and those in it.
The question, since Jerry Garcia passed, has been and still is: is there life after Jerry for The Dead, as they now call themselves. My opinion--and I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the remaining band members--is no. There are lots of famous bands which suffered the loss of founding and/or very significant members and
continued to make great music, enjoy success, and retain broad fan support (although it is
still never quite the same). However, some bands, in my opinion, just don't fall into this category. For example, can you truly imagine the Rolling Stones without Keith Richards, or the Beatles--if all were still alive and playing--without McCartney? Similarly,at least for me, The Dead just doesn't work without Jerry. Jerry was that intangible but essential element, that
must have factor, that undefinable it that was the heart and soul of everything Grateful Dead. And, if you carefully analyze the interpersonal dynamics of the Grateful Dead, the fact is that each member of GD was linked much more to Jerry than to each other. That's not to say that they weren't all brothers, just that Jerry was the element common to each of them. Kinda sorta like a married couple of 20 or 30 years who discover, after the kids are grown and gone, that they really don't relate to each other too well--it was the kids who tied them together.
So, while each remaining GD member is a great musician in his own right (well, OK, there is the question of Bobby Weir--Bill tgo: LOL about your random-chords-searching-for-a-melody), collectively as The Dead they just don't seem to bring it. I wish them well, but I'll pass on the upcoming tour. Thanks for letting me rant!
Eric
