Opinions on the grateful dead?
 

Personally I love them. Their live stuff like most people who like them. Favorite songs? (If you like them).

I never got into the Dead. You should talk to suchfriendsaredangerous.....

Yes he should. Lee is Free too

One of the greatest bands of all time. Wrote a longer post and lost it, so this is my exasperated bare-bones summary of what I wrote initially.

Box of Rain - a fairly obvious choice, but the song is just so goddamn perfect. Conplex vocal melodies and harmonies... impossible to do justice to this song while playing solo. I totally get why that chick from Freaks and Geeks came out of her shell and danced around her room when she first heard it. It's just real music, no bullshit. A beautiful thing.

Friend of the Devil (studio version, sorry!)
Eyes of the World
Ripple
Scarlet Begonias
Uncle John's Band
Truckin (gotta love this, don't care who you are)
Unbroken Chain
St. Stephen
Mountains of the Moon
Dark Star

Yep. Amazing band. Saw them live only once, months before Jerry passed. I will always cherish the memory, even though I can't remember much of it at this point.

Fire on the Mountain circa 1978 tour is the absolute epitome of everything live Dead

Speaking of Fire On The Mountain, the only Grateful Dead album I own is the vinyl of Shakedown Street, which is a record a lot of Dead fans hate. I mean, a true Dead fan is pretty much into live stuff only, but to the extent Deadheads tolerate studio releases, Shakedown Street is the one they have the least patience with. I don't know, I guess I wasn't cut out to be a Dead fan...

Shakedown Stree created some of the ALL TIME great dead tunes.. its a masterpiece. Unfortunately it is indeed a terrible studio album, those tunes must be better appreciated live

To be sure i literally only own a single studio album, anthem to the sun, and even it cheats. It was one of the first records ever to incorporate both live and studio recordings ;)I CAN'T STAND DEAD STUDIO ALBUMS. Indeed when i had only heard the studio albums i thought the Dead sucked until i heard The Dead Movie and it changed my life. The expression is not hyperbole or exaggeration. "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert."

don't like them. they're not good.

I like studio dead. Love live dead too, especially for the later '70s and '80s material. But I love American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Aoxomoxoa... I love Anthem of the Sun.... what would I do without the studio version of "Alligator"? It's just excellent.

But I only saw them once and it was forever ago, so maybe I don't really know the difference anymore. I do enjoy my live Dead collection, but I don't listen often. I tend to go through phases. American Beauty, however, is always with me. Car, iPod, phone, vinyl and cd. Never leave home without it.

its not just a band its a whole culture and way of life that is not televised, thankfully.

matt valentine will pull out a heavy rendition of Fire On The Mountain once in awhile

Its likely you may have only heard their crappy studio albums? For years i agreed with you until i was finally exposed to their live material

Anthem of the Sun is one of my most favorite psychedelic albums ever. Live Dead is really good, too, double drum action!! Anything that Phil Lesh was most involved in gets really deep into music experimentation, Garcia's involvement is way too bluegrassy for me, and the other cats were into pop music a lot. So, look for the Philzone, and you can't go wrong. Live Music archive sets from 70 and back are great, Europe 72 is really about the last of the good stuff, IMO

Prophase records was supposed to come out with this

Left Hand Monkey Wrench: A Burnt Psych Tribute to the Grateful Dead, but I don't think it ever happened

Philly/NYC instrumental trio the Notekillers turn in a blazing guitar heavy take on one of the Dead’s early originals with “Cream Puff War.”

Georgia by way of Philly mod rockers Photon Band twist “He’s Gone” into a bouncy sunny psych jam

Genre defying Aleister X walks out of the club and down “Shakedown Street.”

Iowa’s Mondo Drag visit the vaults for a watery perfect take on “Rosemary”

The lush Lehigh Valley organic sound of We Have Heaven swells and envelopes “China Cat Sunflower”

Chicago psych punks Plastic Crimewave Sound meet up with the ultimate paint peeling improv guitar hippie, Djin Aquarian of the Father Yod "thing" for “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)”

Mellow down with the tri state area easiness of Twin Atlas as they make “The Wheel” all blurry.

Raunch the hell out with Philadelphia’s Birds of Maya on their ultra jam of the ultra Bobby “The Music Never Stopped”

Ethan Miller (Howlin Rain/Comets on Fire) crafts a slowed down epic out of “Til the Morning Comes”

Washington DC/Saturn’s Dark Sea Dream bleed “Fire on the Mountain” to the very essence of the riff and things turn utterly beautiful.

Japan’s psych heroes Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno make the sun come up in the West with a long, gorgeous take on “Eyes of the World”

Like a Fox hail from Philadelphia and turn “Cosmic Charlie” into a sound soaked shift changing blast from the noise pop future.

And what Grateful Dead tribute album would be complete with out a drum break? Kohoutek’s Nathan Bowles & Scott Verastro blast out and off with a “Drums” that will keep you twirling.

Croatia’s Seven that Spells rockets off with a precision take on “The Eleven”

Pouring High Water, a mysterious project from Japan turns in a slow motion drone epic with “Franklin’s Tower”

From NYC, La Otracina take “The Other One” into a tripped out metal prog war!

Things finish up with a smiling, life affirming take on “Ripple” from Baltimore’s Mopar Mountain Daredevils

You really think that's "likely?" As though live dead albums are somehow in short supply? Nah man, there's more live Dead out there than studio Dead by far. And I'm talking about the official stuff, here. Mostnof the band's available official releases are live collections or concerts. It's also not exactly a secret that the Dead are considered a better live band than a studio band.

Also, the Grateful Dead are not for everyone. The music is a weird combination of progressive and extremely traditional. I know a lot of folks who just don't like them and don't "get" why they're one of the most celebrated bands, with some of the most loyal fans in history. Think about it, if you get into other "classic rock" at a young age like Zeppelin, Cream, Sabbath, Hendrix, The Who, and then you give the Dead a spin expecting that they're going to be similar, you might be very disappointed.

Shrug.

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http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=30831&highlight=dark+star+diamond

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Read these threads and then get back to us

Yes it is possible and even likely. While for deadheads the bootlegs and live recordings are Manna from Heaven, for casual listeners and people who don't care generally from my experience these are more likely to have heard something from Working Man's Dead or American Beauty than to have ever heard something live and proper. Indeed that was my own story for several YEARS before some deadheads introduced me to the live stuff..

It is funny and ironic how I used to HATE the dead and even TALK SHIT about the dead for YEARS before I had ever heard anything live, and then it was like when Saul fell off his high horse and became Paul, I "saw the Light" and Jerry told me, "Habte Selassie, it hurts you to kick against the goads."

There's a big three disc all star dead tribute coming out, featuring the Flaming Lips (doing Dark Star!!), the National (meh), and a veritable shit ton of other artists. Should be fun.

That must be the one Lee was recording for, wondered when that was coming, and the Scorsese rock doc

Yeah, shit how did I forget that bit? Yes, Lee is on the compilation at least twice if memory serves. We all know he's a deadhead, so he should put a lot of care and attention into the songs that he's been given.

Here's the pitchfork article about it. Read it a few days ago. I think there's a complete tracklist. Wilco's involved too, and I think Kurt Vile is on the with the Violators, and I seem to remember something about Dinosaur Jr as well.

http://pitchfork.com/news/62163-the-...-barnett-more/

My buddy Dale does a lot of bootleg Dead/mashup shirts, pins, stickers, etc... in the spirit of the parking lot merch bonanza; this one is a lyric from "Doing That Rag" + "Kool Thing" handwriting & iconography

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZg99pBhfU-/?hl=en

never liked them. i watched that amazon documentary about them. usually when i have some context i can usually get into anything but still..don't like em

I am decidedly less into them than I used to be, even a couple years ago. It’s nothing against the band... happens with most artists. I just sort of “cool” on them. I almost never want to hear traditional rock or folk stuff, no matter how improvised and/or experimental these days. Just not what my ears crave.

I keep seeing that Amazon documentary, and I am definitely interested in checking that out though. Love a good rock doc. Hate a bad one, love a good one. Hopefully it’s good.

It's definitely worth seeing I would say

Thanks! I’m sick at home right now. Maybe I will throw it on!