They're probably grateful for any mention these days.

TC = Thread Creator

OP is for the normies. I'm all about that old skewl slang.

^ Sori Ori, but TC is already taken by an even older skewl:-

Jimmy Buffet. I never understood why his songs rated a cult following (ie Parrotheads)..I mean his music was ok but not cult following ok.

But I already know that Top Cats prefer Free.

Still sonned.

.

So much of Grateful Dead's music is "you had to be there at the time" type stuff, as OccultHawk mentioned recently in another thread. I always thought Jerry Garcia's voice was pretty weak and the notorious devotion of Deadheads certainly earns the band a mention in this thread.

Having said that though, everything fell into place for Grateful Dead on American Beauty, which is a great album imo. In a similar way, out of all his hours of guitar playing, JG got it just right on one occassion at least:-

TBH if I lived on the beach I'd probably listen to a ****load of Jimmy Buffet while kicking back on a lawn chair with a beer.

Yeah, Jimmy Buffett has some ok stuff. He's also not rock or a band, so he doesn't qualify for this thread anyway.

Maybe you did just have to be there at the time. All I know is that I've been friends with a lot of deadheads in my life, and as a result I've given the Dead more chances to win me over than probably any other band out there and still they have just never done it for me.

I was there at the time. Not knowing anything about the band other than hearing their name pop up a lot, I bought a double live album around 1973. That was my first try getting into them. Thought it was ****ing TERRIBLE. Met a hardcore Deadhead years later who had hundreds of boots. Tried again with a few versions of Dark Star. Same result.

Simply not my thing.

EDIT: Janz and me, brothers from another mother.

What about, like, every version of Dark Star at once?



Pretty much the only Dead I **** with.

Do you like the song Ripple?

I want to go on the record as a completely unapologetic Dead fan. I love them.

You’re not going to top that but damn I swear to God they have some incredible somg writing and studio albums.

Maybe my problem is I'm just not into somgs.

m>n

Just listened to the studio version.

I mean, competent song. Got all of that GD "Americana" vibe going for it. But.... The chord progression is as old as dirt. Singing is sloppy. Doesn't float my boat one bit.

This song represents what I don't get about the Dead. They created this stew of folk, gospel, country, American rock and pop, a bit of shuffle and ragtime, and other stuff on their studio albums and wrote some cool tunes (just not my cup of tea). Then live they'd take the songs and try and expand them with jams. If you were wasted and in the audience it would work. But listening to them at home they were mostly a mess. Aimless is the word I'd use. **** worked about 50% of the time. Maybe less.

Now take Zep's "No Quarter". Studio version was 7 minutes long and sounded like nothing before it. Please explain to me what genre they borrowed from back in 1972 when they recorded it. Totally original. Then live, the song could be anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes long with tons of jamming, but the band would return to key motifs to keep the "song" intact. Opposite of aimless.

Laundry is done. Time to fold and put away.

I'm no Dead fan, but I certainly wouldn't call a lot of their work aimless. They absolutely utilized motifs within their improvisation. They're just not very interesting players.

This utilizes motifs as well, I guess Zep must be ripping this off too (1968)

Their live work meanders all over the place, sometimes falling completely apart. How many of their boots have you listened to? Talk about way more miss than hit.

And I'm not talking about just plain drunk and sloppy playing (Jimmy Page: Guilty as sin).

Sorry that you can't hear the motifs mate. It's not really worth fretting over.

:laughing: :clap: :beer:

I have no idea how many dead cassette booters I’ve owned or listened to but dozens for sure. I don’t think they have a tendency to fall apart at all. They’re always moving along.

If you don’t like Ripple it’s hopeless. LZ has no relevance to conversation.

Not everyone is going to like GD but everyone should.

Add me to the "Grateful Dead just doesn't do it for me" list. So many opportunities to win me over and they just haven't. All of my friends love the band and some take it way too far. I had the chance to see most of them when they played in CA with John Mayer and I ended up selling my ticket because the line was a mile long and I'd rather hang out in the parking lot and drink beer.

i can't believe i used to like blink 182

i played some of their songs again today and god they sound so obnoxious and who thought it was a good idea for tom delonge to ever sing

^ I didn't realize you were a Dead fan, OH. You mention Ripple, but for me every track on American Beauty is just as good, for example Box of Rain with Bob Hunter's wonderful lyrics.

I suspect that one reason why people loved the Dead is this; go to a concert and they were there to guide you through hours of psychedelic exploration. On the other hand, if you needed to recuperate from some jagged experience, they were there too, with the gently reassuring somgs of American Beauty. In the end, they inspired a loyalty that went beyond the merits of the music because they became the soundtrack to a whole shared mindset.

EDIT: haven't seen you for a long time, Ali ! :wavey:

:laughing:

Aliens.

Blink 182 sucks but What's My Age Again will always hold a soft spot in my heart.

Frowny, as you must already know, how distinct motifs are, is of course, open to interpretation.

The motifs in 4'33 is a dude clearing his throat as quietly as possible.

Yo! Welcome back, you gay bastard! :laughing: :bowdown:

The Dead never lost the plot man. Those booters aren’t aimless.

Chula, as you must know, you don't really have an ear for interpreting difficult music.

Typical Frowny. "I think I'm smarter than you so my opinion matters more."

Typical.

So you're saying that you have a pretty good understanding of improvisational music? Look up the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Right on ****ing cue. :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Please answer the question. Do you really think that you're a good authority on improvisational music when you dismiss pretty much all of it as aimless noodling, even when there's a pretty distinct direction?

Point made. Step down son.