By Will McGraw<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As lead guitarist Jerry Garcia himself put it, \u201cWe\u2019re like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite having one of the widest, most passionate, and most reputably recognizable fanbases of all musical groups, the Grateful Dead often also seems to have some of the most polarizing receptions from listeners. This doesn\u2019t mean that everyone either hears the Dead\u2019s stuff as cluttered, gibberish-filled rambles or falls into the camp that takes time off work just to follow them around in full tie-dye; Rather, it simply seems that most everyone can give a simple and definite \u201cyea\u201d or \u201cnay\u201d to the sound; at least more so than other groups, where many might fall squarely in the middle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My personal experiences with the group certainly speak to this. The dominance of classic rock in my taste comes directly from my parents\u2019 influence. Although I actively prefer the genre and era over others on my own and have found personal favorites independently from my mom\u2019s and dad, there is no doubt that I would not have been exposed to this particular peak of auditory brilliance that thrived from the mid-60s to around the mid\/end of the 90s (much is to be contested with this time frame, I\u2019m aware) without their introduction. However, despite my vehement love for the band, my first impression of the Grateful Dead was that they were not worth my time. While exploring the Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Hall of Fame in my youth, an exhibit dedicated to the group was on display. When I asked my father, \u201cWho are these guys? Are they as good as the others we\u2019ve seen today?\u201d I was met with a curled lip, a halfhearted shrug, and a distinctive \u201cEh, no. I was never into them. \u2018Touch of Grey\u2019 is their only song that I like.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For years afterward, I never touched any of the Dead\u2019s music, having written them off just based on this single secondhand impression. As my music taste developed and I went on a carousel of artists\/groups, I eventually ran into the Dead enough to warrant giving at least their hits a listen. It was here that I dipped my toes into the water with \u201cTouch of Grey\u201d and \u201cCasey Jones,\u201d the latter already being a cultural staple that I was aware of thanks to its iconic chorus. Beyond this, \u201cSugar Magnolia\u201d and \u201cBertha\u201d eventually made their way into the mix. At this point, I appreciated the change in sound that the Dead provided from my mostly hard\/blues rock-focused library, though I would still have mostly put myself in the \u201cnay\u201d category. The handful of songs I liked would prove useful when I needed some pure stress relief from the \u201chippies,\u201d but that was the extent to which I would dabble with the Dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then one day, it all clicked. Though it\u2019s hard to truly nail down the exact moment where the switch was flipped, I\u2019d wager to say it was the first time I heard their 1974 hit \u201cScarlet Begonias\u201d while sitting in study hall during my sophomore year of high school. Never before had I heard a Grateful Dead song, or any song for that matter, that sounded quite like this. The complementary, two-headed groove of the lead and rhythm guitars, the fluid yet skip-like push of the keyboards and percussion, the passion-laden lead vocals standing amid a chorus of pure positivity. It was the perfect storm of sound that was simply downright \u201ccool.\u201d Once the connection was made on that<\/em> song, the rest of the band\u2019s stuff started to make a whole lot more sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As much as one needs to figure out the music of the Dead themselves, one also needs to come to grips with the sound relative to everything else they\u2019ve heard, as there is nothing else quite like it. This one avenue into the greater universe (musically and culturally) that was The Grateful Dead was a crucial factor that my entire future love for the band depended on, but once I got it, it was all I needed. Every other song that I had initially overlooked or couldn\u2019t quite appreciate was experienced in a new light and took a completely different form than in my first listens. I was hearing the same song, yes, but now I knew the people and instruments behind it. I knew what they were capable of, what they were about, and what they were trying to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many may be completely lost at this point, which I wholeheartedly understand. Through countless conversations, however, I know that the phenomenon I describe is quite common. After our mutual love for the Dead came under scrutiny from other family members, my cousin and I shared our stories of getting into the music and defending our appreciation which hasn\u2019t faded since. Even as the others dismissed us and claimed we overrate the boys from Palo Alto, my cousin turned, smiled, and shook his head with a knowing look. \u201cThey just don\u2019t get it, man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Dead and Company\u2019s 2023 summer tour being their last, this trek is the final opportunity for listeners to attend a show of the closest thing this generation will ever get to the original band. Dead and Company unquestionably do the music justice and seeing them got me further and further into the deep library of Grateful Dead tracks. I would highly recommend seeing a show to anyone, regardless of their appreciation for the sound. You may find yourself much more inclined toward their stuff than you anticipated, or, if you\u2019re already a fan, your listening pleasures will undoubtedly be enhanced. Even if you can\u2019t imagine getting down with the Dead\u2019s grooves, going to a show is as much a sociological experience as it is a musical one. Worst case, you come away with a glimpse into one of the most interesting and intoxicating pockets of culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you see them live or not, however, getting into the Dead can prove to be a challenge, both with a massive amount of content available and a wide variety of sounds from thirty years of studio recording and close to sixty years of live work. Many firmly state that the Dead are better live, and while this is probably true, things are not quite that black and white. The band has been clear that they never play the same song the same way, and they fully admit that they have both their good shows and \u201cnot so good\u201d ones. Considering the multiple lineup changes and stylistic differences throughout the years, it would be quite misguided to hold a \u201cSt. Stephen\u201d from a 1969 San Francisco show in the same regard as one from St. Louis in 1991. Even two versions played only a few days apart on the same tour in \u201976 can be night and day in terms of pace, intensity, and outright overall quality. This makes getting into the Dead more complicated than most other groups, but it also adds a luxury that many others lack– if you listen to a song of theirs and it isn\u2019t doing it for you, trying a different version of the same track can make all the difference. Of course, this means more effort must be put in by listeners to explore their tastes, but it also fosters a much wider range of the potential for appeal than most other groups can offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which brings us, finally, to the reason I set out to write this article: how does one go about beginning their listening studies and appreciation of The Grateful Dead? With the sound being an acquired taste for many, the early exposure one has can be pivotal. In general, my advice is to start with the studio, then move to live stuff. Hearing the songs in their simplest and most concise form gives you a good starting point to then try out a longer, more complex version. Thus, I would say From the Mars Hotel<\/em>, American Beauty<\/em>, and Workingman\u2019s Dead<\/em> are three studio albums that provide the best entrance into the band\u2019s sound. Not only do they include some of the group\u2019s most iconic and popular songs, but taken together, these three do a nice job of showcasing bits of the Dead\u2019s jam-style, acoustic-folk, and country-blues influence. Once again, if you hear a track that isn\u2019t speaking to you, don\u2019t be afraid to circle back to it later and\/or try a live version. Even better, once you find a studio recording that you\u2019re a fan of, take a dive into the live performances of it– I personally have over six versions of \u201cScarlet Begonias\u201d saved on my phone in addition to the studio, each one sticking out distinctly. After these three, Go to Heaven<\/em>, Aoxomoxoa<\/em>, and In the Dark<\/em> serve as solid next steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some songs, however, were only ever performed live, so this studio-first method won\u2019t work for them. A collection of a number of these can be found on the fantastic Europe \u201972 <\/em>record. \u201cRamble on Rose,\u201d \u201cJack Straw,\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s Gone,\u201d and \u201cTennessee Jed\u201d don\u2019t have studio releases but are equally worthwhile as those that do, and Europe \u201972<\/em> has them all in addition to incredible versions of studio staples like \u201cTruckin\u2019\u201d and \u201cSugar Magnolia.\u201d Europe \u201972<\/em> has a total of 22 volumes, but you need not make your way through all of these before moving into another live album. Beyond Europe \u201872<\/em>, you can\u2019t go wrong with the iconic Skull and Roses<\/em>, Red Rocks \u201978<\/em>, or Dead Set<\/em> albums. There is, of course, Best of the Grateful Dead Live<\/em>, though some see Best of\/greatest hits compilations as cheating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whichever path through the discography you take, keep in mind that the location of a live show plays a massive role in how the Dead performed. A Bay Area concert in front of the hometown crowd leads to a much different atmosphere than one in Madison Square Garden. Similarly, a show in St. Paul, Minnesota gives off vibes dissimilar to those from a performance in front of the Pyramids of Giza. Of course, this means that it\u2019s also fun to try and find a show from your hometown, as the Dead\u2019s 30 years of touring almost surely took them there at one point (or at least somewhere close).Of course, for some, the Dead\u2019s music will simply never resonate. No matter the method or route taken in their introduction to the sound, there are some who, despite their best efforts, can\u2019t understand the appeal, and that is perfectly fine. I try my best to avoid being one who insists that others must indulge in the interests that I have. I encourage everyone, however, to treat the Dead a bit differently when courting their music. At worst, you\u2019re unable to find the appeal and instead become reaffirmed in the music that you do enjoy. At best, you discover a vast world of distinct sound that, despite the band\u2019s \u201cend\u201d in 1995, enjoys additions to its library with unheard past live recordings still being released periodically. As my own early reluctance yet eventual infatuation speaks to, John Mayer, who pivoted from his place atop the indie-pop scene to (brilliantly) fill in for Jerry Garcia in Dead and Company, has a perfectly summative claim: when it comes to the Grateful Dead, \u201cyou can\u2019t say you\u2019re not into them, you\u2019re just not into them yet<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Will McGraw As lead guitarist Jerry Garcia himself put it, \u201cWe\u2019re like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.\u201d\u00a0 Despite having one of the widest, most passionate, and most reputably recognizable fanbases of all musical groups, the Grateful Dead often also seems to have some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1581,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/1581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}