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5)Slowing of Friend of the Devil - Friend of the Devil is one of the most popular songs in the Grateful Dead repertoire. (Its inclusion on Skeletons from the Closet has made sure of that. Even my sister used to include it on her mix tapes). For some reason, the boys decided to play it about 100x slower starting in the late 70's. I never understood this. I turned from a fun sing along song to a song laced with heroin and dark creepy corners. Because the current incarnation of the band doesn't play it slow, so I have to put this one on Jerry. I am sure it sounded good to the Persian smokers, but it ruined a great song.
4) Death of Brent Mydland - Brent is a fan favorite no doubt. All my "noob" friends LOVE Brent, and for good reason. He was a fantastic addition to the band when they needed a little spark. His original songs, except for Blow Away, could be done without, but his organ playing was top notch, and added a truly new layer to the band. Not only was Brent missed on the stage, but his death had a major impact on the band on a personal level. Jerry was noticeably broken up over the loss, and returned to using. If Brent's demons didn't take his life, who knows what could have happened from Fall 90 - ?????.
3) Bob Weir's Guitar Tone Change - Until around 1976, Bob Weir had normal guitar tone. His Gibson E-335 was a smooth sounding guitar that danced outside of the melody in ways that had never been done before, or ever since. His playing was influenced not by rock & roll guitar players, but by jazz pianists. Then in '76, it started getting metallic, but still acceptable. However, the 80's brought out some seriously horrible guitars and tones. (Including the nasty Casio shown above, as well as the infamous pink guitar) By the 90's it literally sounded like he was clanging metal poles together as loud as possible in front of a microphone. There are many theories about this change, one that I find most interesting is that his musical space as the the layer on top of the music was taken by Brent, and he had to find a new place to be inside the music. Apparently his decision was to become the guy who clanged metallic guitar tones...weak.
2) Death of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - Pig was the Grateful Dead at the start. His sweet soulful voice, and inappropriate raps about teenage girls were hilarious and important. I think his influence on the band was an important lasting legacy that gave them a R&B, Soul, Blues sound. Although some view his death as a "good" thing because it gave the band over to Jerry (and Bobby) to write the songs, I can not stop thinking about what Pigpen would have been like in the 80's and 90's.
1) John Kahn - This is by no means a knock on John Kahn's bass playing. He was a fantastic funky bass player that gave Jerry Garcia Band that gave them a welcomed new sound. However, he was a straight up disgusting junkie. He was Jerry's heroin pal, and was a catalyst to the death of Jerry Garcia. Also, he was dirty and most likely very smelly with cigarette burns all over his hands and clothes. Please see Jerry Garcia Band Shoreline DVD for reference.
I couldnt agree more with this list...
ReplyDelete1) The slow friend of the devil became utterly painful to listen to and everytime it they played it live - it somehow managed to take the life out of a set... also love the phrase "persion smokers" - good stuff
2)Theres no doubt Brent Mydland added a layer to the grateful dead that was never quite recaptured... not only was his organ playing fantastic, but i would say his biggest contribution lies in his vocals... both background and lead... His raspy but powerful voice brought a new element to the band that personally brought an uplifting quality to the deads music adn that quality was never quite recaptured after his death...exmp - see Cassidy on Reckoning.
3) there's no doubt early 70s bobby was the best bobby... The 80s and 90s saw an ego grow and his shorts progressively shrink...
2) Pigpen was the spark that started the fire... without pigpen's blues influence in the early days there would be no Grateful dead and who knows Jerry may have stuck to the banjo.
1) I love the JGB... but heroin pals are generally not something you want to have and can be considered the polar opposite of a drinking buddy.
Keep up the good work.
#1 Giving Brent a microphone!
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame Kahn "as a catalyst to Jerry's death". That's incredibly naive. Jerry was on the path he was on regardless of who entered his circle and whom he sought to remain in that circle. Like seeks like. How'd you perceive it, if you read an article saying that maybe his family could blame Jerry as a catalyst to Kahn's vices due to the endless resource of funds Jerry had?
ReplyDeleteLike seeks like. If it weren't him, it'd be any other number of people Jerry used with. We are all responsible for our own accountability. No one else is making our choices for us. Jerry was using dope long before Kahn entered his life. And would have used the exact same way if he never entered his life.
Given that Jer died of poor diet/exercise and cigarettes, not sure anybody else it to blame. You latched onto this tangential idea once you heard the word "persian" (just an inside slang term, not an actual product) but zero of your substance references are accurate. You sound like a naive teen.
ReplyDelete