The Grateful Dead (You Must Have A Basic Understanding For Everything)

I detail one of the most notable journeys I have had with any artist in music. The Grateful Dead have truly shaped not only how I approach music but how I approach other art forms as well. Enjoy!
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[@alexmirante9972]

“Once in a while, you get shown the light In the strangest of places if you look at it right”

[@jamesmachado8874]

In the heart of gold band.

[@celemincharles1595]

If you make a KZbin video about the Grateful Dead, you might be a Deadhead.

[@slimsreturn4990]

you might be onto something

[@saml302]

@@slimsreturn4990 welcome to the family

[@IndyDefense]

If you say that the Grateful Dead changed anything about your life, you might be a deadhead.

[@Bradley-ff5jc]

Yea i got on the bus in 83 and am a deadhead . I 2:53 wouldnt make a vid about the dead. Ill watch vids made by deadheads.Like this one. Who cares that he likes rap? Idc

[@tesla3695]

The Dead are aquired taste but once you develop that taste, you'll become addicted.

[@roquefortfiles]

Thankfully I've never acquired that taste.

[@JeffAquA315]

When I first listened to the dead, I also preferred weir's vocals, I found jerrys voice oddly high and sometimes tortured and hard for me to aquire a taste for, then it clicked again, almost all of my favorite songs are jerry songs. The pure amount of soul and his unique delivery is incredible, there's nobody who plays and sings like jerry.

[@slimsreturn4990]

yea i prefer Weir but I have always liked Jerry the fact that they’re so different makes every track list so exciting. His performance on American Beauty is amazing. Thank you for watching boss!

[@andrewusher1033]

Yea agree like Jerry always sounds like(especially later in their careers and age) how he out key somewhat and just get his voice into and yea is forcing that sound it's weird but it works so well it beautiful even

[@yourbrother5304]

He was very much the vocal actor in his performances. Phil was my favorite unbroken chain of course. Took me a while to understand Mr.Jerome. But we share our first name so I couldn't give up for some reason. Then I heard the explanation I needed. Jerry never took singing lessons. BECAUSE he believed that if you think it's supposed to be done one particular way then you lose sight of of what it really can be. There same concept he conveys through his guitar. I can't cite this. Just some hippie wisdom. But here's a youtube video as a bonus. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lX7Wd5ehra2Gj6s

[@levibarton9707]

The best way to describe Jerry’s voice is “sacred”

[@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094]

I hated them both! I had to let them torture me for me to fall in love.

[@denniszipps1202]

The Grateful Dead, imho, is a philosophy. They’re the closest example of music theory in action. St. Stephen 5/5/77 is transcendent for me. Jerry had a quote about songs that I have to paraphrase. He basically said that music is out there in the universe and he catches a song and shares it with the audience through their performances. Music should always be that way.

[@garrywellman]

You would love jazz as a genre. It’s all about standards and spontaneity, and every version of every song is different every time it’s played. Highly recommend Bill Evans - Portrait in Jazz as a good starting point

[@g8trdone]

Jerry said playing music in a studio was like building a ship in a bottle but playing for a live audience was like rowing a boat in the ocean.

[@bryanharrell4059]

Uh, yea..you're a Deadhead. And it's very okay. I mean if the head fits....This was so well done and it's really interesting how you found your way to it, or it found it's way to you. I like how Estimated was you doorway. Mine was Althea..a live version actually. My Deadhead friends would leave bootleg tapes (I know - I'm old) in my car in high school and I would play them and try to get it, try to understand what was the deal that had my friends obsessing and always listening to them. Never got it. Until one day. I don't know why, but this Althea just reached out and grabbed me in a way I'd sound foolish in trying to explain, because I really can't. Maybe I wasn't ready for it until that moment. THEN, I went to a show. That was that and they've been following me ever since. It's music I've been able to grow old with. The lyrics resonate with meaning and re-meaning as I grow. The community, the fun, the notes, the love it just all rolls into one and it has been fantastic, enriching, and life changing. It expanded my listening to Jazz, Bluegrass, Reggae, Progressive music, Country, Middle Eastern music, and so much more. I hope you'll make it a point to go see Dead & Company when it gets rolling again. It's not "THE Dead" but I'm 100% sure you'll get so much out of it. Anyone who makes the effort, like you have, to listen to the different aspects of the music will be rewarded with a bounty of goodness from the endless fountain that is The Grateful Dead. Great video and thanks for sharing!

[@mfallen6894]

Exactly. You don't have to eat a half oz of shrooms every day to be a head, lol. I went through my psychedelic phase as a deadhead, went through heroin addiction as a deadhead, and am now the sober guy that drinks de-caf coffee as the caffeine tweaks me out too much, lol. Still a proud head, always will be. You're a deadhead when the music is in your soul, for life, and wherever that may take you there's one hell of a soundtrack to that journey.

[@visathief]

The way you describe your discovery of estimated prophet was almost exactly the same thing I went though. The second that Cornell 77 version clicked in my head I fell in love with the soundscapes and tones they learned to harness

[@slimsreturn4990]

it’s a beautiful thing

[@willcrockett6707]

What an excellent analogy. You did a terrific job of describing your pathway to understanding and appreciating the grateful dead. I’m sorry you never got to see them live, because watching those musicians play together as one was another, even deeper level of appreciation for them and for music in general. For me, the groove that was assembled by Bill, Micki, and Phil was a jaw dropping experience. The way they would pull in and out of songs was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or heard before. A lot of that is captured on the live albums. Great job on this video buddy, thank you for posting it.

[@StarDarkAshes]

If you listen to it enough, it just gets under your skin and never let you go. Once you’re hooked you’re hooked and the music just is so timeless that you can listen to it 30 years later and it’s still very fresh as opposed to some thing used to listen to 30 years ago that has become more of a novelty or, some thing that you look back upon, but it just doesn’t have the same effect on you anymore. There’s just something about the way they play. That’s so fresh and timeless but hard to explain. There’s really nobody that does what they do even though there’s a lot of jam bands.

[@RyanBridwell-wq9bo]

Amen, brother! The bus came by and I got on, that's when it all began!

[@HyzersGR]

Studio albums are the way to go when first getting into GD so you have a basis of what the songs are about. They are easier to digest and often have a cleaner production sound. Studio versions of Terrapin Station, Althea, and West LA Fadeaway are what opened the door for me. Once I realized what was going on, the live stuff became the preference. That being said, there are still a handful of studio tracks where that version holds up just as well with any live versions.

[@lordthicknipples-gt2oq]

Terrapin Station is my favorite GD studio album. I think they were on a roll in '77

[@williambernhard1061]

The Dead changed the way I approach so many things as well. I'm glad you feel the same way 😸

[@robjordan2506]

I used to really dislike country, then I started listening to the Dead, this was back in the 70s.

[@FolkSongsEtAl]

The other thing that can happen is often you can get an appreciation of just how good and brilliant something is, without it necessarily being to your taste. And that can be a good thing - recognising quality, and brilliance outside of your general preferences. The Dead had a different approach to things, which was probably based around their desire to just have fun. They obviously worked very hard, but the spontaneity was key to what they were trying to do, and also key to their ability to enjoy what they were doing. I think they - certainly Garcia did - viscerally hated the notion of perfection. Perfection was seen as inimical to organic, vibrant, and creative. Some of this can also be seen in how they were less possessive about their creations - allowing tapers, and not really caring what happened to what they did after they'd finished doing it. The Dead encapsulate an entire philosophy of creativity, hedonism, treating people well, and beyond anything else, not trying to control anything in some kind authoritarian way.

[@yourbrother5304]

As a deadhead who said my own roadmap to discovering the dead. Thank you for taking the time to create this video. Explaining the process of understanding and appreciating the dead. Anyone who asks I will make this their first step. Have a grateful day. (~);-}

[@brydollasign]

great video bro. i'm the same way, die hard rap fan my whole life until my sister took me to a dead and company show.. life changed

[@moms_spaghetty8814]

Awesome video! A lot of Heads I know say how learning jazz theory really elevated their understanding and appreciation of the Dead. The way they do long and complex improvisations are very similar, I like to compare Jerry's sound those crazy fast saxophonists (think Charlie Parker.)

[@slimsreturn4990]

damn never thought of it like this def makes a lot of sense. thank you for watching boss!

[@mfallen6894]

I love the premise of the vid. For me it was pharmacology and chemistry, of all things, that taught me I need to at least get familiar with the basics with as many things in life as possible. That if I was going to succeed at a given task I needed to be interested in it, and if no immediate interest was found I had to force myslef to get interested. Seems to have worked thus far... The Dead came to me the way hip-hop did to you: the first time I heard it I knew I wanted to hear more. The odd thing is I felt like I knew the music even though I was a child. My parents didn't have any GD vinyl or cassettes, and neither of them really cared for GD, so I'm still not sure why it immediately felt like "home" when I first heard them. Phil Lesh has described this feeling of tapping into the cosmos and channelling some kind of energy into our reality when the Dead were really on (X-factor shows like the Cornell '77 set, Paris '72, Bloomington IL '78, to some extent the last show, where Jerry caught fire on So Many Roads, etc, etc). I don't know about all that but I know enough at this point in my life to not go on some rant about the notion being ridiculous. I'm smart enough to know I'm an idiot and there's far more in this realm than I could ever know... The music has certainly affected myself, and many of my friends I met because of the music, in profound ways that are hard to explain. Maybe it's the timeless nature of their style; Terrapin Station almost sounds like a song that could have existed in middle-ages Europe, as does Mountains of the Moon. Cumberland Blues feels like it was plucked out of the post-WW1 labor movement, as does pretty much all the material that would land on Workingman's Dead, and it's not just the lyrics. I have no idea what Phil was really talking about, but I do like to think there could be something to it. That it's a sound that's always existed and always will, and the Grateful Dead were just the one's that channeled it to our time and space. But then I play one of the Jerry Band live shows and get the same feeling, so I think it's probably just Jerry's incredible talent (though JGB was a harder sell than the Dead; probably took me 3-4 years of listening on/off before it "clicked", but once it did it sunk in just as deep as the Dead)

[@darthvegan435]

Yeah man, I've heard a couple of the members as describing the songs as being living entities in a parallel dimension, and the band helps them come through to our dimension and helps give them shape here audibly... It's one of the reasons I've always loved the lyric "the music pays the band" in "The Music Never Stopped" - that lyric reminds me of this theory (which is really cool).

[@hiddeninsorrow]

I've had such a similar musical journey. Thanks for the share.

[@alisadavies8943]

Thank you, I wanted to do what you said, understand why others like something I struggle to relate to and in addition to getting some of that insight into the Grateful Dead, this is also just an incredibly thought-provoking video that I think will stick with me for a good while.

[@frankiebasile6106]

I’m a huge dead fan now and was originally a rap fan and did this subconsciously and he just put it into words.

[@HeathBurley13]

Many conversations I’ve had with folks about this, but never could I articulate it like you. Bookmarking this for sure

[@StarDarkAshes]

Another thing is the way that they developed a certain song over the years. Go and listen to one of the first very first performances of Bob Weir’s Cassidy or even on his first studio album Ace and then go and listen to it on the live album Without a Net (every song on this album is amazing) and you can see how it’s just mind-boggling what they’ve done with this one song an idea after playing it for 20 years. At first it’s this cute little song but then it eventually just becomes this huge monster. You’ll get what I mean if you do this.

[@Melissaanne1271]

This is very relatable, I’ve had a similar experience with them. Thanks for sharing 😊

[@adamproductions4529]

There's an energy and atmosphere that live albums capture. The idea that every live album and every song on that album is essentially unique to that moment in history is something really special. The Grateful Dead are one of the greatest pioneers of the live album, and the whole ideology surrounding that type of "jam" music. As a musician myself who improvises essentially all of my solos I take influence from the spirit of the dead and their ability to push the envelope musically and as individuals. I think there's music that can only be created in the moment that captures some energy that studio recordings don't have.

[@counterconformity]

This is not only a great video, but a great resource. This should be shown to art and music classrooms around the world

[@jimschledorn5619]

Love the way the show “Freaks and Geeks shows how you might get on the bus

[@Lowtech14]

My 1st knowledge came from the radio.. Touch of Grey, Truckin’, US Blues, and the only one I really dug, Casey Jones. And then I listened to Live/Dead, forced myself to listen to Dark Star (did notice after a few minutes they were rocking out quite hard), and then Bam! St Stephen and Bam! The Eleven and Bam! Lovelight. Now I scarf all the 67-‘72 stuff.

[@bl4515]

Great video, I needed this, thank you.

[@MCPro413Gaming]

You are so valid about how you became a fan. Personally, the song that drew me in was Good Lovin on the Shakedown Street album. I just loved how catchy and groovy it was. Then I listened to the live versions and it blew me away

[@parttime9070]

An interesting thing about Europe 72 is some of the songs are Matrixed' They came back and listened to the tour recording's and didn't like some of the parts , so all their equipment was set up like they had it during the tour and re-recorded some parts in the songs and dubbed that over the track.. Amazingly few know this..

[@jakearmstrong2609]

This video deserves more views

[@jaywood5831]

I feel like all it takes is one song to make things click with the GD. For me it was help on the way/slipknot. I had always liked the song but never really payed attention to it like I should have until one day I felt like everything made sense. Been a really big fan ever since

[@alexm2930]

As far as albums I feel the same way with Tribe’s We Got it From Here. I heard being played at a bar and kept asking whose this for the first few songs. Then I heard it was Tribe’s new album. I actually went and bought the cd. Didn’t click it in the car the way it had at the bar, but one song broke through and it enveloped me. My favorite hip hop album of the 2010s.

[@slimsreturn4990]

beautiful thing to see. thank you for watching boss

[@gamecave7381]

A short while back, the door flung wide We all saw good luck on the other side The door blew shut, but here's the deal Dreams are lies, it's the dreaming that's real

[@themantommy09]

man, do i miss ratdog

[@gamecave7381]

@@themantommy09 and Furthur. Man, Furthur helped me see America, and understand the true power of collective improvisation. Gestalt.

[@themantommy09]

@@gamecave7381 aw yes furthur was the greater part of my grateful dead experience. 31 years old here for reference probably saw them a few dozen times. Gone are the days. Nice to meet you stranger I would shake your hand but y'know 😉

[@gamecave7381]

@@themantommy09 I saw them about the same amount. 29 years old. Those shows were achieving lift-off nearly every night. Dead & Co. just doesn't quite do it for me. Widespread panic gets the job done though!

[@lordthicknipples-gt2oq]

I'm going to be 100% honest. I got into the Grateful Dead because I really like dropping acid. One day, I got some tabs that had the Dead Set live album cover on them so I decided to give em a listen. I started with Dead Set (of course) and AoxomoxoA because it had a cool name. Eventually I found a great Dark Star/St Stephen/ NFA/GDTRFB/NFA from '71 at the Fillmore West while I was tripping balls and it absolutely blew my mind. After that, I discovered just how obsessed one could be with a band. But they were more than just a band. Out of all the people who do what they did, they were the first and they did it the best... but I sure hope they won't be the last. Ladies and Gentlemen... The Grateful Dead "Listen to my music, Hear what it can do There's something here that's strong as life I'm sure that it will reach you" (Wait, wrong band)

[@localfocalkc]

I am an artist and I go to museums and think the same exact thing. Art is so subjective and the more that you hate a piece no matter the simplicity or ease in which it could be obtained.

[@ksarecords8099]

Try dosing and listening to them

[@LegoManiac-tf8bn]

Nas has a good live album where he performs illmatic with an orchestra

[@fmellish71]

I went into the Dead through the '60s stuff; there was always a line that I drew with certain periods until I eventually got to the point where the line didn't exist anymore. At first, it was '60s primal Dead only, then no post-Pigpen, then not past the '70s, but I love it all now. Each era has something to offer as well as something to get used to.

[@wesleygregory6052]

Good video

[@FRESNOFREAK]

Dude, ......I' am grooooot!❤

[@candidcamel]

Thanks

[@liamsdad33]

Nothing left to do but smile smile smile

[@Diana11Austin]

Estimated Prophet did it for me too!

[@get_wrx9618]

All of middle school and highschool i didn't like The Grateful dead. I was more into Pink Floyd at the time. 2nd year into college I heard the song "Brown eyed woman" by Dead and company. Now i can't stop listening.

[@Mother_Shabubu]

I'm just now getting into the Grateful Dead but everything you said is exactly how I felt When I first discovered King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard they are like the modern day Grateful Dead

[@garret6464]

I pretty much exclusively listen to the dead but I’ve been actively trying to get into king gizzard

[@johnnycage435]

Whats their best studio album ? Well for a beginner like Nas’s Illmatic

[@Air_Gare]

As someone who just in the past two years has completely fallen into the dead. I absolutely love the way you explained how you got there. This rocks man thank you. Also nothing wrong with being a dead head buddy 😂

[@nathanielvalla6142]

One of my friends said it best they’re not a band that makes listening to them casually easy

[@OGRE_HATES_NERDS]

for me it was the dead ahead on halloween 1980 show that made it all click

[@darthvegan435]

For me - it was the "So Far" video - we used to alter our minds and watch that thing it was amazing.. Uncle John's into Playing in the band (with trippy graphics), into Lady with a Fan (with trippy graphics), into drums and space (and the drums with images are super intense), into an intense THrowing STones - and then bring you back down and lead you out lovingly with Not Fade Away (with video of a live performance and the audience shown)... it was a perfect 'trip' that we took often.. That is what sold me, and now 'I can't get enough' :D

[@OGRE_HATES_NERDS]

@@darthvegan435 thanks for the reccommendation... i actually got to see bob weir live like 2 weeks ago with willie nelson it was incredible

[@GreenCloudArtOrg420]

Music IS Art 😎🌈⚡️❤️

[@mattsheezy5469]

Have you seen the clip of Jerry Garcia talking about Rap music? It’s very interesting, because from his perspective it must have sounded like garbage, especially considering the sampling aspect.

[@billbeliakoff5589]

Something about the Dead clicked in your head that kept bringing you back to give them another chance. So basically they subconsciously hooked you.

[@lucasshaffer3324]

Really disliked the dead initially. Once you know it kind of sticks with you. It is unavoidable in the sense that the dead makes you more conscience.

[@jesssimone6135]

Okay, but do you take lsd or other hallucinogens while listening to them that makes you more “conscious”?

[@honeymustard8266]

The Grateful Dead is a living experience all songs connect its a road the will expand to other musicians and music ex bob Marley billy strings Lynyrd skynard and every song is different every time it’s played and it’s not music it’s a religion it’s life.

[@16Thefranchise]

Check out pretty lights it’s the modern electronic hip hop funk soul reincarnation of the dead

[@matthewcolton113]

Estimated prophet was also the song that made the dead click for me. At that time I preferred weirs vocals although now I prefer jerry

[@SpaceWrangler69]

My guy, check out Widespread Panic. Listen to the panic in the streets album live in athens georgia. You will not regret

[@dspangler777]

Literally came across this by searching “the Grateful Dead sucks” just to see if I could get triggered. Your video was within the first five results which I find hilarious. You’re a head, btw, just in case enough people haven’t commented this already.

[@theteapot349]

but then you hopefully found the podcast "your favorite band sucks" that's how I found that and it's really funny, the grateful dead episode is my favorite :P

[@Frankybroadcast]

Your voice sounds like Anthony Jeselnik. Lol By the way Grateful Dead? Best Band Ever!

[@kzeich]

You had to hear it at eleven

[@localfocalkc]

It sounds like in minute five you're banging your head against the wall. Till you finally did it long enough that you enjoyed the sound. 🤕

[@christophercampbell1677]

I'm not a deadhead lol😂😂😂😂😂 me either pal

[@jklep523]

Catholics have the Pope. Buddhists the Dhali Llama. We have Bobby.

[@TTGTanner]

Now go down the Meshuggah rabbit hole and report back in 5 years.

[@petergromlich6529]

I couldn't get myself to like rap if my life depended on it.

[@ModernPict]

You don’t need a basic understanding of Modern art btw….it was an Astro turfed medium, mostly funded and promoted by the CIA

[@brandonmayhew3445]

A video about why this guy had a hard time liking Grateful Dead, waste of time

[@tluke157]

Rap sucks imo

[@roquefortfiles]

I think they're a horrifyingly over rated band. While i appreciate their musicianship and ability on their instruments to me most of their songs all sound the same. They all have that kind of aimless meandering tone and then Gerry's plodding aimless leads. I watched a classic live concert tape they did and I couldn't help but think when ever a new song started up.. "Gee it sounds exactly like the last song" I will never change my opinion that they're helicopter music for hippie chicks.

[@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094]

I'm with your thesis, but rap might not be a relatable example. I have to FORCE myself to turn off my brain enough to appreciate rap. Even then, it's still just, blah.

[@ikilledmytoe8361]

there is rap music out there that can challenge and activate the brain just as much as like the most progressive rock song out there. popularity and tendency for shallow production and songwriting In the chunk of the field doesn't diminish the style as a whole

[@deadphishcheesespread]

I like how you put the video clip of Jerry saying rap isn't music in this. Which it's not, I agree with him. It's rhyming over tracks, that are probably stolen from an actual musician. Pushing a button doesn't make you a musician. The funny thing is if I want someone to start getting into toThe Dead I play them someone else doing a Grateful Dead cover. I ease a noob in with Uncle John's Band covered by The Indigo Girls on the benefit the rain forest album Deadicated.