re: Is there a more disappointing first listen than the Grateful Dead?

I felt the same way when I first heard them too. It was back in 1990/1991 and I had a bunch of friends from college who were into them big time. I tried to get into them and although there was stuff like Sugar Magnolia and the In the Dark album that I liked, I never understood the level of fanaticism they had for them. Then around 2007 or 2008 I was noodling around in a used CD store and came across a 4 CD set of various stuff from the London concerts in their 1972 European tour for twelve dollars and took a flyer on it out of what the frick why notness. I now have over a hundred CDs of theirs the vast majority either bootlegs or stuff released from their vault like the Dick's Picks, Road Trips, and Dave's Picks sets. That is where the legendary stuff is. Using their studio albums to introduce someone to their music is like using a McRib to introduce someone to barbecue.