re: Bob Weir... greatest rhythm guitar player ever? I’m starting to think so.

The Dead weren’t a commercial band and the live recordings they let fans tape and trade for free don’t count toward “going platinum.” Take whatever amount Metallica made from each album sale and tabulate that figure for the Dead multiplied by how many live bootlegs have been distributed among Deadheads, which the Dead received no compensation for, and which weren’t tracked by the record industry, and that figure would dwarf whatever Metallica made.

If we had a competition to come up with examples of other musicians covering Dead songs vs. other musicians covering Metallica songs, the Dead would win in a landslide. They’ll be playing Garcia-Hunter tunes a hundred years from now just like they’re still playing Robert Johnson tunes today.

Here’s another crazy metric: I’ll bet more people hate the Dead who never heard their music than there are people who hate Metallica without ever hearing theirs. Let that sink in. Har har, don’t take the brown acid! Metallica isn’t significant enough for me to make a snarky, snide comment like that about them.

Poll a bunch of musicians and ask them who influenced them more, Metallica or the Dead, and the Dead would win. In fact the Dead probably influenced Metallica in many ways you’re not aware of. Google “Owlsley Stanley.” He did a lot more than just make really good acid. (Which he practically gave away to prevent anyone from turning it into a cartel.) Look at his influence on speakers, amplification, and recording technology. Have you ever noticed how everybody uses the in-ear monitoring system these days? The Dead were pioneers in using that technology. The funny thing about the Dead is that they’re probably more respected by other bands like, say, Metallica, than are the hardcore fans of those bands.