re: The Grateful Dead - Overrated?

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I'm not crazy about them but I respect their music making abilities enough to at least say they're not overrated. Their staying power across multiple generations is pretty impressive. They did it up against bands like The Beatles and Stones which I can respect.

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Yea, that makes sense. Maybe overrated isn't the right term.

I really like the Dead, but yes, overrated.

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Probably not. This site is full of the good old boys who hate those damn longhairs.

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Or maybe people just dislike their music. I love the longhairs, many just have shitty taste in music in my opinion. Music is subjective, some like it...others don't.

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I think jerry garcia described it the best, the dead are like black licorice, people that like it, really really like it. while other people hate it.

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This is probably true. You don't sort of like The Dead.

I've had friends who loved The Dead and went to their shows and would talk about the band as if it was a religion...

I never understood the fascination with them - not my cup of tea.

But I don't think they're overrated...they have a significant following for a reason...they're an important part of music and social history.

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unlistenable(late 80's heroin Jerry)

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88 was an awesome year, that was post coma though. 85-87 was a death crawl. good (even listenable) shows were few and far between.

i dont think jerry gets enough credit for being a great guitar player who was far ahead of his time. his use of MIDI technology in the late 80s through his demise was incredible. he literally could make his guitar sound like anything. they would be jamming and all of sudden you hear a flute solo, wtf? just jerry. hes played train whistles, bacon frying, all kinds of crazy shite in a day and age when there wasnt digital technology to have everything at your fingertips.

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Funny--I listened to it the other day, and I definitely agree. I think, though, that everything after American Beauty was a band getting high, old and fat, and sounding increasingly high, old, and fat.

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thats funny, because the band HATED the 1st album because they were all on dexatrine and speed and that album is WAY too fast.

so american beauty was in 71, they were in their late 20s. so they were old and fat in the mid 70s? ignorance is bliss i guess.

I agree that overrated is the wrong adjective to try to describe the Dead. They did everything against the norm, bascially created an entire genre of music, and never changed theur style to appeal to the masses.

Overrated to me relates to bands that are overly hyped by media outlets and the like.

I am a Dead fan by the way, and I agree that it is not for everyone. Some of their stuff is not for me and I am a fan.

For non fans who have tried to listen and don't like, I would suggest giving their austic stuff a try. Reckoning or Gracia/Grisham ablums are excellent. You can hear shorter versions of songs and listen to how great of musicians the band really is without getting caught up in the spacey extended jams. I would suggest this with any jam bands, that is if you are interested.

GD will always be in my top ten because they were they band that opened my ears to non-radio music/MTV music in my late teens and created an itch to find "other" music.

Listen to what you want to listen to and like what you want to like. And to quote The Band, it makes no difference.

Obvious troll is obvious.

What band doesn't have followers that drink? Music and drugs go hand in hand. Try not to be so obtuse. When I trip acid at The Talking Heads show with friends will it discredit the music?