rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (04/17/85)
A brief introduction to the band "the Grateful Dead" for the non-DeadHead.
This isn't meant as flame fuel or adulation, just some background that may
be useful to understanding the music.
First, the name--"Grateful Dead" occasionally conjures macabre images on
first hearing. In fact, it's the name of a cycle of folk tales which tell
a sort of Good-Samaritan story. One of the band members happened across
the phrase in a dictionary, it "leaped out of the page" at him, and they
took the name. (There's a good deal more legend and myth than this to it.)
There are currently six people in the band--roles and some characteristics:
Jerry Garcia (42) - lead guitar, vocals
Very furry, graying. Appears almost sedate on stage--he knows that
it's not necessary to pound and flail at an amplified guitar to get
music out of it.
Bob Weir (37) - rhythm guitar + some lead, vocals
Young-looking (prototype rock star except for Izods and jeans
instead of glitter). Prances and bounces around a lot--flamboyant
singer.
Phil Lesh (45!) - serious bass guitar, occasional vocals
Stands back--seems reserved, but also takes care of the serious
clowning. Also responsible for shaking the floor and rafters, and
gives a certain unseen direction to the music.
Billy Kreutzmann (38) - percussion
The more conventional rock drummer. Laid-back manner--makes it
look easy. Also assistant clown as needed.
Mickey Hart (41) - percussion
Could just as well be a karate instructor--upright, precise motion.
Has some of the strangest percussion devices you've ever seen.
(Ever seen a berimbau?)
Brent Mydland (34) - keyboards, vocals
Emerging force (fairly new to the band--see below), often backup
vocals but can contribute "down 'n' dirty" lead and some very funky
keyboard when appropriate.
The "original" band (counting from when they made the name change
Warlocks->Grateful Dead in 1965) was five people. One (Ron "Pigpen"
McKernan) died in 1973; the other four (Garcia, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann)
have been with the band all along. There was another keyboard player (Tom
Constanten) with the band for a while in the early days. Mickey Hart
joined the band in 1967. A keyboard player, Keith Godchaux, joined in
1971 due to Pigpen's advancing illness. His wife, Donna, joined in 1972.
Keith and Donna left and Brent joined in 1979 to give the present makeup.
It's a fairly standard set of roles except for the two drummers.
The band began in the San Francisco Bay area, and their music still carries
an identifiable "San Francisco sound" (characteristic of the late 60's to
early 70's in that area, as with Quicksilver, NRPS, Star-plane and others).
Although they are often "identified" with acid (as with the Acid Tests),
the sound is NOT "acid rock" in the sense the phrase is usually used. There
is a clue to the Dead's style of music in the names of some proto-Dead
bands from '61-'65: Wildwood Boys, Bad Water Valley Boys, Black Mountain
Boys, Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. Overall, the music is rock, of
course--but with a substantial dose of country and folk, some western and
blues, and a little of everything else.
The Dead perform a lot of "old standards"--C/W material such as "Mama
Tried" and "El Paso", rock such as "Good Lovin", "Goin' Down the Road...",
"Not Fade Away", folk such as "Baby Blue" or "Morning Dew", blues like
"Little Red Rooster" and "Spoonful". Unless your tastes are completely
confined to classical music, you'll hear some songs you recognize at a Dead
concert.
They also have a lot of their own music--it comes primarily from two pairs:
Garcia works with Robert Hunter and Weir works with John Barlow. Lesh has
also written a few songs (some of the most unusual ones) and Brent has
contributed some.
The Grateful Dead is primarily a live band. They seem to have discovered
that it was difficult to move their music to the studio, so (1) they focus
on performing rather than recording and (2) their better albums are the
live ones, as a rule (yeah, "de gustibus..." and all that).
A concert does not follow a strict list of songs (i.e., a "set list"),
and concerts on consecutive nights will have little overlap. (You might
hear 5% duplicate songs in a 5-show sequence.) The lack of strict planning
ahead has several consequences: It allows interesting combinations to
weave different moods. Various extended segues are possible. Musical
"discussions" (often elaborate) ensue as different members (mainly the
three guitarists) explore different melodies to move to the next song.
And, yes, sometimes there's an "argument" (played, not spoken) on which
direction to take; sometimes none of the improvisation goes anywhere and
the music just dribbles off. Then they stop to "tune" (a ritual exercise)
and try to figure out where to go.
Except for special shows, concerts tend to follow one pattern: There are
two sets, the second being substantially longer than the first. The more
"conventional" songs show up in the first set. The second set will give
the drummers some time to play by themselves. (Oops, "drummers" is a bad
misnomer here--make that "percussionists". Mickey in particular has a way
of finding or inventing unusual percussion instruments--he seems to have
close ties with some South American and Middle Eastern percussionists.)
Often there will also be some extended interplay with just Bobby and Jerry.
The second set has the "spacier" music and more improvisation--as if it
takes everyone (band and audience alike) a while to get warmed up and in
sync. (It also typically takes a few songs to get the legendary sound
system attuned to the locale.)
Jerry, Bobby, and Brent generally play electric instruments, but once in a
while there'll be a real piano and acoustic guitars for one set.
Although the sound system is elaborate (and sophisticated), it seems to be
a thoroughly eclectic combination. And although it has substantial power
capability (35 KW of amps, the last I read), this is mostly held in reserve
for clean sound--they do not play particularly loud by current rock-band
standards. (Mind you, I've not had trouble hearing them!:-) They avoid
painfully loud sounds in two ways: The sound starts off at a lower level
and builds through the show (allowing the ears to become accustomed to
higher levels gradually). A lot of the power happens below 150 Hz or so
with the larger drums and Phil, where the ears are much less sensitive
(Fletcher and Munson had the basic idea right).
The various band members have their own projects and turn up in the
strangest places (such as Kreutzmann/Hart/Lesh doing the soundtrack for
Apocalypse Now, or Garcia playing banjo on Old and in the Way with Vassar
Clements, David Grisman, and others). Still, the Dead is a synergistic
combination for its members. Words don't cut it. Albums and concert tapes
are poor substitutes. Go see them if you want to understand.
This should be enough for the non-DeadHead--lest I get blasted (again:-) in
net.music, I'll go on in net.music.gdead with more detail.
--
Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086
...Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.