No Grateful Dead comparisons!

Jeremy1012

DischordVision wrote:

I think we all need, as PJ fans, attempt to lose or disassociate w/ the Grateful Dead comparisons that have been written & talked about over the past 5-6 years.
First off, the Grateful Dead are dead, have been since Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Second, we are not nor am I by any means burnt out druggie hippies trying to revive the 1960's & 70's on a daily basis. Third, the music is huge parallels apart from each other. The Grateful Dead were just a dope/LSD laced jam band that happened to form in a city(San Francisco) that accepted that sort of birth at the time. We however, are not druggies (I hope) & have more intelligence & intrigue than most fans of rock bands. Pearl Jam's soul & identity gives way to the freedom of punk rock & the all out integrity of 70's arena rock. Ok, so the Dead & PJ had a lot of music out in a short length of time at their peak & the Ten Club members/die hards know the songs like their short n' curlys, so what? Pearl Jam's still alive, always have been & we know they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
So what makes us survive? The band's topics such as politics, evolution & faith? you decide...not some critic who sees us & the band as new age jam heads...no thank you at all...

How dare you make assumptions about my drug intake?

Trailer

DischordVision wrote:

I think we all need, as PJ fans, attempt to lose or disassociate w/ the Grateful Dead comparisons that have been written & talked about over the past 5-6 years.
First off, the Grateful Dead are dead, have been since Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Second, we are not nor am I by any means burnt out druggie hippies trying to revive the 1960's & 70's on a daily basis. Third, the music is huge parallels apart from each other. The Grateful Dead were just a dope/LSD laced jam band that happened to form in a city(San Francisco) that accepted that sort of birth at the time. We however, are not druggies (I hope) & have more intelligence & intrigue than most fans of rock bands. Pearl Jam's soul & identity gives way to the freedom of punk rock & the all out integrity of 70's arena rock. Ok, so the Dead & PJ had a lot of music out in a short length of time at their peak & the Ten Club members/die hards know the songs like their short n' curlys, so what? Pearl Jam's still alive, always have been & we know they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
So what makes us survive? The band's topics such as politics, evolution & faith? you decide...not some critic who sees us & the band as new age jam heads...no thank you at all...

I don't have time to read this whole thread... but let me just add that you are an idiot! The Grateful Dead were the pioneers of so many facets of the music industry and their fans were loyal, friendly, and obsessively-critical (in a good way) of their music. Kind of like Pearl Jam and their fans...

given2fly78

DischordVision wrote:

I think we all need, as PJ fans, attempt to lose or disassociate w/ the Grateful Dead comparisons that have been written & talked about over the past 5-6 years.
First off, the Grateful Dead are dead, have been since Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Second, we are not nor am I by any means burnt out druggie hippies trying to revive the 1960's & 70's on a daily basis. Third, the music is huge parallels apart from each other. The Grateful Dead were just a dope/LSD laced jam band that happened to form in a city(San Francisco) that accepted that sort of birth at the time. We however, are not druggies (I hope) & have more intelligence & intrigue than most fans of rock bands. Pearl Jam's soul & identity gives way to the freedom of punk rock & the all out integrity of 70's arena rock. Ok, so the Dead & PJ had a lot of music out in a short length of time at their peak & the Ten Club members/die hards know the songs like their short n' curlys, so what? Pearl Jam's still alive, always have been & we know they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
So what makes us survive? The band's topics such as politics, evolution & faith? you decide...not some critic who sees us & the band as new age jam heads...no thank you at all...

Hmmmmm, I think it's an honor! GD fans set the pace for us. And I think you are making some serious generalizations here. The Dead are not dead. Their music didn't die w/ Jerry. It lives on, through recordings (which by the way paved the road for US to record) memoribilia and their members. It wasn't all about Jerry. And not all deadheads are LSD loving nappy headed anti shower hippies. I love the Dead, Phish, Moe, ASG, Galactic, Keller Williams, Disco Biscuts, Umphrey McGee, ect and that doesn't make me a druggie. Many bands are politically involved, environmentally concious and support their communities just like Pearl Jam.

We're all passionate about music. Weather it's GD, Pearl Jam, Phish...whatever. We support our love by following tours, talking about the music, collecting stuff. To be compared to Deadheads is a compliment. It's about the dedication and the love for the music. Not what you look like or what you wear.

pjambama

as a fan of music and cool bands there are some similarities to the dead and pearl jam. i have seen both the grateful dead and pearl jam in concert. The music and scene is of course different but the way they treat the fans is very similar


both bands allowed fans to get the best seats possible for their shows and even allow taping. the grateful dead went so far as to create a section at their shows for taping. both bands are not primarily driven by money its da music so they try 2 keep the ticket prices as low as possible


grateful dead channel on sirius maybe one day pearl jam channel
http://www.sirius.com/gratefuldead


http://www.myspace.com/siriusradiorocks


new orleans 95
birmingham 98
birmingham 2003- 2nd coldest show ever
tampa 2003

drew0

As a DeadHead, I never really understood these comparisons.

Yes, both bands have devote followers, almost a cult, that is obsessed with the band and travels around to see them. And that's about where the comparisons stop.

Deadheads formed their own community, much more than we have today (although I applaud the Jammers). At a Dead concert, people were selling things outside - shirts, etc. to raise money to travel around to see them. It was almost like a traveling circus. People devoted their lives to the band, in large numbers. I know of 10+ people that spent at least an entire tour following them (and they were averaging 200+ shows a year).

Also, on the comparison of setlists, yes, Pearl Jam mixes up their setlist on a nightly basis. However, nothing compared to the way a Dead set went. It was completely unexpected, and consisted of long, extended jams that morphed into covers, reprises, etc.

djonesr

I can see where your coming from Drew. And I completely agree about there being big differences in the actual level of DEAD-ication But we really can't tell how fanatical jammers would get about touring if PJ played 100+ shows each year.

I still don't think the number of touring PJ fans would match that level. Maybe that's where the drugs come in

I have some partially similar thoughts about the musical improvisation too. I think that if PJ played 100+ live shows every year, they would have more extended jams in their music. Certainly not as spacey and psychedelic though.

But it's the subtle and not so exact comparisons that I really like. It really is more of a comparison that a copy/clone, which is what you could arguable say about the pure "jam bands".