Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an iconic American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Franciso Bay Area.
Comments
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Reminding me of what I truly believe in
I love them more than words can tell: I never was a deadhead but I followed Jerry Garcia's Band on its East Coast tour in '93 and saw 5 West Coast concerts the same year. It was the first time I drove across the USA, and followed the band each night as they played in a different city. It was the first time I was truly in love, and the first time I could hear the same magnificent voice 13 nights in a row, loving it more each time. Jerry's voice is a gift. He has one of those voices that sound like a teenager all their lives. Listening to the Dead ever since has remained a ritual, to keep my feet rooted in reality, and reminding me of what I truly believe in. How that happened I am not sure. But I am grateful.
Suzanne, Switzerland - 07 October 2005
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I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea
Walking through downtown San Francisco with my wife late one evening in 1990 (not a fancy part of town), We encountered a large crowd of people. 'Hippies' would be the best description. Just standing, many of them swaying. As we got closer I could hear a vague pounding coming from the theatre that was the focal point for the goup. We passed through the people, who politely moved aside. I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea. It was kind of surreal. I asked a passer-by what the crowd was about. 'Deadheads'. Apparently they followed the band from venue to venue but couldn't afford to buy tickets. So they swayed outside in the cold (it was visible breath cold). If that's not love - I don't know what is.
David, New Zealand - 05 April 2005
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True musical storytellers
I remember working as a line cook the day my brother went to his first dead show...I told the other cooks and everyone was excited for him and they didn't even know the guy. When the boys joined up for the Terrapin Station Reunion, it was as if a thirty-year record of improvisation, creativity and force were set in stone once and for all. You go back and sample the record of these artists and their history - Pigpen, playing with Dylan, the Woodstock debacle - and it wiles you to realize these guys are America's true musical storytellers. It's the one group that can resolve the difference between a baby boomer and a gen xer, can touch on the innocence lost in everyone, and inspire some sort of trip induced state in anyone listening to a memory-tale of touring or hearing the band...total folk legend. Totally authentic. Totally dead.
Tone, United States - 04 December 2004
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A powerful magic at work here
Now here is a mark I can call a lovemark. The Grateful Dead have come to symbolize such a positive force of change in my life. I never got to see Jerry play, but I can feel him to this day. For me there were the Further Festivals. The boys, the band, the family... There is a powerful magic at work here. They were more than a "mere" cultural icon. The magic of an underlying current of divine love radiates through them and the "scene". They were at the epicenter of something beyond comprehension. And I don't know if I need or want to. I am simply, forever, grateful.
Tim, United States - 10 November 2004
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They're real
I have been obsessed by this band since I was about sixteen. They epitomize creativity, freedom, and originality, and independence. They're not making it up or posing - they're real. They were the first example in my life of being able to live my life the way I wanted to, without having to fit into someone else's system.
Peter, United States - 10 November 2004
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Love the music or not
What a Lovemark! The dead inspired a fanatically passionate following for 30 years. How? By always innovating, by treating deadheads like part of a large extended family, by rewarding loyalty with access to mail order tickets, by giving the music away as soon as it was performed. The list goes on... Love the music or not, there are clear lessons here about how to nurture relationships with your customers. Brilliant at so many levels.
Dave, United States - 11 September 2004
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Will never go away
It's hard to believe it's been almost 10 years since Jerry passed and I haven't been to see "the family" since. Still, just like it was yesterday, I can remember the anticipation of the music, the dance, the joy. My life has changed so much since then, and yet the impact of the time I spent with them will never go away.
Taunie, United States - 10 September 2004
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So iconic
I can't believe Grateful Dead haven't been nominated til now! I'm not a Deadhead, I wasn't a hippie, but the Dead's music is so iconic of an era, my youth. I never tire of it, it makes me smile, it takes me right back to college days.
Vicki, United States - 10 September 2004