Why The Grateful Dead Are So Important.

This is originally from thread on the Discussion Board of Golf Club Atlas.


I've heard every criticism in the book about the Grateful Dead.  I'm a huge Dead fan, no doubt.  Yet beyond my obvious emotional reasons for liking the Grateful Dead, I have several logical arguments for why the Grateful Dead were (and still are) one of the most important bands in rock n' roll.  Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide review of the Dead's Two From the Vault gives an overview of what made the Dead so fascinating as a live band:


The preserve of a huge, insular cult accustomed to rendering its very real aesthetic discriminations within a context so uncritical no outsider need pay them the slightest mind, the Dead's music has disappeared into the mythology it engendered. They were a great band. But trying to convince an unbeliever is like trying to tell a stranger about LSD. Great drummers were hard to come by in the hippie era, and the Dead were too discursive to want one anyway--Bill and Mickey rocked out by revving tempo and volume and letting Pigpen take it away. But often the Dead's ruminations have content--they listened more responsively than any other band of the era. And on solos of over a chorus or two, Jerry Garcia stands as the era's most inventive guitarist short of Hendrix and Page. God they were a trip.

     Christgau makes several good points about what makes the Dead so appealing.  The Dead functioned well as a unit, and it is fascinating to watch old videos of the band to see how they interact with one another.  Furthermore, I agree with Robert Christgau's review of the Dead.  I am a devotee of Christgau's writings.  While I don't agree with everything he says, he's mostly right here.  Yet there so many other reasons to appreciate the Grateful Dead.

     The Dead invented the jam-band genre.  When they started playing psychedelic music in San Francisco in 1965, nobody else was doing what they were doing.  There were jazz acts that were stretching out on songs, but all of the major rock acts were still playing compressed, radio-friendly songs.  Bands like the Beatles disdained improvisation (John Lennon called jazz "shit music.")  Yet after the Dead began playing and developed their sound, other bands followed in the jazz vein.  By the end of the 1960s, the typical rock n' roll concert was changed forever, and musicians were now improvising and exploring musical ground never before seen.  While this style went out of vogue in the late 1970s, partially because lesser musicians tried to copy bands like the Dead, Cream, and the Allmans, it has resurged in recent years.  Every single one of the jam bands on the scene now owes something to the Dead for taking rock and adding jazzy, jam elements to it.

     However, the Grateful Dead was so much more than a jam band with decent jazz chops.  Listening to the Grateful Dead is an education in American music.  Each of the original band members came from a different musical background.  Phil Lesh was a classically-trained bassist and trumpeter who was interested in electronic music.  Jerry Garcia and perennial Dead songwriter Robert Hunter were folk and bluegrass musicians.  Bill Kreutzmann had a jazz background, while fellow percussionist Mickey Hart was interested in world music.  Pigpen was a blues fanatic, and Bob Weir would carry on his blues voice after Pigpen's death.  While the Beatles inspired the Grateful Dead to become rock-oriented, the band would always bring the musical backgrounds of its individual members.  That, combined with the psychedelic culture of San Francisco, created a melting pot of all styles of American music.

     Not only did the Dead come from an American musical background, but they played music that came from every corner of the American musical scene.  Robert Hunter wrote folk and rock songs that evoke vivid images of Americana, particularly the allure and troubles of the American West.  The band also paid tribute to their American influences in their cover selections.  They covered Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Derek and the Dominos, Martha and the Vandellas, James Brown, the Reverend Gary Davis, and countless others.  They also paid tribute to British artists who were devoted to American music, including Van Morrison and the Rolling Stones.  If you hear a Dead show, you hear the best of American rock, folk, country, soul, and blues, all infused with jazzy improv work that only improved through time for the band.

     The Dead played the best American music, and they preserved it through relentless touring for thirty years and by attracting a devoted following of fans.  When other bands from the 1960s were breaking up or assimilate to the music of the late 70s and 80s, the Dead continued on in their same style.  Sure, the Grateful Dead's sound evolved, and three concerts from 1968, 1972, and 1980 will all sound very different.  Yet this evolution had nothing to do with external trends in music.  When punk rock raged in the late 70s, the band was setting off on long, mellow musical journeys on a nightly basis.  In fact, 1977, the height of the punk explosion, is often considered the Dead's finest year in concert.  The band spent its years exploring new ground, trying new types of music, and constantly trying to improve.

     All the while, the Grateful Dead's fan base remained strong.  No band in American history has a such a large, close-knit, thoroughly devoted group of fans.  The Dead were one of the first bands to play two sets, giving their fans more music for cheaper.  They also extended personal invitations for fans to stay in contact with the band, such as the mailing list request in the liner notes of the "Skull and Roses" album.  This status allowed the band to carry on with the same method for decades and preserve great American music while others were ignoring it.  Furthermore, with the band's unique policy that allowed fans to tape and distribute shows, all of their music and its history remains today for people to hear.  No band, not even the Stones, has had such longevity.

     Even after Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, the remaining members carry on the musical tradition of the Dead.  There are now scores of Deadheads that have never saw a show but still love the music.  Fans still follow groups like Dark Star Orchestra and Furthur from show to show, knowing that, on any given night, it is possible to hear something they've never heard before and won't again.  With the band's oldest member, Phil Lesh, reaching age 70 in 2010, the band members are still searching and refusing to play the same show twice.  Most importantly, the jam movement of the 1990s has reinvigorated enthusiasm for the Grateful Dead.  Jam bands like Phish, String Cheese Incident, and Widespread Panic will continue to be influenced by the Grateful Dead and carry the tradition into the future.  Bands outside the jam band scene, too, continue to learn from the Dead.  Animal Collective released an album in 2009 entitled "Merriweather Post Pavilion," as a tribute to the Columbia, Maryland venue where the Grateful Dead played many shows.  The improvised and psychedelic ethos of the Dead is important for music in any genre.

     The Grateful Dead changed the live rock concert forever while still playing classic American music.  Additionally, they were the first rock band to incorporate jazz music into a genre that had otherwise avoided jazz completely.  The band defined a generation while continuing to inspire fans to the present day.  The Grateful Dead belongs on the list of great live acts with The Who, Bruce, the Allmans, and the Stones.  Whether you love the Grateful Dead or not, you should realize how critical the band has been in the development of American music.

The Tournament of Champions at Kapalua: Golf Does Not Need Tiger

There has been talk in many circles that golf is declining.  I, myself, have been an ardent critic of new fads in the game.  I abhor laser yardage guns, winter rules, and, above all, golf carts.  Yet despite economic and cultural signs that the game might be in decline, I constantly find reason to be optimistic about the game's future.

     One moment that always rejuvenates my interest in the game is the start of the PGA Tour season.  November and December are always down months for me as a golf fan.  Schoolwork sets in, the days shorten, and snow and ice begin to blanket my Northeastern home.  In past years, my constant drive for improvement in my own game kept my thirst for golf high.  However, now that I have relinquished my dreams of winning the Masters by 13 shots, golf fades away with the warm weather at year's end.  It is not until the PGA Tour season's beginning in Hawaii that I renew interest in the game of golf.  In what has become a tradition, the first tournament of the year is always the Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course in Maui.

     The tournament is very unique in that it has both a limited field (only the previous year's tournament winners are invited) and a limited gallery following play.  Furthermore, the Plantation Course, designed by modern golf architecture geniuses Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, is completely different from most PGA Tour courses.  The fairways are landing-strip wide to accommodate massive elevation changes and a harsh, ravine-filled landscape.  Players are challenged not by artificial water hazards and gaudy bunkers, but by low-profile sand hazards and vexing ground features.  While the course is not particularly taxing for the world's best, the most creative players will succeed around the Plantation.  Unlike the slog that takes place at many professional tournaments, rounds at the Plantation are a thrill, both for the players and the fans.  In his post-round interview, after missing a lead-tying putt at the 18th, reigning US Open champion Graeme McDowell called the course "great fun."  Unlike the fascist setups of many modern courses that force defensive golf, the Plantation Course wants golfers to be inventive.  In short, the Plantation Course asks golfers to play shots.

     And shots were played at Kapalua.  The highlight of the week was Bubba Watson's second shot into the 18th on Thursday.  From a downhill, ski-slope lie, the swashbuckling lefty hit a driver "off the deck," cutting the ball some fifty yards from right to left.  The ball curved around the ravine that fronts the long par five, caught the downslope short of the green, and chased to within ten feet of the flag.  Watson then drained the putt for an eagle three.  The treacherous trade winds that constantly buffer the Plantation Course forced players into crazy situations.  Many tour pros hit fairway woods into the par-four opening hole, only to hit irons into the 663-yard finishing hole.  Young gun Jason Day, who was six under on his second round through 12 holes, hit six inches behind the ball on his drive off number 13.  The drive finished less than 150 yards off the tee.  Unfazed, Day hit driver once again to some 50 yards short of the green, then got up and down for his par.  The real fireworks of the tournament came from Robert Garrigus.  On Friday, he holed his second shot for eagle on the par 16th.  The next day, after starting three over through four holes, he finished strong, culminating with an long eagle putt on the 18th that hit the back of the hole, bounced up, then dropped in.  Garrigus nearly did it again on the 18th on Sunday, chasing a five-wood to 15 feet, only to burn the edge on an eagle putt that would have won him the tournament.

     Unfortunately, Garrigus lost to Jonathan Byrd by missing a four-footer on the second playoff hole.  Garrigus' loss can be attributed partially to his utmost regard for fans.  After finishing regulation play, Garrigus had time to kill until Byrd finished his round and potentially forced a playoff.  Most tour pros would head to the range or the putting green for some last-minute practice.  Garrigus decided to spend time signing autographs for eager spectators and talking to his family.  When he went into the clubhouse before the playoff, he explained that he had to get more golf balls.  He had given away all of the golf balls in his bag to fans.

     Garrigus is the sort of fellow that makes golf the great game that it is.  He is a reformed alcoholic whose comeback is inspiring to many.  He plays the game with a youthful enthusiasm, and he isn't afraid to show the emotion and nerves that other players hide.  Above all, he is a gentleman who puts others first and never complains about his misfortunes on the course.  Garrigus was one of many class acts on the leaderboard, from the tournament champion Byrd to the hard-charging McDowell, who fired a course record-tying 62 only to fall one shot short of the playoff.  Every player  exuded incredible class in both victory and defeat down the stretch.  In addition, they played with a zeal that recalls what makes the game great.  It was hard to ask for a better week of golf.

     This week's Tournament of Champions was a great example of how golf should be played at the professional level.  Since it was so idyllic, it begs the question, "why does golf need Tiger Woods?"  Since Tiger's meltdown last winter, the competition in the pro game has been markedly different.  After Phil Mickelson's win in the Masters, three new faces, who are all great players, by the way, won the year's final three majors.  Tiger struggled on the course.  Not only did he play poorly, but he comported himself like a loser throughout the season.  While players like McDowell talk about having fun, Tiger looks like he's miserable.  He is playing in tournaments at courses where most golfers would give a limb to play, but he looks like he's standing trial for aggravated assault.

     Golf fans should shy away from Tiger mania and look at all the good that is going on in the game.  Tiger does not make the game "cool" anymore.  He certainly does not set a good example for young golfers.  And, most disturbingly, he looks like he hates golf more than ever.  Fans need to recognize that there is great golf to be had beyond Tiger Woods.  Golfers, young and old, will find more inspiration in a great tournament like Kapalua than a report on Tiger's latest transgressions.  Golf does not need Tiger.  Instead, the game's ruling bodies need to support the respectable Tour pros that continue to compete at the highest level while focusing on the problems that still exist, partially because of Tiger, in the game today.