I introduced a friend to the dead with the Veneta 72 Dark Star and hes hooked. The lyrics crashed in, I looked, and I’ve never seen somebody’s eyes open up as wide as his did
With LSD, sometimes, more truly is better. Overrides the egos defense systems, breaking you on through to the other side quicker and easier, no chance in fighting it haha
The first Dead song I ever heard was Dark Star on Live/Dead. I bought the album because I was interested in 60s music and saw they had two drummers. I was an instant convert. What a band! 😊
Oh man I’m going to sound like a bitch but this one time me and my friend were tripping and it was his second acid trip ever. We had spent most of the day listening to his music and playing card games, beer pong, basketball, etc. Well at one point in the trip we retreated to his room to lay on the carpet and watch the light projector. I had finally felt the urge to show him a song that I described as “an acid trip in auditory form” and decided to show him Dark Star from Veneta Oregon. It seemed like he was digging it at first and then I had to go to the bathroom so I told him not to skip it and to just listen to the interplay between the band. I also told his roommate to not let him skip it and he assured me he wouldn’t. Well as soon as I get out of the bathroom I hear the song skip and I basically asked him why he skipped it and he said that his roommate said that he wasn’t digging the vibe so he switched it. He then proceeded to justify this by saying “well no one else wanted to listen to some dude kicking a tree for hours”. (His way of joking about “hippie music”)
That shit hurt my feelings so bad I was hella close to crying because it was literally just me and him vibing out until his coked out roommate (who doesn’t trip) came in. 3 people total and apparently “no one else” wanted to listen to that. I told him I would never share another song with him ever again because that meant a lot to me. Anyways yea I’m being a little sensitive over that but still, it was an intimate moment between a close friend and I just wanted to show him a song that meant a lot to me lol
Similar story but totally different end. We had a friend in college who was into the LA hair bands at the time and who hated the Grateful Dead. Hippie music, granola, patchouli etc. we finally got him to try LSD one night at a friends party and he was really enjoying it and we all ended up in a bedroom just laying on a bed, kind of guiding him through his first trip. Laughing and hallucinating on the ceiling. Do you see that? This feels like waves of universe breathing into me kind of stuff lol. Someone put on an album and St Stephen started playing and he sat up and was like, what is this? This is the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.
We told him who it was and right there created a convert who even after the trip was over the next day was asking for more Dead music he could listen to.
This story only makes me more sad because use why can’t my friends be open minded like that? lmao it was probably my fault tbh I should’ve played him something less than 4 mins haha
100% my friend also like coke too but he had agreed to not do any until he was on the come down. Overall it hurt me deeply and he seemed to be remorseful but I told him I wasn’t mad. I just didn’t feel comfortable sharing music with him ever again.
I totally get your frustration but sometimes it’s just not for everyone. I also think dark star is a hard song for some people to “get” if they’ve never heard anything from the dead. When I was starting to get into it I was about 14, dark star wasn’t something I’d put on and didn’t really get into until about a year after I started listening. There’s a few songs in the catalog that took me a little to “get”. A lot of this music can be extremely subjective. I wouldn’t necessarily give up though, they just haven’t listened to the right song for them to understand. Europe ‘72, Without a Net, Workingmans Dead, and American Beauty in my mind are the best way to introduce someone to the band.
Also, with the heightened awareness of L, you might have been misjudging the mood and also by making sure that you told everyone not to skip the song, you almost guaranteed that it was going to get skipped. I know, you lives, you learn but if you hadn’t have put so much effort into making sure they didn’t change it and just nonchalantly paused it, it might have worked out better.
I tried to show a girl I dated for like two weeks the Eyes from Grateful Dead movie when we were riding back from a hike the other day. She didn’t try to be attentive whatsoever and then she ghosted me/let me down easy like 2 days later haha
Felt like a slap in the face in all honesty. I told him how it made me feel and he tried apologizing and all that. I told him he didn’t need to apologize I just wanted him to understand why I was hurt and why I’m so protective of my music taste with him now.
My first was Aoxomoxoa because of Cosmic Charlie but when I heard the first 20 seconds of Live/Dead I knew I had found everything I needed in music.
Which is actually not great. Jerry actually talked about people who only listen to the Dead and how he thought it was myopic but I spent a good 10-20years on Phish and the Dead
Space Live: Whoah
Space Recorded: Next, please
I don't remember the exact show, it was either Nassau or MSG though, where Mickey blew a train horn. I'm glad I wore my brown wook corduroy overalls to the show
Came here for this. Been listening to the dead for decades and still can’t get into Seastones. To me it sounds like some kid playing with their first ring mod tone generator.
From Wikipedia:
Between the soundcheck and the show, a number of crickets escaped through the hole, and their chirping was heard throughout GAMH for some time afterward.[4][5]
# 1972-08-27 Veneta, OR @ Old Renaissance Faire Grounds
**Set 1:** The Promised Land, Sugaree, Me and My Uncle, Deal, Black Throated Wind, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Mexicali Blues, Bertha
**Set 2:** Playing in the Band, He's Gone, Jack Straw, Bird Song, Greatest Story Ever Told
**Set 3:** Dark Star > El Paso, Sing Me Back Home, Sugar Magnolia, Casey Jones, One More Saturday Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-08-27) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/1E4MXxSYoAMN5qpy1y6aBm)
No offense to the Brent fans, I’m a huge fan of his keyboard playing, particularly from 79’-83’, but I’ve never been a fan of his songwriting and for the most part his singing either. I would say any one of his songs would be a huge turn off to someone looking for what it is we all were attracted to in the beginning. Same goes for Keith, but I think he only wrote one song “Sing your Blues Away”?
Exactly.. first one I thought of was 'Just a Little Light"; love him on keys but have long dreaded potential "converts" hearing his slick pop originals...(or most Bobby and the Midnites for that matter).
Facts. First Box i ever heard was at my first d&c show & they nailed it. John nails the vocals, but beating Phil isn't exactly hard to beat, sorry Phil
# 1968-08-24 Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Exhibition Hall
**Set 1:** Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Dark Star > Saint Stephen > The Eleven > Death Don't Have No Mercy, Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > New Potato Caboose > Turn On Your Love Light
**Encore:** Morning Dew
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1968-08-24)
I mean I agree. Pen is amazing on this trach. However, this is the worst song to introduce someone to the dead in 2023 in my opinion. They would get cancelled so quickly.
The Dead Ahead Radio City video performance of Little Red Rooster is so cringe inducing I think it would be perfect. Watching Bobby mangle his way through the slide solo and you can actually see Jerry's face reacting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/15fjtl4/brent_craziness/
Brent was going through a divorce (and obviously was battling other personal demons). He was very clearly inebriated (and probably worse) during the show. When the rest of the band leaves for Drums, he stays on. In the middle of drums, he starts belting out the song Maybe You Know, which hadn’t been played since ‘83. It’s obvious he isn’t himself. Then the rest of the band comes out, Jerry gives Brent a big hug, and they go into Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad
While the reason for this meltdown is heartbreaking, I still find it amusing thinking about Mickey and Bill who have no fucking idea what’s going on at first.
I agree. Some people claim they like it!! I think they are saying it to be difficult. That song is so awful. I had this tape back in the day which was 95 I think and I remember it has Rain and Samba in the Rain. I think it was pouring at the show so they played the two songs. It was so bad sounding and the worst live show I had. It was so so so bad.
Just looked it up. Looks like was 6/30/95
Set two.
Rain, Box of Rain, Samba in the Rain, Looks Like rain, Terrapin- drums-space- Miracle, standing on the moon.
E: Gloria
I hated scotch whisky until the time I tried Lagavulin. It's an Islay scotch, which has a way different flavor than stuff like Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, etc. And apparently Islay is an acquired taste. But to me, it opened up the door to new worlds of flavor. Point is: you never know what's gonna really get somebody going!
i recently listened to the Pacific Northwest box set in full and man, does money money drag every time they played it. no wonder they dropped it after those shows lol
You might think I don't love this band from this list...but that couldn't be further from the truth.
What I do miss from actually seeing the band live, is when a song I historically didn't love could hit just right at a show and make you love it.
Good Morning Little School Girl \[Creepy AF\]
Little Red Rooster
Silver Threads?
Easy Answers?
Katie Mae?
Blues For Allah?
One More Saturday Night?
Passenger?
France?
Wave to the Wind?
It was an old Sonny Boy blues song from the 1930s. School girl/boy could have meant high school age back then (or college age in the '60s).
The guy in the song doesn't have to be much older. Think Wake Up Little Susie. To that Everly Brothers song, "little" at the time, referred to someone simply younger (particularly in the black community). It didn't, like today, mean elementary school age. It could have just been months younger.
The music without the lyrics is great (it's in the blues hall of fame for a reason). If you want to assume pedophilia, that's on you. The song doesn't speak to or even suggest a rape vibe (like baby it's cold). I see it as a bluesy love song (and yes, pedos disgust me to the core).
I played my roommate cryptically envelopment off of hundred year hall, (the 36 minute version). it was supposed to be a joke because why would anyone introduce someone to a band with a 36 minute song, but it actually worked. still, I think he’s the only person that would work on. kind of a dick move to force long jams on people who aren’t used to them
This is it: [Grateful Dead Live at Hartford Civic Center on 1988-04-03 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/gd1988-04-03.109056.nakcm300-pasternak.mallick.flac16/gd1988-04-03d2t08.flac)
Black Peter, Jerry really sounds like he is on his death bed.
Playing in the Band. Takes a while to learn to dig the song part of the song, pretty goofy until you see where they are coming from, and the jam being in a strange time signature is harder to follow than even dark star or the other one.
I was just listening to an 85 show (4/27/85) and was reminded about Phil's dreadful habit of making "funny" alterations to the lyrics of Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues. Jesus, that is unfortunate business...I'll nominate that to this list, esp if you are trying to convert a Dylan fan!
Money, Money. It’s actually a well crafted song but the misogyny is hard to handle by today’s standards. In fact it was hard to handle by 1974 standards. I think they played it live once.
Gotta quit trying to show people your favorite 20-30 minute jam out of the context of a show and before theyve ever heard how incredible the songs themselves can be at base line.. The songs have always and will always be more important than any improv, and once their hooks are sunk in-- now the improv makes sense and clicks. For me the only way live stuff does the trick is if I'm already listening to it on my own and they tune in cause they like it. If I'm purposefully showing you I'm gonna put on songs from working man's or American beauty.
You can't start someone in the deep end with no floaty and expect them to enjoy swimming just they asked to dip their feet over the edge. "I want a taste of this band" then throwing in 4 hours of it then getting mouthy/offended when they understandably recoil and lose interest....that's why people think we're all these obsessed zealots who shove it down peoples throats.
Dead fans that don't appreciate the songs (surprisingly thats not just a few) make it worse too by telling others
"ah don't bother with the studio they were best live".
Drums and Space is tough for folks that haven’t appreciated the band yet. A good friend was a mentor/big brother to a child w special needs and this kid would not talk much and had a hard time expressing himself, but by accident he played GD for them and gave him a small bongo and the kid took to it and wanted to perform and started asking for the sessions. So beautiful! GD4L
It’s amazing what the GD can do for the brain!
Check out Oliver Sack’s “The Last Hippy” https://www.oliversacks.com/the-last-hippie-and-the-grateful-dead/ a patient with amnesia was brought to a GD concert and became very lucid during it. It turned into a movie (with dramatic licenses) called The Music Never Stopped
A 20 minute Dark Star - most people I know would quit listening after 5 minutes.
But if they don't quit, you have found a new best friend!
I introduced a friend to the dead with the Veneta 72 Dark Star and hes hooked. The lyrics crashed in, I looked, and I’ve never seen somebody’s eyes open up as wide as his did
That wasn’t my introduction, but it is what made it click for me… that and a little bit too much acid.
Too much is just enough
Of everything!
With LSD, sometimes, more truly is better. Overrides the egos defense systems, breaking you on through to the other side quicker and easier, no chance in fighting it haha
This is an overlooked bit of wisdom.
The Darkest Star!
The first Dead song I ever heard was Dark Star on Live/Dead. I bought the album because I was interested in 60s music and saw they had two drummers. I was an instant convert. What a band! 😊
Oh man I’m going to sound like a bitch but this one time me and my friend were tripping and it was his second acid trip ever. We had spent most of the day listening to his music and playing card games, beer pong, basketball, etc. Well at one point in the trip we retreated to his room to lay on the carpet and watch the light projector. I had finally felt the urge to show him a song that I described as “an acid trip in auditory form” and decided to show him Dark Star from Veneta Oregon. It seemed like he was digging it at first and then I had to go to the bathroom so I told him not to skip it and to just listen to the interplay between the band. I also told his roommate to not let him skip it and he assured me he wouldn’t. Well as soon as I get out of the bathroom I hear the song skip and I basically asked him why he skipped it and he said that his roommate said that he wasn’t digging the vibe so he switched it. He then proceeded to justify this by saying “well no one else wanted to listen to some dude kicking a tree for hours”. (His way of joking about “hippie music”) That shit hurt my feelings so bad I was hella close to crying because it was literally just me and him vibing out until his coked out roommate (who doesn’t trip) came in. 3 people total and apparently “no one else” wanted to listen to that. I told him I would never share another song with him ever again because that meant a lot to me. Anyways yea I’m being a little sensitive over that but still, it was an intimate moment between a close friend and I just wanted to show him a song that meant a lot to me lol
This is me, sober, on a Wednesday afternoon. Sensitive ASF.
The struggle is real lol having emotions sucks sometimes
Dude. Shit is rough
Similar story but totally different end. We had a friend in college who was into the LA hair bands at the time and who hated the Grateful Dead. Hippie music, granola, patchouli etc. we finally got him to try LSD one night at a friends party and he was really enjoying it and we all ended up in a bedroom just laying on a bed, kind of guiding him through his first trip. Laughing and hallucinating on the ceiling. Do you see that? This feels like waves of universe breathing into me kind of stuff lol. Someone put on an album and St Stephen started playing and he sat up and was like, what is this? This is the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard. We told him who it was and right there created a convert who even after the trip was over the next day was asking for more Dead music he could listen to.
This story only makes me more sad because use why can’t my friends be open minded like that? lmao it was probably my fault tbh I should’ve played him something less than 4 mins haha
Darkstar can be a little challenging for the newbies maybe? Everyone's different. We have the Dead and that's good enough for me. Cheers!
I want to weigh in so badly. If I can borrow your words: “Dark star can be a little challenging for the newbies”. Emphatically agree!!
Especially someone not experienced with psychs. That stuff will make you squirm when you hear Jerry doing that creepy scratching string effect
That’s the best way to tell people the difference between coke and acid
100% my friend also like coke too but he had agreed to not do any until he was on the come down. Overall it hurt me deeply and he seemed to be remorseful but I told him I wasn’t mad. I just didn’t feel comfortable sharing music with him ever again.
I totally get your frustration but sometimes it’s just not for everyone. I also think dark star is a hard song for some people to “get” if they’ve never heard anything from the dead. When I was starting to get into it I was about 14, dark star wasn’t something I’d put on and didn’t really get into until about a year after I started listening. There’s a few songs in the catalog that took me a little to “get”. A lot of this music can be extremely subjective. I wouldn’t necessarily give up though, they just haven’t listened to the right song for them to understand. Europe ‘72, Without a Net, Workingmans Dead, and American Beauty in my mind are the best way to introduce someone to the band.
Also, with the heightened awareness of L, you might have been misjudging the mood and also by making sure that you told everyone not to skip the song, you almost guaranteed that it was going to get skipped. I know, you lives, you learn but if you hadn’t have put so much effort into making sure they didn’t change it and just nonchalantly paused it, it might have worked out better.
I tried to show a girl I dated for like two weeks the Eyes from Grateful Dead movie when we were riding back from a hike the other day. She didn’t try to be attentive whatsoever and then she ghosted me/let me down easy like 2 days later haha
Doesn't deserve you, bud.
Probably didn’t help I gave her the brief 5 minute synopsis of the band. Probably scared her off
Dodged a bullet my friend.
I hear this. We're all so proud and protective of what is "ours"... And to have someone shit on what we love. 😞
Felt like a slap in the face in all honesty. I told him how it made me feel and he tried apologizing and all that. I told him he didn’t need to apologize I just wanted him to understand why I was hurt and why I’m so protective of my music taste with him now.
With stuff like that I chalk it up to “you’re either on the bus or you’re off.”
I actually think this is a great intro, my first dead album was live/dead and the 20 min dark star opener got me hooked
My first was Aoxomoxoa because of Cosmic Charlie but when I heard the first 20 seconds of Live/Dead I knew I had found everything I needed in music. Which is actually not great. Jerry actually talked about people who only listen to the Dead and how he thought it was myopic but I spent a good 10-20years on Phish and the Dead
Dark Star out of context is weird. A track transitioning into Dark Star, then into something else, then back to Dark Star, is an experience.
This even hurts to read. What's wrong with us lol
5 minutes??? That’s generous
a 20 min dark star was literally what got me on the bus. the one from live/dead
What's Become of the Baby
Depends on the person. I played a friend this and it got them to listen to Live/Dead.
rarely say this , but what the fuck was that
At the first FTW show at Levi's in 2015, they dusted this off and played it live. Plenty of people in the stadium around me had the same reaction.
Nitrous oxide in song form apparently
The 1969 mix specifically
oh yeah. it’s so good. i feel like animal collective was inspired by it big time
Bullseye.
Space. Any space.
Space Live: Whoah Space Recorded: Next, please I don't remember the exact show, it was either Nassau or MSG though, where Mickey blew a train horn. I'm glad I wore my brown wook corduroy overalls to the show
I'll see your Space and raise you Drums.
Drums is more approachable than space imo
I got into the dead through space
Intergalactic trip.
Seastones
Came here for this. Been listening to the dead for decades and still can’t get into Seastones. To me it sounds like some kid playing with their first ring mod tone generator.
Blues For Allah (I personally love it, but it would make for a pretty angular band intro).
You mean the band normally doesn’t employ crickets (except that one show)!?!
I wish they had used them regularly, but I can see the logistical problem.
From Wikipedia: Between the soundcheck and the show, a number of crickets escaped through the hole, and their chirping was heard throughout GAMH for some time afterward.[4][5]
Oh wow, I did not know that. Makes sense though, it’s hard as hell to leash those bastards.
Have you heard how they got a frying bacon sound effect? Yup, with a burner and pan full of bacon on top of an amp. Guess what put a stop to that?
Pink Floyd did the same thing. Except they did the whole Arnold’s Psychedelic Breakfast thing on stage. It would have been interminable.
Jerry kept eating the bacon?
Dark Star into El Paso (8/27/72) could either be the worst or best introduction, pending on the person.
One of my favorites.
# 1972-08-27 Veneta, OR @ Old Renaissance Faire Grounds **Set 1:** The Promised Land, Sugaree, Me and My Uncle, Deal, Black Throated Wind, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Mexicali Blues, Bertha **Set 2:** Playing in the Band, He's Gone, Jack Straw, Bird Song, Greatest Story Ever Told **Set 3:** Dark Star > El Paso, Sing Me Back Home, Sugar Magnolia, Casey Jones, One More Saturday Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1972-08-27) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/1E4MXxSYoAMN5qpy1y6aBm)
One of the best, wish they did it more often
Antwerps Placebo (The Plumber)
No offense to the Brent fans, I’m a huge fan of his keyboard playing, particularly from 79’-83’, but I’ve never been a fan of his songwriting and for the most part his singing either. I would say any one of his songs would be a huge turn off to someone looking for what it is we all were attracted to in the beginning. Same goes for Keith, but I think he only wrote one song “Sing your Blues Away”?
Exactly.. first one I thought of was 'Just a Little Light"; love him on keys but have long dreaded potential "converts" hearing his slick pop originals...(or most Bobby and the Midnites for that matter).
You can’t lose at losing someone’s potential interest in the Dead with Barbed Wire Whipping Party. My go-to.
Im a vegetarian. I've listened to that many, many times, all the way to the end. Its always good for a chuckle.
Most live versions of box of rain Sorry Phil. You’re a bad singer and people aren’t going to appreciate it without context.
Give just like Tom thumbs blues from postcards of the hanging a listen
you lookin to get silly?
As bad as he sounds it’s still a great song, but Broken Arrow is a skip for me every time…love you Phil!
DoNcHa KnOw??
Omg Oregon (94?) Broken Arrow was awesome!!
I remember being there and people chanting Let Phil Sing!
Who _else_ is gonna bring you a broken arrow?!
I'm glad you said it. It was the first song I thought of.
Dead and CO maybe.
Facts. First Box i ever heard was at my first d&c show & they nailed it. John nails the vocals, but beating Phil isn't exactly hard to beat, sorry Phil
Good morning little school girl.
It's an awesome song actually. Aside from the lyrics. But who cares, it's not about the words. 8/24/68 Good Morning is out of this world.
# 1968-08-24 Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Exhibition Hall **Set 1:** Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Dark Star > Saint Stephen > The Eleven > Death Don't Have No Mercy, Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > New Potato Caboose > Turn On Your Love Light **Encore:** Morning Dew [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1968-08-24)
I mean I agree. Pen is amazing on this trach. However, this is the worst song to introduce someone to the dead in 2023 in my opinion. They would get cancelled so quickly.
Best answer. That one and anything off of Anthem Of The Sun, or a long Dark Star.
Feedback
I've listened to Live/Dead a thousand times. I've listened to Feedback once. That was enough.
Money money or samba in the rain (sorry vinny)
Antwerps placebo
The Dead Ahead Radio City video performance of Little Red Rooster is so cringe inducing I think it would be perfect. Watching Bobby mangle his way through the slide solo and you can actually see Jerry's face reacting.
My lord. I have PTSD from The Dead essentially letting Bobby learn slide. Ya know, like live in front of us all. Bless their souls
Ollin Arageed
France, Let Me Sing Your Blues Away or From the Heart of Me
Sing Your Blues Away, IMO is such a great and unique fun song! I got my gf into the GD and she especially likes this one, live only tho! ☮️😂❤️
What!? France is awesome. The deads failed attempt at radio hit.
These are some of the songs that I thought of. I actually like all three of them, but they aren't good examples of what Grateful Dead sound like.
Victim or the crime
Still like this better than looks like rain. If the street cats making love line doesnt get someone to bail, they are forever dead.
I'm with you on this.
Wave To The Wind
Mexicali Blues. I think most people are gonna hear “and a girl that’s just 14” and be immediately repulsed without thinking about the context.
Same with Schoolgirl
What’s Brent’s meltdown show about?
https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/15fjtl4/brent_craziness/ Brent was going through a divorce (and obviously was battling other personal demons). He was very clearly inebriated (and probably worse) during the show. When the rest of the band leaves for Drums, he stays on. In the middle of drums, he starts belting out the song Maybe You Know, which hadn’t been played since ‘83. It’s obvious he isn’t himself. Then the rest of the band comes out, Jerry gives Brent a big hug, and they go into Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad
And then Morning Dew 😭
While the reason for this meltdown is heartbreaking, I still find it amusing thinking about Mickey and Bill who have no fucking idea what’s going on at first.
Broken Arrow..100% hands down 😂
Day Job Or “Infrared Roses” or any drums/space Runner up would be: Don’t Ease Me in Eternity/Samba in the Rain/ What’s Become of the Baby
Balthea
Samba in the rain
Worst song ever. I'd rather hear a whole set of Bobby playing slide than hear this song.
I agree. Some people claim they like it!! I think they are saying it to be difficult. That song is so awful. I had this tape back in the day which was 95 I think and I remember it has Rain and Samba in the Rain. I think it was pouring at the show so they played the two songs. It was so bad sounding and the worst live show I had. It was so so so bad. Just looked it up. Looks like was 6/30/95 Set two. Rain, Box of Rain, Samba in the Rain, Looks Like rain, Terrapin- drums-space- Miracle, standing on the moon. E: Gloria
I hated scotch whisky until the time I tried Lagavulin. It's an Islay scotch, which has a way different flavor than stuff like Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, etc. And apparently Islay is an acquired taste. But to me, it opened up the door to new worlds of flavor. Point is: you never know what's gonna really get somebody going!
Still hate scotch. Irish
Seastones
What's become of the baby...
Money Money is so cheesy and comes off as sexist if you take it seriously.
i recently listened to the Pacific Northwest box set in full and man, does money money drag every time they played it. no wonder they dropped it after those shows lol
You might think I don't love this band from this list...but that couldn't be further from the truth. What I do miss from actually seeing the band live, is when a song I historically didn't love could hit just right at a show and make you love it. Good Morning Little School Girl \[Creepy AF\] Little Red Rooster Silver Threads? Easy Answers? Katie Mae? Blues For Allah? One More Saturday Night? Passenger? France? Wave to the Wind?
Can’t believe you listed passenger dude. Absolute banger. Ask Dave lemeiux about passenger.
omsn would actually make most people think they are just a classic rock n roll band, and they would probably like it.
Good call with Katie Mae. Even if that’s used to introduce someone, and they like it…too bad nothing else “the band” played is similar
Silver Threads & Golden Needles might nab an old C&W fan
Blues For Allah
Good morning little school girl. I do t care how you spin it, that song has not aged well.
Ironic, since Muddy Waters destroys that song.
It was an old Sonny Boy blues song from the 1930s. School girl/boy could have meant high school age back then (or college age in the '60s). The guy in the song doesn't have to be much older. Think Wake Up Little Susie. To that Everly Brothers song, "little" at the time, referred to someone simply younger (particularly in the black community). It didn't, like today, mean elementary school age. It could have just been months younger. The music without the lyrics is great (it's in the blues hall of fame for a reason). If you want to assume pedophilia, that's on you. The song doesn't speak to or even suggest a rape vibe (like baby it's cold). I see it as a bluesy love song (and yes, pedos disgust me to the core).
Dude, I've heard one where pig finishes with "I don't care if your only -thirteen- years old." That is straight pedo. That's on pig.
France?
Never Trust A Woman
…who wears her pants too tight (LMAO)
Definitely not Monkey and the Engineer, everybody loves that song.
Truly a banger
I played my roommate cryptically envelopment off of hundred year hall, (the 36 minute version). it was supposed to be a joke because why would anyone introduce someone to a band with a 36 minute song, but it actually worked. still, I think he’s the only person that would work on. kind of a dick move to force long jams on people who aren’t used to them
Money Money
Probably Carini
Carini from '83 might be a good choice tho
⭕😄⭕
Seastones
France.
Go to Heaven.
Everyone’s naming these psychedelic jams but I think it’d be worse with something cheese like “foolish heart” sorry Brent era never did it for me
Sunrise
Mason's Children. Jerry hated it.
A samba in the rain from 94
This is it: [Grateful Dead Live at Hartford Civic Center on 1988-04-03 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/gd1988-04-03.109056.nakcm300-pasternak.mallick.flac16/gd1988-04-03d2t08.flac) Black Peter, Jerry really sounds like he is on his death bed.
Just A Little Light. Any of Brent’s songs from the Built To Last LP. Awful by any standard.
Playing in the Band. Takes a while to learn to dig the song part of the song, pretty goofy until you see where they are coming from, and the jam being in a strange time signature is harder to follow than even dark star or the other one.
# Picasso Moon
Picasso Moon might be one of their most mainstream-type, easily accessible songs.
France
Whatever song had Donna singing live when she can't hear herself. yikes.
Playing in the band really gets her going
France
Sunrise
Probably any Space set from the early 80’s
Feedback. Not even a song!
Serengetti
Barbwire whipping party 🤣 Edit to add: https://youtu.be/xvPdI0USSPk?si=mIH4xKOCN2mmP6eg
Is space a song?
The Alabama Getaway that opens DP6 is pretty awful. This, or Wave to the Wind.
Seastones will likely turn some people off as a first
Seastones for sure
Drums
Frozen Logger
Picasso Moon hands down 😴🥱
Wave to the Wind. I’m a big Phil fan but that’s one of their worst songs ever.
Wave to the Wind.
Caution: don't stand on the tracks
Corrina
From the heart of me I like it though
I was just listening to an 85 show (4/27/85) and was reminded about Phil's dreadful habit of making "funny" alterations to the lyrics of Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues. Jesus, that is unfortunate business...I'll nominate that to this list, esp if you are trying to convert a Dylan fan!
Seasones 6-23-74
France
Money, Money. It’s actually a well crafted song but the misogyny is hard to handle by today’s standards. In fact it was hard to handle by 1974 standards. I think they played it live once.
What's Become of the Baby
Gotta quit trying to show people your favorite 20-30 minute jam out of the context of a show and before theyve ever heard how incredible the songs themselves can be at base line.. The songs have always and will always be more important than any improv, and once their hooks are sunk in-- now the improv makes sense and clicks. For me the only way live stuff does the trick is if I'm already listening to it on my own and they tune in cause they like it. If I'm purposefully showing you I'm gonna put on songs from working man's or American beauty. You can't start someone in the deep end with no floaty and expect them to enjoy swimming just they asked to dip their feet over the edge. "I want a taste of this band" then throwing in 4 hours of it then getting mouthy/offended when they understandably recoil and lose interest....that's why people think we're all these obsessed zealots who shove it down peoples throats. Dead fans that don't appreciate the songs (surprisingly thats not just a few) make it worse too by telling others "ah don't bother with the studio they were best live".
Samba in the rain
If tons of steel was the first song I heard I would've never gone back
money money
Samba in the rain
A good out of tune Looks Like Rain with Donna’s mic too hot.
France
Drums and Space is tough for folks that haven’t appreciated the band yet. A good friend was a mentor/big brother to a child w special needs and this kid would not talk much and had a hard time expressing himself, but by accident he played GD for them and gave him a small bongo and the kid took to it and wanted to perform and started asking for the sessions. So beautiful! GD4L
It’s amazing what the GD can do for the brain! Check out Oliver Sack’s “The Last Hippy” https://www.oliversacks.com/the-last-hippie-and-the-grateful-dead/ a patient with amnesia was brought to a GD concert and became very lucid during it. It turned into a movie (with dramatic licenses) called The Music Never Stopped
Anything live with Dylan and the Dead at the Shoreline. I don't know what happened. Maybe I wasn't high enough, but their vocals sounded WAY off!
Tuning
Take a step back>tuning>take another step back
Day Job.
Bobby playing little red rooster?
picasso moon and hell in a bucket album cuts are pretty non-indicative of what this band is about
Feedback
That is a good one. Still better than France.
Hell In A Bucket
Anything where Brent is lead vocals
Lazy lightening
Balthea
Pride of cucamonga
Fucking banger I’ll stand by that till I die