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Greatful Dead Selling Out?

#21
baba said:
If you believe that, you fundamentally don't understand why they play music, past and present.
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FWIW,....maybe you are right about me not understanding "why they play music" which is fine,...I don't really care "why they play",...nor am I trying to portray them as sellouts. I'm just saying that what the OP is pointing out isn't exactly a new development,...nor is it really all that shocking or surprising.

I would also agree with you that they weren't particularly savvy businessmen. I've heard accounts they would just put friends on the payroll for no more reason then to just give them a job. The result is that they barely broke even (if not lost money) on tours. I do get the impression that money was not their primary motivation though.

I'm not opposed to the Grateful Dead,...or Rat Dog,...or Phil and Phriends,...but I do prefer those projects with Grateful Dead songs intermixed over the remaining band members trying to continue on AS the Grateful Dead in the absence of Jerry.

I've listened to a bit of live Grateful Dead and I have several of their Studio Albums and a few Dick's Picks. Perhaps I'm talking with a "paper ***hole" as I've never heard any of "The Other Ones" or "The Dead",...but a Grateful Dead without Jerry Garcia just isn't the Grateful Dead In my O.
 
#22
tho they are revered by presumably-socialist hippies the world over, i don't think i ever read or saw anything that suggested they were not into making money. if anything, i think they are/were were more libertarian than anything else.

what exactly are they selling that they weren't selling before? i mean, if they are trying to auction off jerry's used needles on ebay, maybe i could see your point.
 
#26
EBodious said:
tho they are revered by presumably-socialist hippies the world over, i don't think i ever read or saw anything that suggested they were not into making money. if anything, i think they are/were were more libertarian than anything else.

what exactly are they selling that they weren't selling before? i mean, if they are trying to auction off jerry's used needles on ebay, maybe i could see your point.
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Agreed. I'm not into them at all, really, but they've been pretty savvy in terms of selling their "brand" for a long, long time, and capitalizing on their fans' increasing wealth as they age. Heck, that "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" line is close to 30 years old now.

I didn't know they kept friends on the payroll, I could see how that would be costly. I'm sure all the drugs weren't cheap, either...
 
#27
MakiSupaStar said:
Yeah, I haven't seen any iterations of the Dead since Jerry died. That chapter in my life was closed with his death. However, I did see Phil and Friends play a few times. That was a great show. I saw Phil play with Warren Haynes and Dicky Betts. That was incredible.
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I've seen the Dead with Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, saw Phil and Phriends several times, RatDog, Furthur, all great shows.... I never had the opportunity to see them with Jerry, but I've definitely heard enough GD to know that post-Jerry Dead just isn't the same.... :atoz:
 
#28
EBodious said:
tho they are revered by presumably-socialist hippies the world over, i don't think i ever read or saw anything that suggested they were not into making money. if anything, i think they are/were were more libertarian than anything else.

what exactly are they selling that they weren't selling before? i mean, if they are trying to auction off jerry's used needles on ebay, maybe i could see your point.
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I dunno if this is true, but one of my high school teachers told me that Jerry was a Libertarian.
 
#29
Jawbone said:
I read today where the remaining members of the GD have decided to uncover their burried treasures and exploit their wears - Bobby, Phil you might as well capitalize on your legacy while you're still alive.

Not a Dead fan - but what do the tru Dead Heads think of the move to capitalize!!!
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Not a "dead fan"? thats obvious, why do you care, i have been a DEADHEAD since 77 and was lucky enough to see 362 shows from sf to berlin and i am stoked that the boys are releasing anything and everything in the vaults that they have! its better than workin at mceedees , capitalizing on they're legacy?!?! stop you're killin me!:rollno:
 
#30
Bassman316 said:
I've seen the Dead with Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, saw Phil and Phriends several times, RatDog, Furthur, all great shows.... I never had the opportunity to see them with Jerry, but I've definitely heard enough GD to know that post-Jerry Dead just isn't the same.... :atoz:
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Actually in the later years, I like the Jerry Garcis Band better than the grateful dead. Just a tighter group of musicians. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed seeing the Dead, but it was very possible to see a dud show, whereas with JGB it always seemed really solid.
 
#31
MakiSupaStar said:
Actually in the later years, I like the Jerry Garcis Band better than the grateful dead. Just a tighter group of musicians. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed seeing the Dead, but it was very possible to see a dud show, whereas with JGB it always seemed really solid.
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+1 to that, i think that with the dead at least in the later years, Jerry was just goin thru the motions, especially after Phil told him to pick the drugs or the dead, some of the shows that went down in the early 90s at the wharfield and the greek where legendary, great times!
 
#35
Passinwind said:
Pfff...no Pigpen, not happening. ;)
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-1 to that, the early to mid 80s and the europe tour in 89 was some of the best times of my life! being in berlin right when the wall came down.For some of the east beliners, the dead was the first live band they ever saw. Words can not describe how cool that was, " the first days are the hardest days , don't you worry anymore!" if you were'nt there you would'nt understand, sorry!
 
#37
2milehighspike said:
-1 to that, the early to mid 80s and the europe tour in 89 was some of the best times of my life! being in berlin right when the wall came down.For some of the east beliners, the dead was the first live band they ever saw. Words can not describe how cool that was, " the first days are the hardest days , don't you worry anymore!" if you were'nt there you would'nt understand, sorry!
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That's cool, and I'm old. If you had seen the band with Pig you'd probably understand where I'm coming from though. Every time the band lost someone, it was a little less for many of us. Doesn't mean it wasn't still the greatest for someone, or still isn't for that matter. ;)
 
#38
2milehighspike said:
-1 to that, the early to mid 80s and the europe tour in 89 was some of the best times of my life! being in berlin right when the wall came down.For some of the east beliners, the dead was the first live band they ever saw. Words can not describe how cool that was, " the first days are the hardest days , don't you worry anymore!" if you were'nt there you would'nt understand, sorry!
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That must have been an amazing experience.

Dead shows were an important part of my teenage years, and my transition to adulthood.
Power to them for getting a little bone back for their years of hard playing.
 
#39
Tapes, I'm a late 80s guy; studio, I'm a late 70s guy. I've got a few early shows with pigpen that KILL me, though. I'm too young to have experienced the losses of the victims of the cursed keyboard seat but I get what you mean, or close to it.
 
#40
Passinwind said:
That's cool, and I'm old. If you had seen the band with Pig you'd probably understand where I'm coming from though. Every time the band lost someone, it was a little less for many of us. Doesn't mean it wasn't still the greatest for someone, or still isn't for that matter. ;)
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Yea i wish i could have seen pig, but i am lucky to see what i did, the pig years were the best
 

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