Every year I get older and realize my parents were trying to show me good music. I can remember my dad trying to show me Lou Reed when I was about 14 after he watched Baker 3 with me. It seemed alright, but I was 14 and it was my dad who wanted me to think something was cool…. yuck. My family was a southern set of chain smoking blues players. Every Christmas was an opportunity to play some riffs and hit a few harmonica solos. I was again too young to think old people were cool, but I remember the songs like it was yesterday. I did however enjoy playing guitar despite my indifference to the music of the 20th century. Everyone around me was listening to Odd Future and Arctic Monkeys ( I even wanted the Alex Turner haircut). My squirrel brain had no capacity for stuff that wasn’t before 2008.
As I grew older and opened up my perspective, I began to see what makes artists like Lou Reed cool. There’s something special about who he was, how he carried himself, and how different it was. Similar to art, music can become important because of the gap it fills during it’s time. People never would have thought about rock music having lyrical substance til Dylan went electric. Or how to push country into a modern sound post Hank Williams when The Byrds released Sweetheart of the Rodeo (one of the best albums of all time) .
One thing that really lets me soak in music of the past is talking to people who were around when it came out. Sounds of the past can influence things so much, you don’t realize how much it actually changed things. The Beatles were so influential, it’s hard to even dictate what modern acts take inspiration or share a similar sound.
At the start of 2026, I remember reading about the death of Bob Weir, the second in command of the Grateful Dead. I was so opposed to the idea of a “jam band” or anything that involved the fans of them, so I didn’t think much of it. I texted my dad telling him about the news, to which he told me he saw them in Atlanta in the 80s. “Wait…I kind of trust my dad’s taste. Does this mean they’re actually a talented band?” While I didn’t agree with all of his musical takes, he lives and breathes it. If he likes a band, there is a good reason behind it. Which made me rethink my idea of what a jam band could mean.
Instead of trying to sift through (literally) hundreds of live and studio albums, I watched the Long Strange Trip docuseries and was blown away. Even if you aren’t a fan of the Dead, this is an incredibly made series with tons of great interviews. With this new found context, I dove head first into a massive catalogue. What intrigued me the most is that there were so many people who could be tapped into the same song and feel how one another can shift the feeling. It was no longer just a mega popular band of the 70s to me, but rather a fascinating piece of music history. Everyone in that band played their asses off and did it for decades.
There is something to be said about the freedom they gave to their concerts. It allowed people to appreciate it for all different reasons. Some were there for purely music appreciation, some to share a fun experience with friends, some to do….drugs (okay more than just some). Regardless, it provided a comforting and non-sanitized experience at a show. TV specials of the 20th century like the Johnny Carson show got people to all sit in a row and watch a squeaky clean/rehearsed act play some chords and bow. The Dead uprooted western traditions and gave people a clean slate to be themselves. You could feel it not only in the crowd, but the band was truly free.
What sticks with me the most is their ability to shape different pockets of songs but still keep the soul there. If you listen to an hour long version of Dark Star and go back to hear the original two and a half minute track, the roots are the same. Kind of like how BB King can pull a wild and sharp solo out of the same blues progression that’s been played for ages and ages.
The Grateful Dead isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely for me.
(Here’s a cool live version of Dark Star. I’ve heard folks talk about this song like it’s always going on in another universe, they’d just tap into that sound to show what’s going on in it.)
