Grateful Dead: The delve into fame with counterculture origin
Dean Myerow / December 26, 2017
Do you love good music and appreciate mind-blowing sounds? Then you must be familiar with Grateful Dead. When it comes to music brands that have carved niches for themselves, the list may be incomplete without talking about the Grateful Dead. There are millions of “deadheads” around the world and I am one of them.
Grateful Dead is an American rock band that took root in Palo Alto, California in 1965. Quickly they came up with an appealing blend of jazz, rock, reggae, space rock, blues country and other genres of music, all embedded in their mind-lifting live performances with instrumental jams. The members of Grateful Dead have been known for their stunning live performances. The band featured members such as Robert Hunter, Mickey Hart, Dana Morgan who was replaced at a point, Keith Godchaux, Vince Welnick, Bruce Hornsby, as well as other talented instrumentalists and singers.
Undoubtedly, Grateful Dead stands out as a band that rose to popularity with its counterculture roots. The band follows a set of ground rules, values and culture not unlike the counterculture of the 60’s. As popular music moved in one direction, Grateful Dead never followed the herd. Instead, they made a path of their own. Grateful Dead offers a blend of hits that expresses emotion without having much interest in the profit that follows. While this band honed its focus on making good music, some of their practices created a source of income through bartering and trading their tapes.
Grateful Dead shows often have some of their audience referred to as “tapers,” who record and tape shows. Apparently, such acts are not allowed in mainstream shows but subconsciously became no offence at Grateful Dead shows, and gave access to distributing different subcultural objects. Sony’s TC-D5 field recorders were an essential factor in this movement due to their portability. These recorders were (and still are) virtually impervious to “wow and flutter” when recording and playing back.
Likewise, advertising and selling artworks weren’t part of the norm, but Grateful Dead hosted several shows with the help of the revenues they got from selling and advertising artwork. The Grateful Dead hosted thousands of shows at different cities and locations, and this made the Deadheads take their subculture around the world and became united.
All over the world, people celebrate their music, attend their shows and get united. I, for one, am a fan of good music and I love what Grateful Dead does. If you missed the beginnings of the Dead, it is not too late to get a taste of the old counterculture music of the hippy days. John Mayer has recently joined some of the remaining members of the band, performing as Dead & Co. around the US. you may still find Deadheads outside the show with the now famous signage, “I need a miracle” hoping that some other gracious Deadhead throws them an extra ticket to a show.
The Band’s spirit, the late great Jerry Garcia is gone, but the show goes on and Deadheads fill arenas and concert halls around the United States still hoping to get a whiff of the old days. I hope to be right there alongside my fellow revelers hearing the distinct sounds of an iconic American band.
I am more complex than it appears. I am a Fox News watching Libertarian conservative that deeply values the idea of capitalism, Laissez Faire economics, and strong military. And on the other hand, my favorite book is Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and my favorite music is the Grateful Dead. So reconciling, my conservative values with my counterculture roots is interesting . I enjoy taking long walks on Fort Lauderdale Beach with my Goldendoodles, Otis and Brady, when I am not actively working as a bond portfolio manager at Las Olas Wealth Management of Nat Alliance Securities LLC. I am a terrible golfer, who prefers the tennis court any day of the week. I am the lucky father of three teenagers and happily married for over 20 years.
