History YMMV / TheGratefulDead

* FollowTheLeader: The Dead, and their improvisational concert performances, inspired an entire "jam band" musical genre that began to take shape in the 1980s. Music/{{Phish}} and the Music/DaveMatthewsBand are the best known of these groups, with Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, The String Cheese Incident, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, moe., Gov't Mule, and Spin Doctors also gaining renown in the 1990s. Although all of these bands counted the Dead as a major influence, all of them were musically different from both the Dead and each other.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: At times, their music could get this way. "What's Become of the Baby" and some live versions of "Feedback" (which is mostly ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) are good examples.

* FaceOfTheBand: Jerry Garcia, no matter how much he insisted that he wasn’t. In fact, after Garcia died, the remaining bandmates toured a few times as The Other Ones before changing their name to The Dead.
** The band’s first "face" was founding keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" [=McKernan=], who not only acted as the group’s spokesman in the 1960s (he was the only founding member who did not take drugs, preferring alcohol, which made him the natural choice to put in front of the media), but was also responsible for their early musical direction and sang lead on their most accessible early songs. By 1969, the band's movement away from the blues and R&B sounds that Pigpen preferred towards country and folk resulted in Garcia and Bob Weir jointly overtaking him as the band’s leaders (his growing drinking problem didn't help things either).
** Garcia began to eclipse Weir as the band's sole face around 1972, but according to the documentary ''The Other One'', Weir believes that what really cemented it was the popularity of "Touch of Grey". Not only did Garcia sing lead on the song, but he was also a natural on camera, was the group’s most visually distinct member and he gave the best interviews of any of the band members.
** Weir has been the face of the surviving band members since Garcia died, as he is the band’s best-known surviving lead singer (though Lesh also sang lead on a few songs), continues to have an active solo career and leads the very popular Dead & Company group.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Despite not lasting long in the band's tenure, founding member Ron "Pigpen" [=McKernan=] is a fan-favorite member among Deadheads. In spite of his noticeably messy habits, Pigpen was one of the most [[DoingItForTheArt artistically-driven]] members of the Grateful Dead, performing many of the band's best songs (especially on ''Workingman's Dead''), and was known as being one of the [[NiceGuy kindest members]] of the band. [[FanNickname Wharf rats]] especially grew to like him, as while he was a chronic alcoholic, Pigpen refused to do drugs like the other members did. His [[WeHardlyKnewYe untimely death in 1973]] saddened many a Deadhead, and gave them more time to look back on Pigpen [[PosthumousPopularityPotential even more fondly than ever]].

* FandomVIP: The band's biggest fan (figuratively and most likely literally) is [=NBA=] hall of famer and colour commentator Bill Walton who has been a lifelong Deadhead, apparently attending over 800 of their concerts. He also frequently references them during commentary and displays his love for them by often wearing tie dye shirts. He's also an AscendedFanboy as he's actually been a friend of the band for many years.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Despite not lasting long in the band's tenure, founding member Ron "Pigpen" [=McKernan=] is a fan-favorite member among Deadheads. In spite of his noticeably messy habits, Pigpen was one of the most [[DoingItForTheArt artistically-driven]] members of the Grateful Dead, performing many of the band's best songs (especially on ''Workingman's Dead''), and was known as being one of the [[NiceGuy kindest members]] of the band. [[FanNickname Wharf rats]] especially grew to like him, as while he was a chronic alcoholic, Pigpen refused to do drugs like the other members did. His [[WeHardlyKnewYe untimely death in 1973]] saddened many a Deadhead, and gave them more time to look back on Pigpen [[DeadArtistsAreBetter even more fondly than ever]].

* DorkAge:
** Fans generally don’t speak too highly of 1978’s {{disco}}-influenced ''Shakedown Street'', which is a borderline case of FanonDiscontinuity. The previous year’s ''Terrapin Station'', which also had some disco influence, is more warmly regarded, though still considered a flawed effort. Most songs from both albums are much more highly regarded in live performances, and indeed, 1977 in particular is regarded as one of the band’s golden ages in live performance, with several candidates for Best Show Ever appearing that year. This may be at least partially because ''Terrapin Station'' producer Keith Olsen insisted that they rehearse its material repeatedly until they could play it flawlessly; while they understandably chafed at this, since they had a reputation for never performing songs the same way twice, it probably also resulted in their live performances from the era being tighter than usual. 1980’s ''Go to Heaven'' is also sometimes considered part of the band’s studio Dork Age.
** ''Dylan & the Dead'' is rarely spoken of by fans of either artist; sometimes it’s even considered the worst release by either of them. Oddly, they’re considered to have had much better performances together than the versions that appear on the album, so it’s not clear why those particular recordings were selected. However, even it still has its defenders.
** Despite being in a few fan favorite shows, Keith Godchaux's playing is generally agreed to have declined in quality in the late seventies[[labelnote:*]]Though fans are in disagreement as to when his decline actually started, with the years ranging from 1975 to 1978.[[/labelnote]], so much so that even [[http://www.dead.net/band/keith-godchaux?intcmp=topnav/keith-godchaux the band's official website]] admits as such. By then most of the band, Keith included, had developed nasty drug habits and struggled with juggling the band and their families. In Keith's case, it actively hampered his playing; before the hiatus he played a unique piano style that took influence from dixieland, bebop, and classical music, but by the late 70's, he had slowly but surely shifted to a more conventional "comp the chords" style, occasionally copying Garcia's licks. And on top of that, he and Donna would argue viciously behind the scenes with both each other and the other bandmates. Because of all this, the Godchauxs would leave in February 1979.
** Fans usually consider the 1990s to be the worst part of their career. The band, and Garcia in particular, were demoralized and heartbroken by Brent Mydland's death in 1990. Garcia let his health go shortly thereafter, and his guitar playing and on-stage composure suffered. Although the band mostly sounds fine through 1992 (and especially whenever Bruce Hornsby was behind the keyboards), many of the concerts from their last two years (1993-95) usually have pretty bad reputations with Deadheads. By comparison, Music/{{Phish}}, the Dead's heirs apparent on the jam scene, were going through something of a golden age in concert in that same two year stretch. The difference in quality between the shows of the two bands caused more than a few Deadheads to follow the younger band instead, well before Garcia died.

** Sadly, the worst regarded tour the Dead ever played was their last. The summer 1995 tour is dubbed "[[https://www.salon.com/2015/12/06/it_was_the_tour_from_hell_inside_the_grateful_deads_last_shows_and_jerry_garcias_final_days/ The Tour from Hell]]" by the band and Deadheads for many reasons: Regular gatecrashing attempts by fans who tried to get into shows without tickets, death threats against Jerry Garcia by a crazed stalker, and three fans being struck by lightning at a Washington D.C. show. All of this was compounded by Garcia's increasingly poor health and playing, which resulted in many bad nights for the band with few memorable moments or jams. The bad behavior of fans culminated at their stop at Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana, at which Deadheads inside the show egged on and encouraged a gatecrashing attempt that resulted in hundreds flooding into and crowding the amphitheater. After the gate came down, the normally tolerant Dead cut the concert short, canceled the next night's performance there, and [[https://www.jambase.com/article/deadheads-crash-fence-during-grateful-dead-concert-at-deer-creek-on-this-date-25-years-ago published a stern letter]] to Deadheads warning them that if they kept seeing that kind of behavior from the stage, the band would stop touring. It was even signed by Garcia who, even in his deteriorating condition and his regular ambivalence towards fan behavior, was shaken by what he saw at Deer Creek. Sadly the band's threat proved to be prophetic: Garcia died one month after the last show of the summer tour, and the Dead prompty ceased to be in its original iteration.

*** Overall: "Casey Jones", the ''Music/AmericanBeauty'' signatures and "Touch of Grey" tie for the top spot, sharing the wealth with "Dark Star", "Wharf Rat", "One More Saturday Night", "Dark Hollow", "Scarlet Begonias", "Sugaree", and "Fire on the Mountain".

* NewbieBoom: “Touch Heads”, the fandom name for those who became fans of the band because of the success of “Touch of Grey” in the late ’80s. The Touch Heads had a reputation (and not an unearned one) for being a bunch of college frat boys who had heard about the scene outside of Dead shows and the ease of acquiring drugs therein, and were coming to concerts to party, not for the music. This resulted in several ugly or violent incidents outside of the shows that were not at all common before the song became a hit, and were thus blamed on the new fans. That strain of Touch Heads wasn't representative of the whole of the band's new and younger fanbase, but they did make it difficult for some newer fans in the late 1980s and early 1990s to admit that they had fallen in love with the Dead and become Deadheads after first being exposed to them through "Touch of Grey".
* NightmareFuel:

*** Overall: The ''Music/AmericanBeauty'' signatures take the top spot, sharing the wealth with "Dark Star", "Casey Jones", "Wharf Rat", "One More Saturday Night", "Dark Hollow", "Scarlet Begonias", "Sugaree", "Fire on the Mountain", and "Touch of Grey"

* UncannyValley: The faces on the album cover for ''In the Dark''. Looking at them upside-down isn't all that bad, as it makes them look like normal human heads, but looking at them from the base perspective makes them look almost like [[Film/{{Gremlins}} mogwais]], not helped by the brow ridges looking disturbingly akin to mouths.

** The most obvious split is "who was the best keyboardist," with the most common contenders being Pigpen, Keith, and Brent. Pigpen fans praise his personality and charisma, and enjoy the blues touch he brought to the Dead's early sound. Keith fans enjoy his creative playing style (especially pre-hiatus), and credit him with pushing the Dead's jams to interesting new territories and helping the Dead recover from Pigpen's decline. Brent fans hail him has a point of consistent creativity who crafted his own unique sound with the band for seamlessly adding synthesizers into the band's sound and his innovative Hammond organ playing, and also enjoy his songwriting and singing touches in the discography. Sometimes Bruce Hornsby is added to the list for balancing his already-established solo style with the greater Dead sound. TC and Vince Welnick aren't mentioned as often, but even they have their fans.

** Sadly, the worst regarded tour the Dead ever played was their last. The summer 1995 tour is dubbed "[[https://www.salon.com/2015/12/06/it_was_the_tour_from_hell_inside_the_grateful_deads_last_shows_and_jerry_garcias_final_days/ The Tour from Hell]]" by the band and Deadheads for many reasons: Regular gatecrashing attempts by fans who tried to get into shows without tickets, death threats against Jerry Garcia by a crazed stalker, and three fans being struck by a lightning strike in Washington D.C.. All of this was compounded by Garcia's increasingly poor health and playing, which resulted in many bad nights for the band with few memorable moments or jams. The bad behavior of fans culminated at their stop at Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana, at which Deadheads inside the show egged on and encouraged a gatecrashing attempt that resulted in hundreds flooding into and crowding the amphitheater. After the gate came down, the normally tolerant Dead cut the concert short, canceled the next night's performance there, and [[https://www.jambase.com/article/deadheads-crash-fence-during-grateful-dead-concert-at-deer-creek-on-this-date-25-years-ago published a stern letter]] to Deadheads warning them that if they kept seeing that kind of behavior from the stage, the band would stop touring. It was even signed by Garcia who, even in his deteriorating condition and his regular ambivalence towards fan behavior, was shaken by what he saw at Deer Creek. Sadly the band's threat proved to be prophetic: Garcia died one month after the last show of the summer tour, and the Dead prompty ceased to be in its original iteration.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Despite not lasting long in the band's tenure, founding member Ron "Pigpen" [=McKernan=] is a fan-favorite member among Deadheads. In spite of his noticeably messy habits, Pigpen was one of the most [[DoingItForTheArt artistically-driven]] members of the Grateful Dead, performing many of the band's best songs (especially on ''Workingman's Dead''), and was known as being one of the [[NiceGuy kindest members]] of the band. [[FanNickname Wharf rats]] especially grew to like him, as while he was a chronic alcoholic, Pigpen refused to do drugs like the other members did. His [[WeHardlyKnewYe untimely death in 1972]] saddened many a Deadhead, and gave them more time to look back on Pigpen [[DeadArtistsAreBetter even more fondly than ever]].

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Despite not lasting long in the band's tenure, founding member Ron "Pigpen" [=McKernan=] is a fan-favorite member among Deadheads. In spite of his noticeably messy habits, Pigpen was one of the most [[DoingItForTheArt artistically-driven]] members of the Grateful Dead, performing many of the band's best songs (especially on ''Music/AmericanBeauty''), and was known as being one of the [[NiceGuy kindest members]] of the band. [[FanNickname Wharf rats]] especially grew to like him, as while he was a chronic alcoholic, Pigpen refused to do drugs like the other members did. His [[WeHardlyKnewYe untimely death in 1972]] saddened many a Deadhead, and gave them more time to look back on Pigpen [[DeadArtistsAreBetter even more fondly than ever]].

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Despite not lasting long in the band's tenure, founding member Ron "Pigpen" [=McKernan=] is a fan-favorite member among Deadheads. In spite of his noticeably messy habits, Pigpen was one of the most [[DoingItForTheArt artistically-driven]] members of the Grateful Dead, responsible for writing many of the band's best songs (especially on ''Music/AmericanBeauty''), and was known as being one of the [[NiceGuy kindest members]] of the band. [[FanNickname Wharf rats]] especially grew to like him, as while he was a chronic alcoholic, Pigpen refused to do drugs like the other members did. His [[WeHardlyKnewYe untimely death in 1972]] saddened many a Deadhead, and gave them more time to look back on Pigpen [[DeadArtistsAreBetter even more fondly than ever]].

* EpicRiff: Again, a veritable goldmine of them; indeed, their epic riffs are often the main reasons their songs are ear worms. (“Terrapin Station” alone probably has about five of them.) Not just on guitar, either - bassist Phil Lesh certainly could contribute his share as well (the bass line on “Truckin’” is probably just as much an EpicRiff as the guitar is). And for that matter, some of their drum patterns are pretty much Epic Riffs too - when Hart and Kreutzmann come out of a drum solo to go into “Not Fade Away”, you’ll know exactly what song is coming up before any of the other instruments come back in.

** The band’s first “face” was founding keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” [=McKernan=], who not only acted as the group’s spokesman in the 1960s (he was the only founding member who did not take drugs, preferring alcohol, which made him the natural choice to put in front of the media), but was also responsible for their early musical direction and sang lead on their most accessible early songs. By 1969, the band’s movement away from the blues and R&B sounds that [=McKernan=] preferred towards country and folk resulted in Garcia and Bob Weir jointly overtaking him as the band’s leaders (his growing drinking problem didn't help things either).
** Garcia began to eclipse Weir as the band's sole face around 1972, but according to the documentary ''The Other One'', Weir believes that what really cemented it was the popularity of “Touch of Grey”. Not only did Garcia sing lead on the song, but he was also a natural on camera, was the group’s most visually distinct member and he gave the best interviews of any of the band members.

** Sadly, the worst regarded tour the Dead ever played was their last. The summer 1995 tour is dubbed "[[https://www.salon.com/2015/12/06/it_was_the_tour_from_hell_inside_the_grateful_deads_last_shows_and_jerry_garcias_final_days/ The Tour from Hell]]" by the band and Deadheads for many reasons: Regular gatecrashing attempts by fans who tried to get into shows without tickets, death threats against Jerry Garcia by a crazed stalker, and three fans being struck by a lightning strike in Washington D.C.. All of this was compounded by Garcia's increasingly poor health and playing, which resulted in many bad nights for the band with few memorable moments or jams. The bad behavior of fans culminated at their stop at Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana, at which Deadheads inside the show egged on and encouraged a gatecrashing attempt that resulted in hundreds flooding into and crowding the amphitheater. After the gate came down, the normally tolerant Dead cut the concert short, canceled the next night's performance there, and [[https://www.jambase.com/article/deadheads-crash-fence-during-grateful-dead-concert-at-deer-creek-on-this-date-25-years-ago published a stern letter]] to Deadheads warning them that they kept seeing that kind of behavior from the stage, the band would stop touring. It was even signed by Garcia who, even in his deteriorating condition and his regular ambivalence towards fan behavior, was shaken by what he saw at Deer Creek. Sadly the band's threat proved to be prophetic: Garcia died one month after the last show of the summer tour, and the Dead prompty ceased to be in its original iteration.

** Sadly, the worst regarded tour the Dead ever played was their last. The summer 1995 tour is dubbed "[[https://www.salon.com/2015/12/06/it_was_the_tour_from_hell_inside_the_grateful_deads_last_shows_and_jerry_garcias_final_days/ The Tour from Hell]]" by the band and Deadheads for many reasons: Regular gatecrashing attempts by fans who tried to get into shows without tickets, repeated death threats against Jerry Garcia by a crazed stalker, three fans being struck by a lightning strike in Washington D.C., and travelling problems worse than any of the band's crew had ever remembered. All of this was compounded by Garcia's increasingly poor health and playing, which resulted in many bad nights for the band with few memorable moments or jams. The bad behavior of fans culminated at their stop at Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana, at which Deadheads inside the show egged on and encouraged a gatecrashing attempt that resulted in hundreds flooding into and crowding the amphitheater. After the gate came down, the normally tolerant Dead cut the concert short, canceled the next night's performance there, and [[https://www.jambase.com/article/deadheads-crash-fence-during-grateful-dead-concert-at-deer-creek-on-this-date-25-years-ago published a stern letter]] to Deadheads warning them that they kept seeing that kind of behavior from the stage, the band would stop touring. It was even signed by Garcia who, even in his deteriorating condition and his regular ambivalence towards fan behavior, was shaken by what he saw at Deer Creek. Sadly the band's threat proved to prophetic: Garcia died one month after the last show of the summer tour, and the Dead prompty ceased to be in its original iteration.

** Sadly, the worst regarded tour the Dead ever played was their last. The summer 1995 tour is dubbed "[[https://www.salon.com/2015/12/06/it_was_the_tour_from_hell_inside_the_grateful_deads_last_shows_and_jerry_garcias_final_days/ The Tour from Hell]]" by the band and Deadheads for many reasons: Regular gatecrashing attempts by fans who tried to get into shows without tickets, repeated death threats against Jerry Garcia by a crazed stalker, two fans being injured by a lightning strike in Washington D.C., and production and travelling problems worse than any of the band's crew had ever remembered. All of this was compounded by Garcia's increasingly poor health and playing, which resulted in many bad nights for the band with few memorable moments or jams. The bad behavior of fans culminated at their stop at Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana, at which Deadheads inside the show egged on and encouraged a gatecrashing attempt that resulted in hundreds flooding into and crowding the amphitheater. After the gate came down, the normally tolerant Dead cut the concert short, canceled the next night's performance there, and [[https://www.jambase.com/article/deadheads-crash-fence-during-grateful-dead-concert-at-deer-creek-on-this-date-25-years-ago published a stern letter]] to Deadheads warning them that they kept seeing that kind of behavior from the stage, the band would stop touring. It was even signed by Garcia who, even in his deteriorating condition and his regular ambivalence towards fan behavior, was shaken by what he saw at Deer Creek. Sadly the band's threat proved to prophetic: Garcia died one month after the last show of the summer tour, and the Dead prompty ceased to be in its original iteration.

** Sadly, the worst regarded tour the Dead ever played was their last. The summer 1995 tour is dubbed "[[https://www.salon.com/2015/12/06/it_was_the_tour_from_hell_inside_the_grateful_deads_last_shows_and_jerry_garcias_final_days/ The Tour from Hell]]" by the band and Deadheads for many reasons: Regular gatecrashing attempts by fans who tried to get into shows without tickets, repeated death threats against Jerry Garcia by a crazed stalker, two fans being injured by a lightning strike in Washington D.C., and production and travelling problems worse than any of the band's crew had ever remembered. All of this was compounded by Garcia's increasingly poor health and playing, which resulted in many bad nights for the band with few memorable moments or jams. The bad behavior of fans culminated at their stop at Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana, at which Deadheads inside the show egged on and encouraged a gatecrashing attempt that resulted in hundreds flooding into and crowding the amphitheater. After the gate came down, the normally tolerant Dead cut the concert short, canceled the next night's performance there, and [[https://www.jambase.com/article/deadheads-crash-fence-during-grateful-dead-concert-at-deer-creek-on-this-date-25-years-ago published a stern letter]] to Deadheads warning them that they kept seeing that kind of behavior from the stage, the band would stop touring. It was even signed by Garcia who, even in his deteriorating condition and his regular ambivalence towards fan behavior, was deeply upset by what he saw at Deer Creek. Sadly the band's threat proved to prophetic: Garcia died one month after the last show of the summer tour, and the Dead prompty ceased to be in its original iteration.