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}} are the best known of these groups, with Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, The String Cheese Incident, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, moe., Blues Traveler, The Spin Doctors and the Dave Matthews Band all 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.

* 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}} are the best known of these groups, with Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, The String Cheese Incident, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, moe., Blues Traveler, The Spin Doctors and the Dave Matthews Band all gaining renown in the 1990s. Although all of these bands counted the Dead as a major influence and structured their concerts similarly (two sets per concert, with plenty of room for jamming), all of them were musically different from both the Dead and each other.

* 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 the band through "Touch of Grey".

* 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, made 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 the band through "Touch of Grey".

* 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, made 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 the band through "Touch of Grey". Nowadays, considering that 1987 is over 30 years ago, all admitting becoming a fan through "Touch" will net you is a light ribbing from older fans.

* 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.

** Donna Jean Godchaux’s live vocals can be this as well. Her performances on their studio records from the time period are generally pretty well loved, but some listeners feel she was off-key in some of the live shows.

* MainstreamObscurity: If you have to name a cult rock band they are perhaps the best example, due to their fanbase even having a special nickname (“Deadheads”) and many of them religiously attending their concerts. They are also most people’s idea of ''hippie music''. Yet, when all of that is said and done: other than “Touch of Grey”, how many songs or albums can you name by this group? That’s right, the Grateful Dead are actually more famous as an iconic hippie band, ''stoner'' band and/or concert experience than for their songs or albums.

* PopCulturalOsmosis: If you have to name a cult rock band they are perhaps the best example, due to their fanbase even having a special nickname (“Deadheads”) and many of them religiously attending their concerts. They are also most people’s idea of ''hippie music''. Yet, when all of that is said and done: other than “Touch of Grey”, how many songs or albums can you name by this group? That’s right, the Grateful Dead are actually more famous as an iconic hippie band, ''stoner'' band and/or concert experience than for their songs or albums.

** 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) and he continues to have an active solo career.

** 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 Deadhead to follow the younger band instead, well before Garcia died.

** 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 Deadhead to follow the younger band instead even before Garcia died.

** 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.

* AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/TheGratefulDead Have their own page]].

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: “Comes a Time”, a gorgeous Garcia/Hunter ballad that also doubles as a TearJerker.
-->Been walkin' all mornin', went walkin' all night\\
I can't see much difference between the dark and light\\
And I feel the wind and I taste the rain\\
Never in my mind to cause so much pain\\
\\
Comes a time when the blind man takes your hand\\
Says, "Don't you see?\\
Gotta make it somehow on the dreams you still believe\\
Don't give it up, you got an empty cup\\
That only love can fill, only love can fill, only love can fill"

* MainstreamObscurity and PopCulturalOsmosis: If you have to name a cult rock band they are perhaps the best example, due to their fanbase even having a special nickname (“Deadheads”) and many of them religiously attending their concerts. They are also most people’s idea of ''hippie music''. Yet, when all of that is said and done: other than “Touch of Grey”, how many songs or albums can you name by this group? That’s right, the Grateful Dead are actually more famous as an iconic hippie band, ''stoner'' band and/or concert experience than for their songs or albums.
* MostWonderfulSound: The band's harmonies, particularly by the time of ''Music/AmericanBeauty'', frequently qualify as this.

* SweetDreamsFuel: Some of the band’s folk material probably qualifies – “Attics of My Life”, for example.

** The band’s first “face” was founding keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” [=McKernan=], who not only acted the group’s spokesman in the 1960s (he was the only founding member who did not take drugs of any kind aside from perfectly legal alcohol, which made him the natural choice to put in front of non-hippie 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).

** The band’s first “face” was founding keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” [=McKernan=], who not only acted the group’s spokesman in the 1960s (he didn't use psychedelic drugs, which made him the natural choice to put in front of non-hippie 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).

** 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 three years (1993-95) usually have pretty bad reputations with Deadheads.

** The band’s first “face” was founding keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” [=McKernan=], who not only acted the group’s spokesman, but was 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).

** Rock critic Robert Christgau speculated that one of the main reasons the May 8, 1977 show at Cornell University is so loved is that it has no “Drums” or “Space” section. This is arguably a case of Christgau’s BiasSteamroller showing itself, as there are plenty of well-loved Dead shows that have one or both of those, but he may be correct that its lack of either of these is one reason it’s gained a cultural cachet beyond Deadheads.

* NightmareFuel: “What’s Become of the Baby” probably ruined a rather large number of LSD trips back in the day.
* TheScrappy: Vince Welnick, the last keyboardist often saw himself as this, even after he was excluded from several of the post-Garcia reunion concerts.

* EpicRiff: Again, a veritable goldmine of them; indeed, their epic riffs are often the main reasons their songs are ear worms. 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.

* ItsPopularNowItSucks: The surprise success of “Touch of Grey” was a mixed blessing for the band and longtime Deadheads who were known for their peaceful, mellow hippie attitudes with nothing seriously bad happening at shows to…[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFG33IROLM Maybe this video will explain it a little better]].

** Paul Buckmaster's (Music/EltonJohn, amongst others) string arrangements on ''Terrapin Station''. They're sometimes considered to clash with the songs themselves, and the band members themselves didn't like them; Garcia in particular complained that the rhythms of his arrangements for the title suite clashed with the song's rhythm: Buckmaster and producer Keith Olsen "changed it from a dotted shuffle to a marching 4/4 time". The song was never performed in its exact studio configuration live, though the first three movements were part of the band's set list until 1987. "Terrapin Transit", "At a Siding" (with no lyrics), and "Terrapin Flyer" were performed once (on March 18, 1977 at Winterland, San Francisco); the final segment, "Refrain", was apparently never performed.

* EpicRiff: Again, a veritable goldmine of them; indeed, their epic riffs are often the main reasons their songs are ear worms. 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).

** Paul Buckmaster's (Music/EltonJohn, amongst others) string arrangements on ''Terrapin Station''. They're sometimes considered to clash with the songs themselves, and the band members themselves didn't like them; Garcia in particular complained that the rhythms of his arrangements for the title suite clashed with the song's rhythm: he and producer Keith Olsen "changed it from a dotted shuffle to a marching 4/4 time". The song was never performed in its exact studio configuration live, though the first three movements were part of the band's set list until 1987. "Terrapin Transit", "At a Siding" (with no lyrics), and "Terrapin Flyer" were performed once (on March 18, 1977 at Winterland, San Francisco); the final segment, "Refrain", was apparently never performed.