Grateful Dead Essay -- essays research papers

Throughout history there have been umteen medicamental "influences". One extremely important influence to modern medicinal drug is The refreshing Dead. The group was formed in 1965 by bluegrass - drumbeater Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan on vocals and organ, Bob Weir on guitar and vocals, classical symphony student Phil Lesh on bass and vocals, and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. From the beginning, they brought together a variety of influences, from Garcias country background to Pigpens feeling for blues (his father was an R&B radio DJ) and Leshs education in contemporary serious-minded" music. Add to that, the experimentation encouraged at some of the groups initiative performances at novelist Ken Keseys "acid test" parties-multimedia events intended to replicate (or accompany) the experience of taking the then-legal drug LSD-and you had a musical potpourri of styles often contend with broad improvisational sections th at could go off in nearly any direction. The band subscribe to Warner Brothers in 1967, experiencing some difficulties early on with the restrictions of standard recording practices and the companys bet in producing a conventionally commercial product. As a result, the groups first few albums were somewhat tentative but showed promise for the future, especially with the pick up additions of Mickey Hart as a endorse drummer in 1967 and Garcias elder friend Robert Hunter as the bands lyricist. The Dead finally hit their gradation with the release of Live Dead, a double album, in 1969. (They were always to a greater extent comfortable on stage than in the studio.) Two studio albums in 1970, Workingmans Dead and American Beauty, found them exploring folk-rock and more tightly constructed song forms and, along with extensive touring, won them a much larger audience. In the second half of the 70s, the Dead recorded a series of commercially - oriented albums for Arista, then concentr ated on roadwork for the better part of the 80s. In the Dark, released in 1987, was their first studio album in seven years. It sold a million copies and produced the bands first Top Ten hit in " equalize of Grey." One of the aspects of the Grateful Dead that made them stand out was their mixing of several different kinds of music. As menti whizzd earlier, the Deads music is a hearty mixture of bluegrass, classical, and good old-fashioned rock... ...ot, is Blues Traveler. On the scene since 1984, John Popper (lead vocals and undreamt of harmonica) has lead this band up from the depths of the local party circuit to having a multi-platinum album (1994s Four). Also with the same blues-rock feeling, deadheads are sure to flashback to yesteryear with one of Poppers unreal harmonica riffs. Traveler has also touched millions of college kids and drawn them in with their peculiar musical style, just as the Dead were reeling them in in the 60s and 70s. The Grateful Deads immense m usical influence has by far been an be factor in many bands that we would consider influential today. Bob Dylan considered Jerry to be like an older brother. The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers, and countless other legends have played under the Deads tutelage. This only shows that they have so greatly influenced the human race of music as we know it today. Just as they were influenced to create their own unique style, they are still influencing bands today, thirty-four years after it all began. The Grateful Dead were certainly an implausible influence over the music world today. There is only one thing left to say.We are sincerely Grateful.