Did Brent Mydland's death kill the Grateful Dead?

"By the time we began work on Built to Last, Jerry, to the distress of us all, had started using again. Given that emotional climate, it’s perhaps not surprising that the recording process, originally envisioned as starting from where we left off with In the Dark, i.e., recording the songs as a band, all playing together, dissolved rather rapidly into Total-Overdub Land, a nightmarish brier patch of egotistical contention." - Phil Lesh, Searching for the Sound

 

Jeffrey Norman talks about that recording process some here.

"Were you involved with Built to Last?
Not that much. That was kind of a weird album…
Well, they recorded it separately for the most part, with the different guys adding their parts individually and changing their parts in relation to other parts being created in isolation. Sort of the exact opposite of how you think of the Dead working. That said, I think it sounds pretty good. It’s worn better for me than I would have expected. Cutler did a good job of pulling it together.
I should go back and listen to it again. I remember Billy had to come back and re-record his drums over an existing track, which rarely really works — not for a pocket; for a real groove. Like you said, everybody took their stuff home to work with them. Mickey came back with, like, two 24-tracks of material to sync with the original source. You know — 48 tracks of percussion? What do you do? [Laughs] That was unusual. I don’t think that’s a good way to record, personally. It’s not that collaborative. You may have meticulous parts you’ve done, but it doesn’t look at the whole the same way."

The in ear monitors started in '92. This mix magazine article gets into the details here, and there were also some pretty damning opinions in the Gear Book that it was deleterious to the playing. It seemed if you looked between the lines there was a lot of kid gloves used around Jerry those last few years.

Not related to the ear monitors, I put on View from the Vault II '91 RFK late one night this weekend and despite being there it was pretty tough to see, those cheesy effects sure did not help. Well I woke up and it had auto played the bonus cuts from RFK July '90 which I forgot was on there. There is a Dark Star in each show, so you can kind of do a little test, and damn if one year did not make a hell of a difference.

 

I suffer from that, the only treatment is use of a CPAP machine every night while I sleep, for the rest of my days. it was a rough go for the first few months, but I got used to it.

While weight *can* be a cause for apnea, it's most often due to hereditary reasons (thick neck, narrow throat). That's why I have it. Thanks Mom and Dad

I'm 6'3, 230 lbs and in pretty good shape for being almost 39. I've been using a CPAP machine since 2004 and it makes a hell of a difference.

Jerry needed a full 180 lifestyle change, but that never happened, sadly.

 

Jerry Garcia>Heroin>The End

 

Except he didn't die of an overdose.

 

I may need one myself.

And yes, Jerry needed the lifestyle change, and he tried for a few years...I just don't think he knew he was as sick as he really was until it was too late.

 

I know that but you can basically trace the decline of the band and its eventual demise to Jerry becoming a heroin addict. Once he got heavily into heroin most of the high points for the band and him personally from that point on were during periods where he cleaned up to some degree.

Also, I think there is a very good chance that Jerry would still be with us today if he'd steered clear of ever getting involved with heroin. Many people can function somewhat normally over long periods of time with say some cocaine usage. Heroin just seems to always wreck people sooner or later. It's not a sustainable behavior for most people over the long term.

Keep in mind that Jerry had used heroin within the last few days of his life and it did show up in his toxicology report. It's not exactly like he'd been clean for weeks or months prior to his death. While it may not technically have been ruled an OD this was a person using heroin right up until very close to the end. That couldn't have helped at all.

 

He still played and sang really good until like July of 91...

 

The loss of Brett was greater than we acknowledge now. He was singing and writing some great stuff and was successfully pulling the band band in yet another direction. A unique sound of them and him.

 

sure - the Era of live Dead I listen to the absolute least is 92-95. Mostly unlistenable by that point.

 

I think the quality didn't start to drop until the October/November shows in Europe. The September shows, especially those at the Madison Square Garden were quite good.

 

Sept 91?? Sure, those were fantastic.

 

I tend to think 1991 was overrated. It had some great shows.....at least both Greensboro, 2nd night of Giants, and the last 3 Boston (which I missed ), but also had a lot of lackluster. Albany and Nassau in the Spring were bad.....and a lot of Madison Square Garden minus the Branford Marsalis and "Comes A Time" night range from mediocre to bad.

I don't put 1991 shows on nearly the same level as 1990 shows.

 

No, September 1990. But September 1991 had some good shows as well.

 

Circa 1978

 

According to the book Aces Back To Back, I think it's mentioned Jerry wanted to quit the band after Mydland's death, but was told he couldn't, due to a contract.
I'm recounting what I recall reading on FB, I haven't got the book myself.

 

"ace's back to back" is anything but a credible source. Simply a collage of third hand stories and speculation of the most salacious nature. I bought the book and I really wish I had not.

It is a ridiculous idea that Jerry only stayed with the band because of contract. I know most heroin addicts are really concerned with fiduciary obligations that result from business contracts.

All the speculations about Jerry's drug life is in very poor taste. Brent's passing was an awful thing that was never properly dealt with. Those guys didn't have the tools to deal with grief and loss. Bob did the same thing after Jerry passed, just hit the road and go from show to show to keep from dealing with reality.

Vince was not as good for the music as Brent. His vocals were a hot shrieking mess and the trade of the organ for the synthesizer took a lot of soul out of the music.

92-95 might not have been the best version of the band but during that time they were the best band in the world. I wouldn't go back and do another Giants stadium weekend but I would sure as hell do another three night run at Deer Creek, Shoreline or Autzen.

 

That is what I thought as well...but by early Spring of 1977 things took a turn for the worse with the arrival of Persian...

"For the band, a dispiriting development during this period [Terrapin Station recording sessions] was the introduction into the scene of a form of heroin known as “Persian.” Instead of injecting it, one would simply smoke it in a pipe, like opium, which it was purported to be at first. Jerry was still under a black cloud from the stress of Rakow and making the movie, and he was also having a hard time saying no to all of the demands made on him for his time and energy. He had started using cocaine, which allowed him to keep burning the candle at both ends, but found Persian to be a tool that allowed him to check out whenever he wanted to. As these things have a habit of doing, the drug gradually took over his life, first his domestic affairs, and then his music and his relationships with the other band members, to the exclusion of all else." - Phil

 

76/77, while working on the Grateful Dead Movie.

 

Yeah, Sept 1990 was great.

After July 1991, his singing and playing nosedived, was my original post.

I did post July 1991, right??

Yup.

 

The Boston Gardens shows in 1991 were the last great run, imo. Jerry might not have been as healthy as he had been a few months earlier, but the band was still letting it fly and there are quite a few great moments to be found in the six night run.

 

he wanted to quit before that, even...but felt responsible to keep the crew and employees at work - HE could survive without the Dead, and so could the other musicians.

It was the Steve Parishes and Ramrods and Eileen and Cassidy Laws et al that depended on the Dead for their livelihoods that compelled Garcia to keep the big machine rolling.

 

He's gone, and nothin's gonna bring him back. Bad pun, but a sad truth. His death was a mix of many factors. There's no blanket statement here.

 

That was really it, besides a quick flare up in summer 93. The Kansas City and the UNC 'Healy's Last Stand' shows spring to mind...

But remember, Bruce left in 92 because the music had become stagnant and sloppy, plus he didn't dig all the drugs. That fits with the trajectory here...