Did Brent Mydland's death kill the Grateful Dead?

100% accurate.

 

I don't thing there was just one reason the Dead folded. Things had pretty much run their course by then... 25 years on the road takes a toll.

 

Vince was extended a helping hand by Weir including him in Ratdog and wasted no time demonstrating that he was more a problem than an asset.

 

No, but he killed the Grateful Dead for me.

 

They lost something interesting as I liked the keyboard as well as the synthesizer sounds he brought to the band.

 

Not for me.

 

Yep...the 'show must go on'...

Even as my friends are dying.

That's the Grateful Dead way.

 

I'm not digging on them...I just find it appalling that grown people aren't able to deal with things like grown ups.

Phil Less is LUCKY that he had to get a physical for them to get that studio...

 

Clearly the helping hand Vince had been extended was not helping. It got burned and was retracted before it got burned again. The guy clearly needed psychiatric help, not a job playing keyboards in Ratdog.

 

I tend to agree there a good many other factors at play, but in regards to the OP, I also always noticed in those DVD stage shots the many number of loving/encouraging looks Jerry always gave Brent as they traded licks; even in ’89, which I just saw new footage on the big screen, it seemed like he was encouraging Brent like he had just joined the prior week. I don’t remember that with Keith as much, but of course I have much less video proof. I am no musician, but I would guess the lead guitar and piano have a special connection anyway; still, it just always seemed to me like Jerry had a special place, at least in his musical heart, reserved for Brent.

 

Jerry has said as much, as I recall. He liked Brent.

 

Or, in this case, the blind leading the blind.

The whole thing was weird, right down to Vince committing Hare-Kare in front of his wife.

Such a dark, dark band.

 

Jerry LOVED Brent, but I guess Brent really did have that insecurity, he wanted reciprocation constantly. Betty Jackson talked about it, both Jerry & Phil have talked about it.

I had heard that they needed Hornsby in part because Brent was gonna do a little stretch of time due to the cumulative charges of various DUIs and the OD. Don't know the veracity of the claim...but that's what I heard, and it fits.

The way I hear it, they were gonna need Hornsby soon enough, regardless.

Sucks, because Brent was amazing.


Too bad he couldn't see that.

 

This is interesting to me.
I've often wondered if there was a period when Jerry was clean.
Am I right in assuming he was most likely off heroin during post coma 1986 to some time in 1991, or am I way off?

 

Wow I forgot about those circumstances. Man.

 

A few flirtations here and there, but yeah, you're right on, and it shows in the music.

The only 2 albums of new, original studio music between 1980-95 were released in that period...and as someone much more astute than me once observed, "the tapes don't lie."

 

Yeah it was pretty graphic, final, and it wasn't a cry for help...

 

Forget his talent a second.

What bugs me about this whole thing is that his neediness was the antithesis of the original spirit of the band. The thing I liked about the Dead was their willingness to be disliked. You get the feeling they subconsciously thought "So critics don't like 15 minutes of 'Dark Star?' Fine, we'll give them twice that then.'"

This "up yours" quality is essential to making innovative music, and you find it in everyone from Lennon to Zappa to Prince to Madonna. If the Dead had taken what their critics said to heart, they'd have probably broken up sometime around '68.

On top of that, people have long made sport of busting on Bobby. Many Deadheads were also pretty vocal about not liking "Drums/Space." And the reviews of their records pre-Mydland were often dismissive of Garcia/Hunter's songwriting.

Worst of all, the Rolling Stone Record Guide from '83 said Garcia had "third-rate chops" when it came to guitar playing. This was in a book that stayed on shelves, not a newspaper that got dumped the next day. No one is ever above criticism. Did Brent not see that? Did he think he was the one singled out?

 

1. Yes, if you want to be in a band with OTHER mature responsible adults...it helps to be one yourself.
2. Their personal lobes are dark as from Garcia basically watching his father drown and his mom working at a mission bar all the way to cocaine, heroin, alcoholosm, hepatitis, MULTIPLE band member deaths...I mean, who else had 4 keyboardists die between 1973-2005??

Their music may not have been 'dark'...but their lives sure were. And no amount of benefit concerts can alleviate that heaviness.

 

I've read a bunch of bad things about the Dead and all the infighting and backstabbing that went on. Rock Scully's book was a personal fave if you're a fan of dirt.

 

Interesting take...

 

Jerry invited Keith to be in his solo band so it seems he liked him too.