Did Brent Mydland's death kill the Grateful Dead?

It's true Weir, in particular, says the final months with Brent had the Dead's best playing. Of course, they also say how great Pig was and they tried to fire him once too.

 

One of the first interviews with Garcia that I remember reading in Rolling Stone was after Brent's death, and Jerry said that the road crew could be especially cruel. That struck me as very strange that a road crew could be that powerful and practically run the band. I also figured this was why their tour schedule was so rigid, relentless, and they would stick to the same cities and venues in the 90s.

But Garcia said that Brent couldn't get past being "the new guy", even in 10 years after joining.

One of the Dead picture books made mention that a fan in the crowd held up a sign at the first show Vince played at that said "Yo, Vinnie!" to make him feel welcome.

But that Garcia's comments about the crew always bothered me. Garcia said that the Grateful Dead family was huge and a lot of people depended on that income. But when people need a break, they should get a break! Whether to deal with the death of a band member, or to spend a decent amount of time in rehab. I don't understand why the crew or the fans could just wait a while for things to straighten out rather than embark on something like that final tour in 1995. That was an all around mess from the get go, and I would've had doctors jumping on stage and carrying Garcia off looking the way he did.

 

This is very candid and valid.

I'd give it a '+2' if I could.

 

You should check out the Levon Helm movie. During the 74 Band/Dylan tour someone suggested that they should take it easy with the drinking/drugs/partying. He replied, "I ain't in it for my health". I suspect Garcia would have had the same response.

Movie is on Netflix.

 

But Garcia agreed to go out, so...

At some point, personal accountability has to kick in as a self-preservation mechanism; I don't think Jerry had that at all.

 

That's common knowledge - it was in the Rock Scully book 20 years ago, as Garcia actually lived in his basement at the time of the intervention ('85-86, pre-coma).

 

I think it was in McNally's book, A Long Strange Trip, that the only keyboardists' death which shook the band was Pigpen's. They almost broke up after that. Brent's and Keith's deaths were just hiccups (Keith was out of the band when he died) and never threatened the continued existence of the Grateful Dead.

So the answer is, no.

 

I don't what's in David Browne's book, but in McNally's account it's pretty clear that 1) Bruce wasn't actually offered the job until after Brent died and 2) if Brent had been able to overcome his personal demons he was not going to be replaced.

 

But there WAS the threat of losing him to jail time for a stretch - I heard THAT is when they first approached Bruce.

 

According to McNally, there was one attempt to contact Bruce, by phone, and Jerry just got his answering machine.

 

That's interesting, because Pig left after the Europe 72 tour, and died almost a year later. I'll check out McNally...I only remember that it was a Catholic funeral, Hell's Angels were all over the place, and there was a hillside orgy afterwards. I know its never easy to accept a loved one's death, but did it really shake them up? I could have sworn they said they saw it coming since he was drinking and, in Phil's words, "livin the blues". Pig even broke up with his girlfriend because he didn't want her to see him deteriorate.

I'll also check out that Levon Helm documentary. Yeah, even some weird kid in the Grateful Dead Movie (same year as the Dylan/Band tour that was mentioned) was ranting about how he wasn't going to be alive in 5 years (to prove a bet). I wonder how many fans and musicians had that weird death premonition in the early to mid 70s and just didn't care anymore. Despite a period of such amazing music, it seems like one of the downsides of the seventies.

 

I remember his comment that his interest in the "world of ideas" kept him going and that he thought Brent didn't have a similar intellectual background, which may have been true, but seems a bit of a mean thing to have said.

 

Moving way off-topic, if you all don't mind:

I think a lot of that "live for today" attitude came about because the Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers were the first generation to grow up with the threat of nuclear war. It was hammered into our heads that tomorrow might not come, so a lot of us didn't plan on it ever coming in some respects.

In the same way people never shut up now about climate change, the hysterics back then went on and on about nuclear annihilation. Remember all those school drills? Songs like "Russians" and "Overkill?" And TV movies like "The Day After" (from '83) when they had news commentators (?!?!) on for hours afterwards? It was a TV movie yet the made an "event" out of it. I remember there being silence in my college dorm when people were watching it.

People forget all this now. It all faded pretty quickly when the Cold War ended. Terrorism isn't as all-encompassing a threat and climate change seems less horrific than someone from the Soviet Union pushing a button.

But I think some of the attitudes that seem careless now -- like Levon's, Jerry's, Brent's and that kid from the movie -- were unconsciously shaped by outside circumstances stemming from the Cold War.

 

I'm finding this thread interesting and it has just about sold me a Dead book (not sure which yet). I read the 'Living With the Dead' one and mostly enjoyed it, but have not read any of the other half dozen or so that are out there.

 

quite a few more than a half-dozen, more like two dozen plus...

 

Hell, Garcia wanted to fire Weir early on.

 

Common knowledge that Jer eventually acquiesced. 20/20 hindsight (and a typically greedy rehab machine) would have seen him get a physical before entering 'The Knolls" and waited until he could get a couple stents put in. Diabetes and the complications (Heart disease). was what brought Jerry's life to a close.

 

I put the David Browne book on hold to check what sort of research he's done and if it has anything new.

 

I have nothing personal against Mydland, who seems to me to be a somewhat sympathetic character who probably just wasn't well-equipped for the pressures caused by the juggernaut the band became in the late 80's.

However, I have always looked at his inclusion as the beginning of the end for the band. I never liked his hoarse-but-testosterone-less voice, I didn't like much of his playing, and thought his songs were always the album nadirs. While Hornsby isn't my cup of tea either, and Welnick wasn't even in the same league, I actually was optimistic that his replacements might help the band figure out where it was going (which they didn't, although that wasn't really their responsibility anyway)

If one wants to be absolutely ruthless about the Dead, then the decline started in 1973 or so, interrupted by an unusually good tour here and there. One could point to Pigpen's demise as the obvious change that occurred back then, and speculate that touring fatigue combined with burnout from coming up with so many good songs in 1970-1972 played a role in it. Mickey Hart's uncomfortable departure couldn't have helped band cohesion. The band finally became profitable around that time as well (new contract plus Mickey's thieving dad was gone), which may have affected things. And of course, there was the issue of drugs.

For me, I usually start tapering off after their 1977 tour material. I didn't like any of their subsequent albums (although In the Dark has its moments), and thought the band grew more tired sounding live each year after. I also really didn't like Garcia's MIDI, either.

No matter what the band members say about the five or six of them being like fingers on the same hand, Garcia ultimately was the band leader. After his near death in 1986, he seemed to lose something. The music became less about exploring new frontiers than staving off its own decline. Sadly, when it came down to making a choice between the music and the drugs, he went with the drugs. Probably it wasn't even a choice; addictions are horrible things. But in the end, he harmed his own and his band's legacy. Once known for their improvisations and guts, the band became famous as "the out-of-tune band".

I see Mydland as a minor player through this long, protracted decline. Surely his own demons didn't help Jerry's. But, much as I hate to say it about a nice guy and a wonderful musician, Jerry Garcia killed the Grateful Dead.

 

who cares what rolling stone record guide says!!!
drims>space became my favorite part of the show. coincidentally as jerrys "health" went down to the nightclub
well once bobby started with those pink polo's
i'll take a thirty minute dark star anyday

 

Terrorism, endless war in the Middle East and dirty bombs surely contribute to the psychology for young adults today to hit the pharmaceuticals.
Post WW2 no one is truly clean.

 

Here's the thing: I was raised on the Dead...But I've never been a Deadhead, a fan. Who is getting more and more intrigued. Thing is though...Outside of songs like St. Stephen, Bertha, the whole of American Beauty & In The Dark, and Casey Jones, idk...Maybe I haven't listened to enough but those are the songs I love and really come back to. I was raised on them, but I'm also a new fan in my own regard. So can you point to me stuff of theirs (studio) akin to the stuff I listed, too?

 

Studio-wise??? Next stop definitely "Workingman's Dead".

 

Thanks. Also, why do so many people hate on "Samba in the Rain"? It's a really pretty song, fun, laid back and would've sounded very contemporary in 1993/1994/1995 or so.

 

Because it's no "Wave to the Wind".