How exactly are Grateful dead 'psychedelic'?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by holyroller, Sep 10, 2019.

  1. holyroller

    holyroller Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Sounds like a lot of folk, maybe semi psyche-folky with obvious rock n blues throughout. But some people categorize them as psychedelic but i really don't hear why, especially comparatively speaking for other actual psyche bands
     
  2. Wes_in_va

    Wes_in_va Trying to live up to my dog’s expectations

    Location:
    Southwest VA
    Have you listened to any Dead from the early days? Say, 1965-1968?
     
  3. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    Definitely because of their extended, exploratory jams. They weren't so much fuzzed-out psych like Doors or the Airplane, or massively trippy psych like Syd-era Floyd. They were their own thing.
     
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  4. Wes_in_va

    Wes_in_va Trying to live up to my dog’s expectations

    Location:
    Southwest VA
    For the easy intro to the psychedelic stuff, check out Aoxomoxa or Anthem of the Sun.
    Then do some searching for the Dead at the Acid Tests.
     
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  5. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Get in a time machine and go back to somewhere from 65-95 (preferably 69-90), take some psychedelic substances and go to one of their shows, and you will wonder how any other music could have been considered psychedelic.

    Sorry you missed the bus.
     
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  6. astro70

    astro70 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern Illinois
    Try anything pre-1970. Anthem Of The Sun is your answer.
     
  7. dsdu

    dsdu less serious minor pest

    Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
  8. holyroller

    holyroller Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    i've listened to those first two albums from 67 and 68. i can see how those are semi-psychedelic but still leans more towards rhythm and bluesish. i feel like theyre album covers lead on more psyche than the music itself
     
  9. kwhisperer

    kwhisperer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto

    Last time I did LSD - about 45 years ago - I threw on Anthem of the Sun and my first thought was, "They sure hit the mark with this one."
     
  10. lee59

    lee59 Member Envy

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    This.
     
  11. holyroller

    holyroller Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    i guess them basically inventing the whole jam aspect of a live performance counts as some typa sub of psychedelic
     
    Tooth and trumpet sounds like this.
  12. sekaer

    sekaer Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Laid back yet so passagg :p
     
  13. Guy Smiley

    Guy Smiley America’s Favorite Game Show Host

    Location:
    Sesame Street

    Oooh... You’re in for it now... :-popcorn:
     
  14. holyroller

    holyroller Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    i can definitely hear it in Anthem of the Sun more than others
     
  15. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    To paraphrase my earlier answer - played live it is music to enjoy dancing to on psychedelics.

    Whatever music critics, DJs or record company marketing people labelled "psychedelic" is far less relevant to psychedelic experiences.
     
  16. zombiemodernist

    zombiemodernist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeastern USA
    IMO the term psychedelic seems to be very arbitrarily defined, and the Dead certainly check enough boxes to fit in that category, at the very least as "psych folk". By no means was I around in the 60s (I was born in the 90s) but those that were seem to have a far looser canon than what many today would call "psych". In fact I think the modern definition of psych is starting to be mostly informed by the psych revivalists like Dungen, Tame Impala and King Gizzard. At that point we're starting to classify music by what it "sounds like" vs the surrounding movement or context.
     
  17. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    ...with country and bluegrass thrown in. As said above, it depends on the era/album.

    How about that lovely "Dark Star" from the (historic) Live Dead album for some psychedelic Gerry:

     
  18. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing

    Agreed...Live/Dead is also pretty trippy. As tripped out as it gets.
     
  19. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    To toss him a bone, if he can get some good LSD and go see Dead & Co he still could have chance at getting "close enough to pretend"
     
  20. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing

    There does exist a vast catalog of psych folk, so that alone as folk doesn't eliminate folk per se..and Blues psych, fusion psych, Baroque psych...so many psych sub genres. Then there's Donovan psych...Celtic psych...the list goes on and on.
     
  21. anth67

    anth67 Purveyor of Hogwash

    Location:
    PNW USA
    Listen to "Born Cross-Eyed."
     
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  22. Satchidananda

    Satchidananda Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    It’s not like any substance will point you directly to just one type of music. Stoner Rock is quite different from jazz, but both have connections to different circles within cannabis culture. Same thing with “psych” as a musical genre modifier... Psychedelics enhance repetitive patterns, which has implications for everything from Dead jams to house/techno and beyond.
    The strong cultural bond between LSD and the Dead has a lot to do with serendipitous timing. As you probably already know, the Dead’s sound engineer, Bear, was a crucial part of the supply chain of acid during the 60’s. So there was a built in association from the beginning.
     
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  23. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Part of the problem is everyone has a different idea (and maybe lived experience) of what connotes psychedelic. For example, it's widely accepted that the early Pink Floyd were "psychedelic". When they went to San Francisco in '67, they were disappointed ... all the S.F. bands they'd heard of in London, reputed to be really trippy, sounded like folky/country/blues bands to their ears when they finally heard them at the Fillmore or whatever.

    Seek out the original mix of "What's Become Of The Baby". That ... is psychedelic.
     
  24. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    More than a chain of association. Their style of musical interplay evolved while most of the band (all but Pigpen) were playing music under the influence of psychedelics, and interacting with audiences that were largely under the influence of psychedelics. The drugs were part of the creative process.
     
  25. KDubATX

    KDubATX A Darby Man Never Says When

    Location:
    Austin

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