Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

Thinking about this subject took me back to 1990, and those three shows I saw at Wembley. Listening to The Dead had really taken off for me in 1987, when I discovered a fanzine in England called "Spiral Light" which was devoted to the band. Through them a tapers library, and through them other tapers. Incredible shows coming through my letterbox every week. It was virtually all I listened to - on a very basic mobile cassette recorder. I didn't know anyone else who knew, heard or cared about The Dead. My girlfriend did, of course, but she wasn't really into music of any sort.

Fast forward to Wembley and I am in the balcony surrounded by crowds of shouting, singing, talking, dancing people. On average, they looked younger than me - I was 33. A lot of noise before the band came on, and it increased when they did. They responded as loudly to Stella Blue as to U.S.Blues. I wondered if they were actually listening to the music at all, or if they had seen so many shows that it was just background music to them for their own partying. In a way it was more like being at a giant football game than a music concert.

When I got back home, my mates asked me what it was like. I told them it was incredible - and that there were all these people from America there, who had followed the band around Europe. I told my mates these people did this all the time, across America and that they were called " Deadheads". They seemed very different form the kind of people who write on the board - but maybe they are the same people.

I am sure I am a Deadhead by most definitions, but I still don't necessarily like being called a Deadhead (or being labeled as anything, for that matter). The narrow connotation of the unemployed unwashed drifter may not even be current anymore. I've enjoyed the music, overall scene, concerts, etc. since the mid 70s so I guess I'm still hanging onto a passé trope.

Hey rockers!!!

Previous/other definitions of deadhead:

one who has not paid for a ticket
a dull or stupid person
a partially submerged log
a faded blossom on a flowering plant
to make especially a return trip without a load
excess metal in the riser of a mold

I guess that explains it...............

Rock on,

Doc
Deadhead

Doing my homework, I came across salient entries in the Skeleton Key: Dictionary for Deadheads (Shenk and Silbermnan, 1994).
Much like the sentiment expressed by MKAV and DAVEROCK, under the entry "No but I've been to shows" is:
"a reluctance to be tagged with the word "Deadhead", not wanting to be lumped in the category with Tour Rats or with the negative portrayal of Heads in the media".

And again, under the entry for Deadheads, Blair Jackson is quoted as saying, "I wish I had a dollar for every person I've met who said "I like the Grateful Dead but I'm not a Deadhead".

I'd say this is a different response than saying "I don't wish to be labeled that way"; many people have heard a few tunes and liked them, and otherwise do not show outward signs of having caught the bug (e.g. downloading shows).
Later Jackson adds "..what it IS about is a certain openness in spirit and attitude" and "...if you say you're a Deadhead, you are". Yep, no barriers, no qualifications to meet.

But I am left wondering how to regard those who appear to be Deadheads, but who have broader tastes that covers all the acts at a jam band festival: Jam Hearts?

PS Enjoying the holiday

I can remember reading an interview with Jerry Garcia once, in which he was asked about Deadheads and how many shows some of them had attended. The interviewer said words to the effect that no matter how many shows that was , no one Deadhead had attended all of them. Jerry responded by saying he was wrong, because he had. Pretty cool.

Hey, Sunshine Daydreamers!!

We weren't Deadheads at first, but once we morphed into that we were all in. Never viewed that label as derogatory. To us it always meant folks who are very into the music of the Grateful Dead. Not everybody made it to shows, but that didn't matter........

LOL everybody in my office knows I'm a Deadhead, one look at my car and you can just tell........

So Jeff, how do I join? Can I afford the dues? Are there meetings??? LOL maybe all these years I was an "honorary member" and never really knew it..............

Rock on!!

Doc
Everyone has a dark cloud hovering over them at some point, but then there is sunshine.....

And
Howdy Jeff!

What he said: Just exactly perfect HunterGatherer.

It's a simple answer: whoever loves and identifies with the music. I used to (36 years ago) resist the label for myself, but who am I kidding? It is just a love for the music, a love for sharing the live experience, and recognizing the very real alchemy that exists between this music/band and its listeners, especially in a live environment. There should be no gatekeeping, nor any stigma. Are you kind? It really doesn't need to go any farther than that. And we are especially kind and caring to each other at a show. Sometimes we are absurdly nerdy about the music (somewhat like an obsessed sports fan), but even this is not a requirement. Go to a show, and celebrate life with 15,000 of your best friends, most of them complete strangers! Maybe even convert others to the joy of subsuming your ego to the greater whole.

very elegantly, and accurately, phrased.