So why is The Grateful Dead on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Let’s get something straight up front, okay? I’m not a jam band guy. Like, at all.
With all respect to the Phish and Dave Matthews Band and moe. hordes out there, when I hear the noodlin’ sounds a-calling of the jam band scene, I turn and start heading the other way.*
* moe. is a fairly well known jam band who would make their way around the “upstate New York circuit” and visit my college town of Binghamton back in the day.
Which brings us to the Grateful Dead, where I’ll remind you of my Unified Theory of the Grateful Dead: “This theory breaks the Dead into two broad phases in terms of their studio albums: pre-1970 and post-1970. One features great, tightly written hippie music with strong hooks. The other… is jam band stuff.”
One of the great joys of spending what’s now a chunk of my life on this here best 1,000 albums ever project is gaining a deeper understanding of my taste in music. Some kinds of music (reggaeton, for example) and artists (Bruce Springsteen) are just mostly not for me, whereas for some other things that I knew I already dug or had a level of appreciation for – The Velvet Underground and specifically pre-1970 Grateful Dead as leading examples – my love and devotion are now off the charts.
And in terms of the Grateful Dead, The Grateful Dead – tacking on the capital “T” on their 1967 debut LP release – is my favorite of them all.
It’s important to distinguish my use of “tightly written hippie music” versus “jam band music” in my Unified Theory of the Grateful Dead above. “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion),” my all-time favorite Dead track, is an exquisite example of this.
I’ll go further and say that it’s my favorite “flower power”-style song – though I’d take on arguments with entries from the likes of Jefferson Airplane and a few select others (“Incense and Peppermints,” by the Strawberry Alarm Clock, anyone?) as at least conversation-worthy.
At a rock solid two minutes and change, “The Golden Road” goes full blast into delightful celebratory hippie levels and powers straight through to the end. If I were ever to don tie-dye, beads, and some vintage-y tinted glasses (and maybe one of those weirdo floppy hats, for good measure)*, this is the song that I’d want going full tilt around me.
* Note: though I’m very much not a Style Guy, this is very much not my Style, if you can dig.
“Cream Puff War” is one of the top songs that I couldn’t get enough of during the lengthy research process for this best 1,000 albums ever project. It just gets better and more catchy every time I throw it on. I think it’s the combination of the very Doors-y organ and high tempo hippie music energy on this one that hits my sweet spot.
Also: sneaky amazing title for a song there, I’ll posit.
“New New Minglewood Blues” shows off incredible musical confidence and, once again, possesses a driving energy that makes you want to hit the road and shake off those old blues. It also has the flavor of an expertly produced live track that’s undeniable.
It’s noteworthy too that there’s a core blues rock vibe on “New New Minglewood Blues” and other songs across The Grateful Dead that, when coupled with fantastic song writing and super tight song structures, help to make this the very best Dead album of them all in my view.
And speaking of the blues, the admittedly semi-creepily entitled song, “Good Morning Little School Girl,” lays it down quite satisfyingly.
Personal stuff that has something to do with The Grateful Dead
I love talking to my man Dan – a supremely talented musician in his own right – about music, and often our conversations will span the musical gamut from jazz greats like Lee Morgan and Charles Mingus to 1960s music, and typically we’ll land on the Grateful Dead at some point.
Sidenote to the sidenote: we harbor plans to assemble a fake-but-maybe-not-fake band that we’ve dubbed Brass Tacks, which specializes in 1960s and ‘70s psychedelic, blues, and funk rock. “The Golden Road” is a top choice for us to cover, and here are some others that I’ve lovingly curated into a Spotify playlist called, appropriately enough, Brass Tacks:
- “No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature” – The Guess Who
- “Born On The Bayou” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
- “I Just Want To Celebrate” – Rare Earth
- “Zig Zag Wanderer” – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
- “She’s Not There” – The Zombies
- “Wishful Sinful” – The Doors
- “Cool It Down” – The Velvet Underground
Some stats & info about The Grateful Dead
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Album Rock, Country Rock, Psychedelic Rock, SF Bay Area Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was The Grateful Dead released? 1967
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #205 out of 1,000
The Grateful Dead on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Grateful Dead that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
So take off your shoes, child, and take off your hat. Try on your wings and find out where it’s at.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.