Grateful Dead Music Forum

So I have a friend who insists she hates the Grateful Dead... so, of course, I set out to make her a mix CD of some stuff that "may" get her into it... anybody got any suggestions for 5 tunes to get someone hooked???

1)Uncle Johns Band
2)Ripple
3)Scarlet Begonias
4)Goin Down the Road Feelin Bad
5)Saint Stephen

This is a good mix with alot of different dead material. I ve given this mix to several dead haters that turned around and loved them

-Sugaree
-Mississippi 1/2 step
-Fire on the Mountain
-Uncle John's Band
-Brown Eyed Women
-Peggy-O
-Bertha
-Franklin's Tower
-They Love Each Other (electric, faster paced '73-'74 version...... 11-30-73 DP14 is incredible)
-Row Jimmy
-Tennessee Jed
-He's Gone

just dose her silly and play a great show till her brain melts, she'll get it

I use to be all about that. Now my attitude is toss on DP2 (10-31-71), and if that doesn't do it, then F#*k em'. My wife is right, I'm turning into a cynical old fart.

We've had similar discussions here before. If she is as skeptical/reluctant as you say you probably don't have her attention that long. 5 song is probably about right.

When picking them, you should keep in mind what kind of music she typically likes and target at least some of the disc to that.

For example, i've met blues players who considered the Dead messy and incoherent. A good Mr Charlie, Same Thing, Deep Elem, Smokestack Lightning, Big Boss Man, or possibly even Minglewood could really turn their opinion around.

Some younger people have the image that the Dead's music is all spaced out and hard to get into. For one of them, something like Dark Star or Stella Blue would be a bad choice. A song that kicks some ass right of the bat like Shakedown Street, Eyes of the World, or China > Rider would be better.

A lot of people I know shun anything remotely country. I certainly wouldn't try to turn them on with El Paso, My and My Uncle, Tennessee Jed or Brown Eyed Woman.

Not sure what you're friend is into but I hope you see what I'm getting at. Few bands are as diverse as the boys, I'm sure you can find something that does the trick!

Based upon my experiences with people in the non-Dead world these were the trackis that people said that they liked:
Franklin's Tower
Ripple
Sugar Magnolia - Europe 72
US Blues
Uncle John's Band

I would do what the other guys have suggested and try to bend the mix towards music that they already like.

Well the problem is she listens to rap (my God why does this form of noise still exist) and harder stuff like Korn, NIN, old Nirvana... so there's really nothing "similar" to pick of the Dead's stuff... I came out of that kind of music myself but fortunately got dragged to THE LAST Dead show in Chgo and got in the right "frame of mind" to get infected

so far I'm leaning towards upbeat tunes like Shakedown, Sugar Mag, Bucket, Victim... etc... so for any further suggestions I'd lean towards that idea

thanks everybody!

Blast a really hot Feel Like A Stranger .... or dose her silly, your choice

start her out with some good studio stuff, then once she likes that you can start playin live stuff and more extended stuff for her

-st stephen
-box of rain
-friend of the devil
-truckin
-uncle johns band
-china cat sunflower

i know these are some of the more popular songs, but thats what got me into the dead and has done the same for a lot of other people. once she likes these you can start to dig deeper

if she like rap and heavy stuff then play some songs with a good beat

Hmm well if she likes the harder stuff then give her a Help Slip and maybe an old 69 st stephen where the distortion is cranked and jerry is just grungin lol. As someone mentioned Feel like a stranger is another good one. Oh and for one of the closest songs to being hard I think show her Cream Puff War. That song is kinda punk'ish

Play her that remix of Jay-Z with American Beauty samples all over it. Anyone know the name of that?

Play her some Pigpen classics like Lovelight and Good Lovin

...the Other One from Skulls & Roses or a similarly SICK O1 like 12/10/71...

...Hell In A Bucket 7/2/87...

Try some Reconstruction! Get Merl involved...

And then just say "screw it" and pop in One From The Vault followed up with a hot live "Terrapin Station" like 4/15/89, 3/15/90 or 11/6/79.

Probably the most important piece of advice I could give in this case is to open your own mind to stuff that she likes. Try with sincerity to see and feel some musical value in the "noise" to which she gets down.

To my mind there are no bad genres, just a lot of overrated crap within each genre and tasty nuggets that sometimes have to be searched for.

BOUKINATOR wrote:Well the problem is she listens to rap (my God why does this form of noise still exist) and harder stuff like Korn, NIN, old Nirvana... so there's really nothing "similar" to pick of the Dead's stuff... I came out of that kind of music myself but fortunately got dragged to THE LAST Dead show in Chgo and got in the right "frame of mind" to get infected

so far I'm leaning towards upbeat tunes like Shakedown, Sugar Mag, Bucket, Victim... etc... so for any further suggestions I'd lean towards that idea

thanks everybody!

Right there TS.

In light of this, I'd say should be something bass heavy with a beat she could get into or something that rocks especially hard.

Estimated Prophet
Shakedown Street
Feel Like A Stranger
Help > Slip > Franklins
The Other One (not cryptical)
Not Fade Away > Goin Down the Road (Skull and Roses if you got it)
St Stephen > The Eleven (Live Dead would be good)
Cream Puff War
Hell in a Bucket
Eyes of The World
Let it Grow
New Speedway Boogie
Iko Iko
truckin
Terrapin?

While of course Soldier Field is a show really important to you, I wouldnt think that would be a good choice to go with. Good luck