Grateful Dead - "Ship of Fools (Live at University of Nevada, Reno - 5/12/74)

A note from the Mother-In-Chief

This transmission comes from the mouth of Doug, our resident Deadhead-In-Chief, and the veritable Jam Master... It should only make sense that our first verse would be about the Dead, because the Internet was built by three groups: Deadheads, wrestling fans, and trans women. No cap. The new cultural journalism will be built by those same congregations of dutiful worshippers, who have always shown up when almost no one else would. 

So are you getting on the bus, loser? We're going shopping, and maybe we'll smoke a little something too.

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The Dead and The Dan are both jazz-inspired rock bands that wrote and recorded songs about the imperfections of life, but they set about writing and recording those songs in totally divergent ways. The Dead reveled in those imperfections and embraced them in their live performances, touring for a third of the year while never playing a song the same way twice. What began as a chaotic family band became an entire industry unto itself. 

Meanwhile, Steely Dan shut themselves off from the outside world, booked expensive studio time with record label money, and wrote cynical songs about a world they felt powerless to change. They lost their youthful optimism, somewhere in between the disullionisment of undergraduate education and the endless demand for more Steely Dan t-shirts. 

I really don’t know which band better captures the essence of America. Two roads diverged in the musical woods: Deadhead and Danfans. Both routes have been traveled by, and both are true, and neither actually contradicts the other.