The Grateful Dead are one of the rock bands that helped shape music into what it is now. The band is known for their signature live performances, which includes improvisational sections that can last for up to half an hour. The Grateful Dead has had many different members who all influenced their unique sound in a different way. The history of the Grateful Dead begins in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. There, Jerry Garcia befriended a man named Robert Hunter. Later, Garcia, who had been playing guitar since he was 15, went on to be the band’s lead guitarist while Hunter helped write their lyrics. Jerry Garcia had played in many other bluegrass and folk bands, such as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. The band officially formed under the name of the Warlocks and consisted of Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir. After their debut in July of ’65, they played at Ken Kesey's Acid Tests. This was a public party that took place regularly where all the
Their work encompassed many genres into one. The band’s musical influences are comprised of jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk, and country. Also, the band began to gain popularity during the movement of psychedelia. Psychedelic elements can be heard in almost all their albums. The band consisted of many different members with different musical backgrounds. Ron McKernan was an organist who loved the blues where Phil Lesh had very formal training in classical music. Bill Kreutzmann, the drummer for the Dead, had a history of playing R&B and jazz. Though the band continues to influence artists to this day, other bands helped shape and inspire their sound. The Grateful Dead first decided to go electric and create a rawer sound after seeing the Lovin’ Spoonful live in New York. They were making music at the same time as other extremely successful musicians like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Pink
One of the most significant events of Jerry Garcia's childhood occurred when he was four and brother Clifford, "Tiff," was eight. "We'd been given a chore to do...he'd hold the wood and I'd chop it...he was [messing] around and I was just constantly chopping." Jerry lost about half of his right ring finger. This was the first of many losses Jerry experienced that would affect his life and musical style.
The Grateful Dead did their first show at Magoo's pizza on May 5th, 1965. During this time they were known as the Warlocks. They realized after a while that there was another band named Warlocks. After they changed their name from the Warlocks to the Grateful dead, they played in San Jose, California. The place was called Ken Kesey's Acid Tests. The first show ever recorded was by a fan at Fillmore Auditorium on January 8, 1966.
Captain Trips first played with Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions who became the Warlocks in 1965 and later became the “seminal ‘60s rock & roll band the Grateful Dead” for which Garcia is most known(“Jerry Garcia_”). Grateful Dead is a name that was randomly chosen from an open copy of the Oxford English Dictionary.
In 1967 the Beatles were in Abbey Road Studios putting the finishing touches on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. At one point Paul McCartney wandered down the corridor and heard what was then a new young band called Pink Floyd working on their hypnotic debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. He listened for a moment, then came rushing back. "Hey guys," he reputedly said, "There's a new band in there and they're gonna steal our thunder." With their mix of blues, music hall influences, Lewis Carroll references, and dissonant experimentation, Pink Floyd was one of the key bands of the 1960s psychedelic revolution, a pop culture movement that emerged with American and British rock, before sweeping through film, literature, and the visual arts. The music was largely inspired by hallucinogens, or so-called "mind-expanding" drugs such as marijuana and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide; "acid"), and attempted to recreate drug-induced states through the use of overdriven guitar, amplified feedback, and droning guitar motifs influenced by Eastern music. This psychedelic consciousness was seeded, in the United States, by countercultural gurus such as Dr. Timothy Leary, a Harvard University professor who began researching LSD as a tool of self-discovery from 1960, and writer Ken Kesey who with his Merry Pranksters staged Acid Tests--multimedia "happenings" set to the music of the Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) and documented by novelist Tom Wolfe in the literary classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968)--and traversed the country during the mid-1960s on a kaleidoscope-colored school bus. "Everybody felt the '60s were a breakthrough. There was exploration of sexual freedom and [...
Rolling Stones became popular rather quickly when they changed their sound of music from blues to rock and roll. They would eventually experiment with almost all types of rock music, but still never drifted too far from the blues. The Rolling Stones was like the Beatles alter ego. While The Beatles avoided singing about controversy and class distinctions, The Rolling Stones revealed them. They were seen as the “bad boys” in rock, singing about subjects considered taboo, like sex, drugs, and violence. At times, they would write songs to be honest and draw attention to subjects that were commonly avoided.
Jimi is today acknowledged as a musical intellectual. He is highly recognized for his precision and speed while playing his music. He did not care what kind of feedback he got whether it was negative or positive, all Jimi wanted to do was play his music the way he wanted. He created his music as one of the melodic elements and people went crazy for him and his ability to play, sing and dance all at the same time. As a rock singer and guitarist, Jim Hendrix won several awards for being a major contribution to rock music during his time. It is widely agreed that he was among one of the most influential musicians in the history of rock music. As the star of the rock music during his time, Jimi did not just play music but improved the image of rock music as well. While it is the dream of every artist to make a contribution throughout his or her work and performances, not all of them were successfully able to make their dreams to come true. Through Jimi’s singing and performances, he is today acknowledged for the impact that he had on the rock music we now have today. Some of his major contributions to rock music are that he improved the styles that were used to play a guitar by flipping the music upside down as well as
The Beach Boys, The Ventures, The Champs, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jefferson Airplane, Jan and Dean, Th...
Still, few musicians have lived more thoroughly the life of their times. Unlike the tie-dyed, good time trip of Jerry Garcia's Grateful Dead, Hendrix felt both the raw, unleashed energy of the sixties, and also the decades terror and confusion. Listening to his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, or the equally powerful Machine Gun one can't help but wonder if this wasn't the most empathic musician to ever pick up a guitar. In those works Hendrix seemed to feel everything for everyone -- black, white, GI, protester, hippie, straight -- he found a place for all of us. American music would never be the same.
The Yardbirds are famous for acquiring some of the greatest blues- based guitarists of their time period. The initial launch of this English band began in the early 1960’s. The Yardbirds weren’t as famous as other bands during the 60’s, but they established the initiation that the guitar would have on other musicians. The original band members of the Yardbirds were Keith Ref, Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell- Smith, Jim McCarty, and Anthony Topham (Wenner, Jann S.). They became known as “inventors,” one of their inventions being the “rave-up,” a blues rhythm. Throughout the 60’s, this became the groundwork for all of rock music. Other bands such as Led Zeppelin, Cream, and Jeff Beck Group are all derived from three of the most dominant guitarists: Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck. Many styles of music never would have been produced if it weren’t for the Yardbirds, these including: “garage- rock, hard- rock,...
Jimmy Page played guitar, Robert Plant was the vocalist, John Paul Jones played bass guitar and the keyboard, and John Bonham beat the drums. The group had the complete set up for a band right off the start. They produced their first record in thirty hours to complete their deal with the old Yardbirds. They toured Scandinavia for awhile also to complete their obligations to the Yardbirds.
and contained some of the best musicians to ever live. Even though they lost their drummer
Mick Jagger was lead vocals and also played the harmonica. Jagger’s signature look has always been his lips, but they were often criticized. Keith Richards played the guitar and also sang. Charlie Watts was on drums, and Brian Jones played the guitar, harmonica, sitar, and sang. Two less popular members were Ian Stewart, on piano, and Bill Wyman, on bass guitar and sang backing vocals.
The Doors were known for their style of rebellious, psychedelic rock. Their music is poetry (written by Jim Morrison) set to music. Morrison also had many books published just of his poetry. Although not all of The Doors music was written by Morrison, ninety percent of it was. The band was considered a guru by the youngsters of the sixties, and a scourge by the public. The band seemed to fuse music, drugs, and idealism as a way to reform and even redeem a troubled society (Gilmore 34). They were much like the other bands that were emerging in the sixties, but different in one major way.
He is widely known in the rock culture, and now even pop culture. His death sent shock waves through the rock and roll community. Tributes have been played by bands such as Coldplay, all the way to The pretty Reckless, Aerosmith, and Stone Sour. He was loved by many, and looked up to as a role model by many more. His determination, and drive to continue to make music, was
Over the course of history there have been individuals, or groups of individuals, that have influenced the world more than most of us could even imagine. When you apply this statement to music the first band that almost always comes to mind is The Beatles. The Beatles have left such a huge footprint in not only the musical world, but also in the lives of so many people. They have been so popular that John Lennon was even quoted saying that they were “more popular than Jesus now.” (Interview by Maureen Cleave).