There has been some rather obnoxious back and forth trolling this primary season.
One of the dumbest ones I’ve seen is a supposed Hillary supporter telling the user “Dead Head” that, “your favorite band sucks.”
Here’s how bad the Grateful Dead “sucks:”
- Jerry Garcia was a fantastic guitar player. He could play rock, blues, bluegrass, country; virtually any genre, and he had a wonderful touch, and a knack for tasty improv that always gave the Dead an almost jazz-like quality.
- Phil Lesh was one of the most inventive bass players in the history of rock and roll. He dared to play with tension and release, and took more chances than any bass player in a huge act I can think of.
- The band’s harmonies were amazing, and often transcendent.
- The band’s songwriting was top notch. Their lyrics, melodies and themes were memorable and often poignant.
- The band played with emotion. Very often improvisational-based bands expend all their efforts on technical wizardry, and lose the audience.
- And then there’s the audience. The Grateful Dead had the most devoted and loyal audience of any band I can think of. Many of their fans have been to hundreds of their concerts.
- Their concerts were singular experiences. They rarely played the same song the same way twice, giving the audience a unique performance each night.
Did they sometimes have “bad” nights? Most people agree they did. Did they frequently have transcendent, amazing nights? I say yes they did.
One of the biggest things that has bothered me about Hillary vs Bernie is the idea that the Hillary supporters are “the establishment” and the Bernie supporters are “the hippies.” This is nonsense.
I am a left wing liberal hippie going way back. I love John Lennon, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, etc. I am a believer in racial harmony. I am a believer in gender equality, and mutual respect. I believe the worst president in the history of our nation was Ronald Reagan, for his era was the one that really cemented the gap between the top earners and the rest of us.
I’m not going to go into a big diatribe about why I support Hillary in this space. I will briefly say I have faith that she will be a great president, who will be far more liberal than many believe, but I am realistic enough to understand she won’t be even close to as liberal as I would wish her to be. No one is going to let her. Presidents of the United States aren’t Kings and Queens. The can’t simply decree something, and make it be. If you don’t like that system, blame those hippies who founded this nation.
But I’ll tell you right now, the freaking Grateful Dead will do down in history as one of the greatest bands of all time. And you don’t have to be a Bernie supporter to get that.