[Berto]

kinda funny when you think about it! Back in the day they had to virtually give away their music as nobody wanted it. But now The Greatfull Dead is more popular than they could have possibly ever dreamed of.
gary

Nobody ever wanted it? 

People devoted there lives doing whatever it took to get to the next show, they could'nt get enough is more like it. But I do agree when there Touch Of Grey became a top 40 hit as well as a MTV video in late 80s, they surely never saw that coming.  But then again, what real dead fan cares about top 40

[lazydays]

They were damn popular back in the day and filthy rich.   Every concert I went to was sold out.

somebody lied to you as I went thru that era. Sure everybody knew who they were, but that was about it. They never got even close to the airtime that Jefferson Airplane did. (same area) But now adays they are much more popular than they've ever knew in the past. In that era The Doors were at the top of the list. Then later other groups took over (eary 1970's)

As for concerts selling out; did you ever goto many? It was almost always a group that seemed to follow them everywhere they played. They were not buying records, but were big on tie dyed tee shirts.
gary

[lazydays]

Nobody ever wanted it? 

People devoted there lives doing whatever it took to get to the next show, they could'nt get enough is more like it. But I do agree when there Touch Of Grey became a top 40 hit as well as a MTV video in late 80s, they surely never saw that coming.  But then again, what real dead fan cares about top 40

you gotta remember those folks that rode the school bus to a concert were also usually unemployed. Didn't buy anything but dope. But on the west coast they had a good run for about two years. Yet they never ran with the big dogs in that era. Later in 1970 the Southern rock groups sent them to their grave. You'll hear Sweet Home Alabama twenty times before you ever hear a Greatfull Dead song. And with The Allman Brothers the ratio is probably forty. Then you add The Eagles into the mix. I mean to say that I like the Dead, but I also know that I'm one of a very few ever buying anything. But we'll just have to wait and see what happens here. The Led Zepellin did a box set awhile back that went ballistic (as well as one LP), but don't see the Dead ever running with those guys on the charts
gary

[Berto]

somebody lied to you as I went thru that era. Sure everybody knew who they were, but that was about it. They never got even close to the airtime that Jefferson Airplane did. (same area) But now adays they are much more popular than they've ever knew in the past. In that era The Doors were at the top of the list. Then later other groups took over (eary 1970's)

As for concerts selling out; did you ever goto many? It was almost always a group that seemed to follow them everywhere they played. They were not buying records, but were big on tie dyed tee shirts.
gary

I misinterpreted what you said, you are right about the studio music.  The only thing Dead fans wanted was tickets to a live show and yes alot of the crap they sold outside the show.

I went to over 100 shows (Brent era forward) including JGB and still catch DEAD (w/warren haynes) Phil and friends, Furhter festival, Others ones, etc. Like I said true Dead fans don't care about airtime, top 40, studio work as much.  But they did want there music Live and in person. IMO that is where the real magic happened. THe fact that they were almost always on tour, surely offset there record sales, they were not exactly a starving band relegated to small venues for too long.

 I wish I could transport back into time to chk out there wall of sound shows, circa 74' and yes in BIG venues. There were at least a few trailers filled with speakers , all in the name of great SQ

[vinyl_guy]

Like today's jam bands (e.g., Phish, String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic), the Dead did not get a lot of air time, but that wasn't indicative of their popularity with a strong following of very loyal fans. Their songs didn't lend themselves to AM (back in the 60's and 70's) or even most FM stations (then and now). But live, . . . WOW! A couple of exceptions were songs from Workingman's Dead and American Beauty that were relatively short and would fit time slot requirements of radio back then.

My first introduction to the Dead was Uncle John's Band followed by Casey Jones. Then came Sugar Magnolia, Truckin' and Friend of the Devil. I met my first Dead Head on the first day of law school in the fall of 1971. Kurt had dozens and dozens of reel to reel tapes of the Dead and we would spend lots of time at his apartment listening to the Dead. Once you saw them live and took in the experience of a Grateful Dead concert, you were hooked. Their live shows always beat the heck out of their studio albums and live versions of studio album songs were always better than the album version.

Last summer I took the Flower Power Walking Tour of Haight Ashbury. Everyone in our group wanted their picture taken in front of the Grateful Dead house.


Our tour guide told us that happens with every group and it is and has been the most popular site in Haight Ashbury. Studio album sales and air time are not the only guage of popularity.