Last Sunday, among other things, was 4/20, and across the country and the world, legions of people in dank corners of their apartments, forests and other desolate areas came together to “celebrate” this faux holiday with minimal fear of legal repercussions.
While this could turn into an op-ed on the ongoing debate concerning the legalization, regulation or decriminalization of marijuana, seeing as how I serve the role of music columnist and only occasionally of social commenter, I’ll stick to what I know and write about music.
When one thinks of “stoners” or “hippies,” a label that is only rarely self-applied, they think of a particular genre of music: jam bands. With that being said, throughout the next thousand or so words, I am going to attempt to dissuade you that listening to the Grateful Dead or Phish is reserved for burn out hippies who live out of ’67 Volkswagen buses and subsist solely on good vibes and veggie burritos.
A quick Wikipedia search of the term “stoner rock,” does not lead one down a rabbit hole of psychedelia and tie-dye but rather, “Stoner rock or stoner metal is a musical subgenre which combines elements of traditional heavy metal, psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock and doom metal."
A quick read through the Wikipedia page lists the pioneers of this genre as Cream, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, but modern day champions of the genre include Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. But when you think of stoners—a slightly derisive word but one I will use nonetheless as it’s in the name of the genre—one rarely thinks of “Turnin’ on the Screw” or “Do It Again,” but rather “St. Stephen” or “Fire on the Mountain.”
To rehash an argument I’ve made so many times, the notion of a jam band as a genre is as absurd as calling baseball managers and basketball players “sports people” with no distinction.
To use examples, Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth are both “jam bands” by any conventional definition thanks to their proclivity to extend songs and meld genres, but at their core, they are more aptly described as “jam grass.” Their traditional-ish instrumentation—Yonder features no drummer, a banjo, an acoustic guitarist, a mandolinist and an upright bass player—that makes them wholly different than say The New Deal, who are a trio consisting of a keyboardist, a drummer and a bassist.
But back to my original argument. People constantly ask me, “How can you listen to Phish/Grateful Dead/etc. without being stoned,” and I say, “It’s easy, I like their music.”
While fans of Miley Cyrus or Nickelback may have to explain why their chosen aforementioned band or performer is their favorite—and in the case of Nickelback, a band I’d venture to say is the most popular band to have zero hardcore fans—few acts prompt such derision as saying you are a fan of Phish.
Before I can continue, if you are a hardcore Nickelback fan, please send me an e-mail. It’s listed at the bottom of the column, and I’d be fascinated to find out your rationale. Maybe it’s as simple as “‘Photograph’ really speaks to me,” or “I just want to be a ‘Rockstar’” or even “I like their music.” Please let me know.
To continue on with the topic at hand, I don’t walk up to people who say Calvin Harris is their favorite artist and ask, “Are you on molly right now?” That’d be rude, inappropriate and unnecessary. Yet, when I say Phish is my favorite band, I’m met with a stare that suggests a second head is growing.
According to the NPD Group, a group who publishes its “Annual Music Study,” country music is the most popular genre, overtaking classic rock, another term I have a problem with as acts that are still releasing music are entitled “classic rock” just because that’s what is easiest to call acts that were popular in the ’60s, ’70s, etc.
With country being the most popular, I guess they get a free pass from my scorn so as to not bother the plurality of the music listening public, but people seem to be genuinely surprised when I say that I eschew popular electronic and rap music in favor of my “hippie music.”
To jump off from there, I was once told at an Umphrey’s McGee show—another “jam band” who prefer to be labeled, if you need stick a genre label on them, as “improg” (improvisational progressive rock)—that all their fans play guitar. I fit into that category, and there is something to be said about that. People who actually play the instrument appreciate their extremely intricate guitar lines and theatrics, I suppose.
That sentiment holds true with many jam band fans as to fully appreciate much of what most jam bands do is to appreciate their musicianship, something that is much more easily done if you have picked up a guitar or tried to improvise on a piano. It’s not easy.
Last but not least, with so much of the jazz music tradition coming out of the improvisational spirit of its musicians, I always wonder how one can think so highly of say Miles Davis, whose album Bitches Brew, featured all of six songs on four sides of an LP, five of which stretched beyond the 10-minute mark and two that broke the 20-minute barrier, yet scoff at the Grateful Dead, whose album American Beauty features just one song that breaks the six-minute threshold.
To conclude this relatively disjointed column, the next time your friend suggests you listen to the Grateful Dead or Phish, before you instantly start yelling at him or her (it’s probably a him, but every so often you find girls into these jam bands as well) for being a burn out and having a terrible taste in music, say “Ok, I’ll give it a shot.” You’ve probably never listened to them before and may find that “Box of Rain” is a beautiful song and not just a random song by some hippie band.
Send any jam-related questions and concerns to Brian at weidy@wisc.edu
