From: charles@phx.mcd.mot.com (Charles Wolff)
Subject: Re: Opinions on the Grateful Dead? (no flames, please)
Organization: Motorola Computer Group, Tempe, Az.
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 16:52:35 GMT

In article <1992Jul28.225208.16168@meaddata.com> mcr@meaddata.com (Mary Ries) writes:
}
	[ people at her church asking about her Grateful Dead sticker ]

	I have a couple of Grateful Dead stickers on my car, and it
	has also provoked some interest around our church... but
	people seem to have accepted it as just one of my "quirks."
	I suppose the fact that I'm an otherwise fairly normal person
	(except for the shoulder-length hair, a little unusual for a
	40-year old) helps...
}
}Does anyone know why the Grateful Dead has a kind of tarnished reputation,

	A lot of it has to do with their association with the 60's
	psychedelic era & the association with drugs.  However, you
	cannot equate liking the Dead with drug use - I have _never_
	done drugs _at all_ and I still have fun at a Dead concert :-)

	The word "Dead" in their name probably puts off some people.
	The band's original name was "The Warlocks" which would have put
	off even more, particularly in this newsgroup...

	Finally, I think a lot of people think their music is a lot
	different than it is - they expect heavy metal, or "Blue Cheer"
	style acid rock.  They are not a Christian band, obviously;
	but neither are they an "anti"-Christian band...
	
}or what is behind their name,

	The concept of the "Grateful Dead" has to do with ancient
	belief that if a person dies and their body is not (properly)
	buried, their spirit will be forced to wander the earth.  When
	a person comes along and buries the body, the spirit is released,
	and, in appreciation, does some sort of "favor" for the person
	who buried the body.  The band actually picked the name at
	random out of a large dictionary.

}or why they use skeletons as a logo?

	Skeletons are one of several "symbols" surrounding the band;
	most of these symbols came from the poster artwork done in
	the '60s for concerts by the Dead and other bands.  The skeleton
	idea was probably inspired by the "Dead" in their name; the
	most well known instance was the "Skull and Roses" artwork which
	appeared originally in a poster and then on one of their live
	albums.  This drawing originally had appeared as a nineteenth
	century illustration for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

}I haven't really analyzed their lyrics. Neither had the
}people who commented on my sticker, they are mainly curious about
}their name.  I've never really noticed a connection of the symbolism
}to their lyrics.  They seem pretty harmless to me.  Am I being totally
}naive? Does anybody know more about them?
}
	Yes, indeed!  In fact, if you're interested in finding out
	more than you ever wanted to about the Grateful Dead,
	subscribe to rec.music.gdead.

	I think "harmless" is a reasonable description to use in
	rec.music.christian, if one can do that without rekindling the
	"can Christians listen to secular music" thread.  I really
	think that comes down to a personal level; if a person had
	been heavily into the Dead and became a Christian, they might
	find that they needed to get rid of their Dead albums and
	stop going to concerts just to avoid the pressure to slip back
	into "old ways," whatever those were.  Others wouldn't need
	to.  Substitute "baseball" or "French cuisine" for "the Dead" in
	that sentence, and the sentence is just as true...  some things
	in our past need to be gotten rid of; others don't.  Work out
	your own salvation with fear and trembling...

}
}(BTW, I haven't been reading the secular vs. christian music thread...
}if there is one... I'm asking specifically about the Grateful Dead, I
}really want to know! No flames, please :-)
}
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian