Jay Jay French recently appeared on episode 59 of the podcast ‘Vinyl Ventures’ and talked about him being a Grateful Dead maniac when he was younger. But later, when he went to see a Grateful Dead show for the first time sober, he thought that they were the worst band he had ever heard. He described his experiences at that time as follows:
“So I was a Grateful Dead freak, Allman Brothers freak. Believe it or not, I was in an Allman Brothers cover band in the summer of ’72.”
He explained how he was able to open his eyes during that period of time:
“I got a subscription to Creem magazine, and the subscription had three albums. It had ‘Ziggy Stardust’ (David Bowie), it had ‘All the Young Dudes’ (Mott the Hoople), and it had ‘Transformer’ (Lou Reed). I get these three records, and I freak out. I see pictures of David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars, and I see Mick Ronson. I freaked out — “
After that, it wasn’t the same for French. He added:
“I cut my hair, dyed it blonde, and in essentially 24 hours. I de-Grateful-Dead’d myself, like removing yourself from a cult. I unplugged myself from the cult. And I had seen the Dead twenty (times) at that point — 27 times. I saw it 26 times on LSD, it was the greatest band I ever saw. But I saw them straight, and it was the worst fucking band I ever heard in my life.”
French Was Never A Fan Of Jerry Garcia’s Playing
Jay Jay French also does not respect the guitar playing of the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. Earlier this year, French had created a list of ‘godlike’ guitarists in an interview with Goldmine Magazine. Jerry Garcia was at the bottom of his list. French said:
“It may seem really odd that the Grateful Dead, a band I have seen more timest han any other, should rank at the bottom of my guitar-god list. Jerry Garcia shouldn’t even be on this list, Garcia is listed last because I was never a fan of his playing. I get the fact that he was perfect for the band, but his style and his guitar tone were never particularly interesting to me.”
He also made the following comments about Grateful Dead’s sound:
“The Dead were more like an improv jazz band, too. Every night was different, and they went where the music (and drugs) took them.”
It was notable that French, although he had little respect for Garcia’s guitar playing, included him on his list.
You can watch the full episode of the podcast below.
