What to Watch: “A Long Strange Trip”

Summary

The website content discusses the Amazon Prime documentary "Long Strange Trip" about the Grateful Dead, highlighting the band's passion for music and their enduring legacy despite challenges.

Abstract

The article titled "What to Watch: 'A Long Strange Trip'" is a reflection on the 2017 Amazon Prime documentary that delves into the history and ethos of the Grateful Dead. The author expresses a profound appreciation for the band's music, which has been reignited by watching the documentary. It led to a personal resurgence in listening to the Grateful Dead, particularly on SiriusXM's Grateful Dead radio channel. The documentary is praised for its comprehensive exploration of the band's formation, their rise to fame without the pursuit of commercial success, and the origins of their name. Despite their only mainstream hit "Touch of Grey" in 1987, the band's influence and music continue to resonate. The author notes the band's complexities, including struggles with drug abuse and fame, but ultimately emphasizes the Grateful Dead's lasting impact and philosophy centered on their love for playing music.

Opinions

The author is a fan of the Grateful Dead, with "Scarlet Begonias" being their favorite song.
The documentary "Long Strange Trip" is considered one of the author's favorite music documentaries.
The Grateful Dead's approach to music was pure and simple, driven by a love for playing rather than commercial success.
The band's soul and philosophy were about enjoying music, which attracted a massive following.
Despite the dark periods, including drug abuse and the pressures of fame on Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead's legacy endures.
The author rates the band's lasting impact highly, symbolized by "five skeletons," suggesting a perfect or iconic status.

What to Watch: “A Long Strange Trip”

I’m grateful to have the Dead

I have to say, Amazon Prime’s 2017 documentary on the Grateful Dead, Long Strange Strip (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4143508/) is probably one of my favorite music documentaries I’ve ever watched.

It actually sparked renewed interest in me for the Grateful Dead big time, so much so that when I get in our car I usually turn it to channel 23 on Sirius (Grateful Dead radio).

Of course, my wife won’t tolerate it so I only do it when it’s me. Seriously though, this documentary really goes into how the soul of the band was formed. It’s a five-part series and I devoured it in about a week.

I guess my big takeaway from it was really how much they just liked to play music.

That was it, pure and simple. It’s almost like their philosophy was “let’s do what we love and just play” and if people show up, great. Obviously, they showed up in droves.

Here are some interesting facts about them:

For all of their fame, they only produced ONE top 40 single: Touch of Grey in 1987.

They formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1995.

They were originally “The Warlocks” until they found out there was another band with the same name.

Jerry Garcia opened a dictionary while at Phil Lesh’s house (one of the founding members and bass guitarist) and stumbled upon the word grateful dead (https://www.britannica.com/topic/grateful-dead-folklore).

My favorite song is Scarlet Begonias.

Like every rock’n’roll band, things did turn dark — drug abuse, the burden of fame on Jerry Garcia, etc.

But they live on about as well as any band that ever played. There is debate on where to rate them, but it doesn’t really matter.

They never asked to be rated anyway. I give it five skeletons.