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The Brent Mydland Years: An Appreciation of the Grateful Dead in the 1980’s

Though Garcia’s ballooning weight and sickly pallor in the early and mid-’80s were cause for concern among some Heads, there were many excellent shows coast to coast, and musically the group was still willing to take chances. In 1983, the popular triumvirate of “Help on the Way,” “Slipknot” and “Franklin’s Tower” returned to the repertoire. “Dancing in the Streets” came back in its old, non-disco arrangement. Brent and Phil became singing partners on several fine tunes, including “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “Keep On Growing” and Brent’s own “Tons of Steel.” Other new songs from the band ranged from Hunter and Garcia’s anthemic “Touch of Grey” to Weir and Barlow’s potent polemic, “Throwing Stones.” “Hell in a Bucket” was a powerhouse rocker sung by Weir, while Garcia’s “West L.A. Fadeaway” was a slinky, slightly nasty blues. “St. Stephen” and “Dark Star” made brief cameos in ’83 and ’84, respectively, while songs such “The Wheel,” “Crazy Fingers,” “Comes a Time” and others breathed with new life in their Brent-era revivals.

Garcia’s near-death from a diabetes-induced coma in the summer of 1986 nearly stopped the ever-accelerating juggernaut for good, but rather than causing the group to lose some momentum from what had been a straight upward climb in popularity during the first half of the decade, the brief forced hiatus, and then Garcia’s return in December of ’86, only increased the public’s interest in and affection for the Dead. By the middle of 1987, the group had finally finished their first studio album of the ’80s, In the Dark, which hit the Top Ten and yielded the group’s first bona fide hit single, “Touch of Grey.” The clever video for that song, with skeletons performing onstage, went into heavy rotation on MTV for a spell, and a long-form live-and-conceptual video directed by Garcia and Len Dell’ Amico called So Far also became a best seller. A tour of stadiums featuring The Dead and Bob Dylan (who were backed by the Dead) that summer was extremely successful, and the momentum of ’87 led to even bigger tours the next couple of years. And whereas ’87 was really the “comeback” year, ’88-’90 were the peak of the Brent years, with the band playing with tremendous energy and imagination, regularly dusting off old classics and introducing a number of well-received new songs, as well, including Garcia’s “Foolish Heart,” “Built to Last” and “Standing on the Moon,” Brent’s “Just a Little Light,” “Blow Away” and his cover of “Hey Pocky Way” and Weir’s “Picasso Moon” and the powerful but controversial “Victim or the Crime.” The introduction of MIDI technology, which allowed the musicians to limitlessly expand the timbral possibilities of their instruments—letting say, Garcia’s axe sound like pan pipes or a bassoon or a breathy choral voice, or Brent’s keyboard to ape a fiddle or marimba—also took their music to some fascinating new spaces.

A few days after the end of the band’s early summer tour in 1990, Brent Mydland died of an accidental overdose in his Contra Costa county (Calif.) home, abruptly shutting the door on an 11-plus-year period of relative stability and unparalleled growth for the Dead. A mere two months later, the Dead would be back on the road with Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby filling the keyboard slot together and taking the Dead’s music in some other new directions. But there is no question that Brent’s death was, as Garcia put it, “crushing,” and that it was the end of a special time in the Dead’s history. There would be a number of fine shows and tours in the early ’90s—and thousands of new fans would find and embrace the Dead in the Vince era—but for many Heads a certain spark went out with Brent’s passing. With Garcia’s precipitous decline during 1994 and ’95, the ’80s looked more and more like Glory Days past, receding in the rearview mirror on the ol’ tourmobile. The ’80s felt like a time when Deadheads ruled the land, and the scene was truly, as the song “Might As Well” said, “one long party from front to end.”

Comments

There are 12 comments associated with this post

thestarfactory1 November 24, 2011, 08:11:36

Taste the thunder of hen parties by entertaining at studios or celebrate children birthday at studio. Make your children experience popstar parties.

Rob November 25, 2011, 08:22:51

My active DH yrs. were from 84-95 at least for Live shows. I’d often head for the restroom or talk about setlist with fellow heads. I had often wondered what that device was called that Mickey was bending and stretching. The Beam you learn everyday. Thanks !!!

Manny G Lomas November 25, 2011, 14:59:24

This piece is essential Blair, in the literary post-Jerry cannon. Years from now, when the scene has birthed itself into the next incarnation, your work (and Scrib’s) will be the apex from which all academic endeavors shall be measured by. Thank you from a fellow dead-scholar for illuminating a path to a calling!

Briandrum November 26, 2011, 12:33:33

MSG is a soulless arena? Hampton too? Wow…..I’ve read and heard a lot of crazy things in my life, but saying those 2 arenas are “soulless” is down right ridiculous!

Bruce Scotton, M.D. November 30, 2011, 18:06:19

Blair, as always, well-written and thoughtful. However, whatever historical or sociological cast you give to the story, one inescapable fact remains and taints those years you write about. 1979 was the beginning of the “16 year skid on a 30 year ride.” The changes visible in Jerry that year, as he dipped into the addiction to the Persian white, were so dramatic to those of us who had watched the band up until that time that several of us talked about how we could pull together some kind of surprise healing ritual at one of the shows where people could spontaneously express their love and support for him. It was also about the time when the first of several classic “you’re addicted and need help and we love you and will help you get that help” confrontations were staged by the Dead family. Unfortunately, as we know, these various attempts failed to save the day and our beloved friend sank ever farther and lost the creative sparkle that had touched so many, and then he lost his life. I have trouble listening to the music from this period because I always compare it to what had been present but was now lost, in terms of Garcia playing as an ever-changing fountain of creativity, working one idea for a minute or a half-hour until, now fully fleshed out and having seized the rest of the band and those of us dancing, it was replaced by another and then another. We were lucky to have seen or even just heard a musician and a man like that.

Doogie Howser Scotton, M.D. December 6, 2011, 23:17:10

Dr. Bruce has put his finger on Jerry’s ever-changing styles and approaches, but I wouldn’t say that his latter-era playing, where he and the band dropped their “turn on a dime” style was a paradise lost. As a 31-year-old Deadhead who remembers only shows that my mom took me to in the 1990s, I can say that Dr. Bruce’s assessment is just relative to his relationship to a different era, but not necessarily one that was more magical than the 80s or 90s. Of course, my initiation to the Dead was as a in the late 80s, so I have my own biases. My initiation was with the BIG and rich stadium sound with Brent’s twinkling synth/keys. This sound, captured so well in Without a Net, for example, accompanied my larger than life sense of awe and wonder as I watched seas of thousands of people all dancing as one big undulating wave. I still can listen to 89 or 90 shows and feel that power —- much more so than when I listen to tapes from 69 or 70 — which sounds more like relics, or nostalgia. Perhaps it’s because I dont have a personal connection to those shows. Either way, I dont hear any dope-induced deficits in Jerry’s playing in the late 80s. Put on a pair of headphones and listen to Without a Net and tell me that Jerry is not at a creative peak, albeit different energetically from the 60s.

Cameron Mitchell December 14, 2011, 17:08:37

I was in full a Brent era head and thought that those years were some of the best at least for me. Of course my favorite years to listen to are always the 76 to 78 years but I did not see any of those shows personally. From my first show at a ski resort in utah in 83 until I stopped counting in 87 I had seen over 105 shows. Almost one every 10 days and all were with Brent. After that I saw a few with vince and Bruce but just couldn’t really get into it. I was truly a Brent era deadhead and miss them dearly. Lots of great music out there now and find fun in the moe. umphreys, disco biscuits, sts9, new deal and countless others now but the dead and the brent era is where I got my start into great improve and psychedelic rock.

Robin C. Moody December 15, 2011, 05:03:51

The first Dead album I bought was Aoxomoxoa, which happened to be their latest one at the time. I had heard of them, but I didn’t know what they sounded like. It was the cool artwork on the cover that made me want to take a chance on whether I would like the album or not. After all, I was only risking $2.08 at Fedco, a now defunct discount store chain. Even after adjusting for inflation, that was still pretty darn cheap. The next year, 1970, I saw them live for the first time. I was barely fifteen at the time. Excluding the 60s’, when I hadn’t yet discovered them, I got to catch at least a few of their shows during each period of the band’s long, strange trip. Though I think the Dead peaked in the 1970s’, I never failed to enjoy their concerts, but…and this is the comment I’ve been working up to, but during Mydland’s stint in the band, I started to develop a real dislike for him. Not Brent personally, for I knew very little about him, really, but his style of playing the keyboards, his voice, the sort of songs he wrote. This is a very subjective thing, of course. I still, when I’m shopping for live Grateful Dead recordings, try to avoid those from the Mydland years, unless he’s mixed down really low, which it seems to me he sometimes was. I wish, too, that he had left the band some other way; I never harbored any ill will toward him.

tp December 15, 2011, 13:36:54

I too was a Brent ear deadhead. I first saw the dead in 1981 at College Park Maryland and my run lasted until RFk in 95. When I listen to those early 80’s shows ( 80-83), they are outrageously good and very different the rest of the 80’s. The mid 80’s were really hit or miss with Jerry and the summer of 85 was probably the peak for that period. The worst for Jerry was the late fall solo acoustic tour in 85 and I still try to block that memory from my head. Then in 89 to the early 90’s, Jerry seemed to get another spark and maybe he cleaned up for while but there are some stellar performances from that period. Listen to the All Along the Watchtower from Dozin’ at the Knick, and try to tell me Jerry ever played better on guitar. I loved Brent’s playing, and his death in 1990 left me deeply saddened. That was the end of the Dead for me. I went to a bunch of shows after that, but it was never the same. I had a friend who spent a couple of hours with Brent a week or two before he died and he said he never felt accepted by the deadheads and it hurt him a lot. He didn’t understand it, and neither did I. To me that was the sadness part of his story.

Gary December 15, 2011, 22:03:48

I saw keith and donna’s last show in Oakland, but didn’t know it at the time. I think Brent did great, and was part of some classic 80’s shows. Sad to think he never felt accepted. My group certainly accepted him. I think he just got too wrapped up in the rock and roll party scene (to have fun, and yes…escape his demons) and he just didn’t survive.

Ayako May 4, 2012, 03:59:28

Your article sotpped me Dead in my tracks. I too am a Monster Deadhead. Never in my mind did I think (or consider) that an artist could touch my Grateful Dead experience or my love for Jerry Garcia. Lady Gaga has done just that. She completely captivates me, and her live Monster Ball concert extravaganza was one of the best shows of my life. I saw 70 plus shows before Jerry died, and have continued seeing every rendition of the band since (to date with Furthur). Lady Gaga taps the same vein.Lady Gaga resides in my heart, right by Jerry, and I will forever love her and being a Little Monster at the ripe old age of 43. She captures the young essence of my Spirit, and I am so Grateful for this piece that you wrote, as it solidifies my Monster Deadhead existence. Peace out fellow Monsterhead. )

Cliff Hanger December 5, 2012, 19:41:11

Fuck Lady Caca