Happy Anniversary to the “You’ve Seen Junior’s Grades” “YEM”

Matt Inman on July 20, 2018

It’s Friday, it’s festival season, and whether you’re cooped up in an office or already getting down at Peach Fest, we all want to be outdoors, hanging with good friends and listening to some good music.

Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same, because that’s exactly what was going on exactly 27 years ago, when Phish played their first of two shows with the Giant Country Horns at Arrowhead Ranch in Parksville, NY, on July 20, 1991. It was also the day of a very special rendition of the band’s classic “You Enjoy Myself.” 

We all know Trey Anastasio’s “Boy. Man. God. Shit.” portion of the song, but on this occasion, the guitarist decided to substitute “God” with the enigmatic “You’ve seen Junior’s grades.” By itself, it’s a pretty funny non-sequitur, but it also seems to be a reference to Van Halen’s song “And the Cradle Will Rock…,” during which David Lee Roth says “Have you seen junior’s grades?”

Listen, I don’t know why or from where the hell Trey pulled this one, but mostly it seems to come from the fact that everyone was having a damn good time at this show. Thanks to some beautifully grainy video, we can transport ourselves back to this moment, when Trey’s cutoff shirt and Mike Gordon’s fluorescent green duds contrasted gloriously with the GCH’s suits, and the uber-heady crowd was just dancing their asses off—and everyone came together to sync up with Trey and Mike’s trampoline antics. 

Whether you were there or weren’t even born yet, relive the moment below (the build up to “Junior’s grades” begins around the five-minute mark of video one).