This summer, many students and faculty will see musical concerts of all kinds. Some may even see a band of “noodling” wise guys that are “like the Grateful Dead.” Of course, I’m referring to Phish, a band as misunderstood by pop culture as Newt Gingrich and Howard Stern. Every newspaper or magazine article about Phish also mentions the Grateful Dead, and simultaneously displays their ignorance. I would liken this comparison to other societal stereotypes like conservatives are mean, liberals are touchy-feely bleeding hearts, whites are brainy, and blacks are good athletes.There are many reasons Phish is nothing like the Grateful Dead. First, the Grateful Dead blended folk, country, blues, rock, and a little jazz. Phish, on the other hand, utilizes a potpourri of musical styles like jazz, rock, funk, avant-garde, Latin, reggae, metal, and classical, and big band. The Dead did not play so many diverse, difficult styles. Second, the Grateful Dead wrote serious lyrics about getting by in life, hard times, and other normal fare. Phish, writes ironic, sometimes silly (occasionally serious) lyrics such as “the herbivores ate well because their food would never run.” Third, Phish is not like the Dead instrumentally. Just because two bands have a player who plays a lot of guitar scales doesn’t make them alike. Jerry Garcia played with a unique, spidery style that brings to mind a banjo or a folk/blues feel. Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, on the other hand, has a unique tone (which makes him inherently different from Jerry), and plays more like Santana or Hendrix. Anastasio has also mastered the art of orgasmic tension and release. Bass, drums and piano are comparatively different as well.Fourth, Phish is more of a collective unit than the Dead. Phish’s four players interact more and each player plays a more vital, up-front role than the Dead’s five players. The Dead really played like most rock bands – with the guitar player leading and the others backing the guitar player up. Fifth, Phish and the Dead improvise in totally different styles. The Dead improvised at the end of songs, while Phish might improvise at any point of a song. Furthermore, Phish improvises in a more free-form manner where anything goes. Phish will even alter the structure of their songs, which no one else does. Plus, when Phish improvises, they do some technical things as a band that no one else does or has ever done. I have even read Phish interviews where a member says “I don’t know anyone who does that,” and not get questioned about the legitimacy of such statements by musical journalists well-versed in jazz – a bastion of wild improvisation. Yes, there are some broad similarities between the bands. Both improvise, for example. However, B.B. King and Miles Davis improvise, but they’re hardly alike. In sum, the media has superficially labeled Phish as “the next Grateful Dead” because both bands tend to attract “hippies,” ignoring any substantive analysis.Indeed, Phish and the Dead may be in the same kingdom, but they are not the same species.
Todd Shockley is a senior who wants to remind everyone who forgot their biology classes that the biological classification system goes from least alike to most alike – kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.
