The Grateful Dead was a band that toured continuously for 30 years until the death of lead man Jerry Garcia. They were known for free flowing jams and bluegrass roots. Phish is a band that has toured consistently for the last 17 years and has in time made themselves into stealth multi-millionaires. Both are very talented bands, who have and in the Dead’s case, had, created big names for themselves. Many people make wrongful association with these two groups of musicians. It is said that Phish is trying to be the Dead of this generation. This statement is very untrue. Phish is not a Grateful Dead take-off. Phish and the Dead have much more differences than similarities. There are of course a few similarities between these two bands. If there were none, nobody would compare them so much. Phish and the Grateful Dead are both considered "jam" bands. This comes from their live shows, in which they take their songs and stretch them into long improvisational jams. For example, the Dead may play "Truckin'", a song that is only seven minutes long on the album, and stretch it out to seventeen minutes. These two bands are also known to "sandwich" songs. They start one song, play about half of it; then go into another song, play the whole thing; and go back and finish the first song they were playing. A third thing they have in common is their fans (Deadheads and Phans). The Grateful Dead and Phish have both established quite a following. These fans follow their favorite band around the country to see their shows(this phan has been to over 25 Phish shows). They also collect their favorite shows on cd-r or tape, since both bands have an open taping policy at their concerts. By doing this, Phish and the Dead opened up a new hobby; and other bands have gone along with open taping (e.g. Dave Matthews Band, Moe., Bela Fleck). Although these two bands do similar things with their music, the music itself is considerably different. I think the reas...
