Thursday, July 26, 2007

Brett Mydland 1952-1990

Brent Mydland, keyboardist for the Grateful Dead throughout the 80’s, died on this day in 1990. His death is memorable to me because of the complete lack of sympathy it stirred among most of my Deadhead friends that summer. To quote one such contact, a white, dreadlocked fan known by most as “Slick” instead of his proper Christian name: “I’m glad that motherfucker’s dead.” Adding to his strong opinion, he claimed that any self proclaimed Deadhead would agree with his assessment and he privately called those family members who literally cried after learning the news of Mydland’s death “a bunch of posing pussies.”
I liked Slick. His main form of transportation was a Cannondale mountain bike and his wardrobe always consisted of a tie-dyed t-shirt. He was generous with his endless cassettes of live Dead shows from almost every era of the band’s career and would occasionally dub me a copy or two.
His favorite period would probably have been the Ron “Pigpen” McKernan era, even though he laughed at the older hippies who lived by the mantra that the Dead were never the same after Pigpen died.
Following the Dead for a week or so was a regular summer ritual for Slick, and he also made special trips to notable shows like the band’s New Year’s Eve performances in San Francisco. The details of those trips were usually repeated for weeks afterwards during stoned conversation, with convincing arguments on how we should tag along with him during the next roadtrip.
Brent Mydland wasn’t my favorite member of the Grateful Dead, but I certainly didn’t dislike him as much as Slick. His voice irritated me, and his choice in keyboard equipment was also questionable at times. Compared to the organic keys of Ron McKernan and Keith Godchaux, Mydland seemed to rely heavily on state-of-the-art keyboards and synthesizers.
The other thing that bothered me about him was how he died. Knowing that Garcia struggled with addiction during the 80’s, Mydland’s death signaled to me that perhaps Jerry had found a junkie peer and, as a result, tolerated some of the keyboardists more unethical tones and sappy vocal moments (“I Will Take You Home” from Built To Last immediately comes to mind).
So forgive me if I still chuckle at Slick’s gallows humor concerning Mydland’s speedball grave-maker, and excuse me if I find much of his material bordering on adult contemporary territory. The Grateful Dead I like to recognize is the band that had their feet in a jugband tradition even when their heads drifted around the atmosphere. Brent Mydland always seemed to be the guy that stuck a cork in the jug and steered the band towards MIDI-aided laziness.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brent was nothing short of brilliant, most certainly the finest keyboardist the Dead ever aquired, your friend's "gallows humor" in which you ask us to forgive, as you "had to chuckle at" is nothing short of the insensitive loudmouth assholes trying in desperation to be noticed by anybody who'd possibly listen, and typical of the kind of bullshit the rest of us had to endure. Nice page. Too bad it's wasted on such a mindless, arrogant, negative propogation. But maybe you enjoy that shit somehow.

Anonymous said...

^exactly

put a cork in it jackass & go hang out w/'Slick' ... perhaps jump some fences on the way into a show.

Anonymous said...

You're right. The Mydland-heavy Built To Last was the best Dead album and his genius is indisputable.
You both realize that you're getting worked up about an off-the-cuff comment made nearly twenty years ago in private? So I don't like Mydland's material, and any claim that he was "the finest keyboardist the Dead ever aquired" is not only incredibly silly, it's totally wrong.

Anonymous said...

Bent Mydland was the best Grateful Dead keyboard player ever.

Slick is a loser and its summed up that he drives a mountain bike.

The Dead never recovered after Brent's death. Period.

R.I.P. Vince Welnick as well.

Val W. said...

I met Brent back in '86, along with Bill Kr. I still have their autographs--- I cherish them & the memory!!!

TaiChiDadTX said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TaiChiDadTX said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TaiChiDadTX said...

From what I read about Brent, he was never comfortable in his spot and I can't help but imagine that the pressure of not being Pig or Keith added fuel to his self-started fire.

But IKO IKO was never the same after Brent, I loved his Hey Pocky way and I still tear up when I hear I will take you home and think of my own young suon.

I only saw Brent a handful of times, but love my 85 tapes as much as my 77s.

Those were great days and Brent was there.

No harsh comments for the author and there were many Slicks out there who had opinions like everyone has assholes and no one from the inner circle ever asked them (or me) what they thought about any of it - including hiring Vince, partnering with Bruce, firing Bobby or even firing Jerry.

Smile, smile, smile.

By the way - I've been reading this blog for about an hour now - great stuff in all. THANKS BRO.