Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To

Thanks, Rock

Rock has gone from this hard place.

pig rock bobby court

All rock bands needed a Rock. Musicians are generally not all that eloquent, especially under pressure, and especially not to authority figures. A bullshitter was required, and the Dead had Rock (and Rifkin and the rest, but Rock was in on the ground floor.) He had mastered the art of agreeing with cops, promoters, hotel managers, customs agents; all the while continuing to do whatever the fuck he wanted.

Rock, for all his professed cynicism, believed in the “family” line the Dead liked to feed everyone, which is what made his ouster in the 80’s a rough pill: the only thing he was guilty of was enabling Garcia actively instead of the passive approach the rest of the fellows preferred. The truth was: only four guys really had tenure. Everyone else would be missed, but the bus leaves at noon.

He married a member of the British aristocracy, but always loved Nicki. He was there before they knew how to play.

Rock Scully was a Grateful Dead.

12 Comments

  1. mrcompletely

    I hope everyone reading this is smart enough to know when jokes are funny and when they aren’t, and when to let the past go. Rock was part of it from early on and now he’s gone too.

  2. Rodeoamy

    Love John Perry Barlow’s tribute: “Though occasionally fraudulent, you were always the real thing.”

  3. Dan

    Rock was the best cat hurder the ever was AND he could, at his best, argue with a fence post and come out the winner!

    • thoughtsonthedead

      Danke. Schnitzel fur eine kleine Lederhosen.

  4. PolarBear

    Only 4 guys had tenure — can you explain that to a newcomer to the blog and a guy with a somewhat-better-than-rudimentary knowledge of GD history?

    Peace.

    • thoughtsonthedead

      For all the Dead’s (admirable in theory, completely untenable in practice) belief in the whole “family” thing and giving the roadies a vote and whatnot, everyone but four guys were replacable.

      Garcia, Bobby, Phil, Billy. Then a whole bunch of people doing jobs.

      • PolarBear

        I thought you may have been thinking about guys who were central to the Dead but not on stage, like, Parish, RamRod, and a couple others–non-band members who were a core part of the organization.

        Also, is your theorye re: Mickey based on the hangover from what his old man did?

        Finally, this may be the funniest music-related in-joke thing on the net this side of @AngryKeithJarrett on Twtter. Excellent work…

        Peace.

    • thoughtsonthedead

      Also: welcome. None of this will make sense at first, but if you keep reading, it still won’t.

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