Favorite Grateful Dead Member

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

[Tom Kitten]

1. Pig Pen...

Many people do not realize this but they lost a lot when he died...

[mac56]

3. Second on Pig Pen.

nm

[ET Awful]

2. As cliche as it may be I have to say Jerry

With Brent or Pig Pen being very closely tied for second.

[jonnyblitz]

4. LOL..."Donna"

I am waiting to see how many hits she gets. :P

[KG]

5. 'Donna broke up the Dead!!!'

yo, jonny b.!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. For me it's Keith (after Jerry of course)

This was a trick question

[Squeech]

7. Phil

He was both the theorist and the experimenter, the one that truly spurred Jerry on, and the most amazing composer. He made Anthem of the Sun and Live Dead possible. (If I get a second choice, it's Mickey.)

The idea that "They were never the same without Pigpen" isn't the whole story. Yes, he had a feel for soul unequalled by anyone else in the band. But I think that by the time he stopped performing, Bobby was ready to fill his shoes as frontman with cojones.

Moreover, I think the real loss was the support of the San Francisco psychedelic community-- a more subtle and lingering demise with farther reaching effects.

Happens I just read Dennis McNally's book Long Strange Trip, his history of the Dead. You can see how the sense of inspiration that grew out of the Acid Trips etc. gradually turned into a sense of obligation when they had to act like a professional rock band.

[tonekat]

8. Phil it is

The thinking deadhead's fave! I need to get his new book.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

9. I'm feelin' you

http://boxset.dead.net/images/photos/Lubliner,_Malcolm/haight.jpg

[Squeech]

10. Of course

being a bass player myself, I'm prejudiced.

If you ever get the chance to listen to Cul de Sac's "Crashes to Light, Minutes to its Fall," you may note that I stuck a Phil quote in :-) It's in the very first song.

What I really wanted to sound like was Jack Casady, but I couldn't get that full-throated roar. So the people I really take after are players like Jack Bruce, Richard Sinclair (Caravan), and Phil. The guitarist I play with says I do a good Chris Hillman too.

[Zomby Woof]

11. I saw Bob Weir on Letterman once

This was back when Dave was on NBC... and he asked Bob if the new album is going to be good, and Bob said, "Let me know if the Grateful Dead ever put out a good album." :D

So yeah, my vote is for Bob. And I even have 2 of their albums and saw them just weeks before Jerry went to the Great LSD Tab In The Sky.