Searching for the (Sacred) Sound: Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead, and Religion
In addition to being recognized for their musical contributions, the Grateful Dead were also well known (indeed, notorious) for espousing a world view that can in many ways be described as religious, and for inspiring great devotion among their fans. There have been a number of scholarly discussions...
| Publié dans: | Journal of religion and popular culture |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2011]
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| Dans: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
New Religious Movements
B Transcendence B Improvisation B Grateful Dead B Phil Lesh B Acid Tests |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Résumé: | In addition to being recognized for their musical contributions, the Grateful Dead were also well known (indeed, notorious) for espousing a world view that can in many ways be described as religious, and for inspiring great devotion among their fans. There have been a number of scholarly discussions of religious aspects of the Grateful Dead phenomenon, but these discussions usually have to do either with the interpretive lens through which their lyrics are understood, or with sociologically based analyses of the behaviour of their followers. Both of these approaches are explicitly or implicitly etic, and they neglect the abundant testimony from band members themselves about the nature of this new religious movement masquerading as a rock band (or vice versa). In this paper, I attempt to correct this neglect by discussing some of the religious aspects of the Grateful Dead phenomenon from the perspective of the band members themselves, particularly the bassist, Phil Lesh. Drawing on his recently published autobiography, Searching for the Sound, I will describe his model of Grateful Dead's religiosity, and show how it is reflected in the Grateful Dead's performance practice. I will also discuss briefly the ways in which the Grateful Dead's attitude toward these religious ideals can be seen as efforts to resist the "routinization of charisma." |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.23.2.139 |