3 Artists Who Disliked the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead’s sprawling creations aren’t for everybody. Not all listeners enjoy the creative freedom of a jam band. Not even all of their fellow musicians could get behind their unique musicality. Check out three artists who claimed to dislike the Grateful Dead, below.

[RELATED: Behind the Album: ‘Workingman’s Dead’ by the Grateful Dead and How It Helped Establish a Template for Their Studio Albums To Come]

3 Artists Who Disliked Grateful Dead

1. Steve Miller

Steve Miller’s thoughts on the Grateful Dead weren’t robust. “I couldn’t stand that band,” Miller once said, getting right to the point. He didn’t explain much of why he didn’t like the psychedelic outfit, but his opinions were more than clear.

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high

2. Kurt Cobain

Nirvana and Grateful Dead are on opposite ends of the sonic spectrum. As such, Kurt Cobain once talked about his disdain for the band–alongside his similar dislike of Genesis–referencing tie-dye shirts as a covert slight to their titular motif.

“I hate tie-dyed tee-shirts, too,” Cobain once said, nodding to the Grateful Dead. “You know there are bootleg tie-dyed tee-shirts of Nirvana. I hate that. I wouldn’t wear a tie-dyed tee-shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia.”

I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive

I see you got your list out
Say your piece and get out
Yes, I get the gist of it
But it’s alright

[RELATED: On This Day: Why Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain Refused Interview Cover Story With Time Magazine in 1993]

3. Keith Richards

Keith Richards’ issues with the Grateful Dead concern the length of their songs. The Rolling Stones tended to keep their songs short and sweet, leaning on hit-making sensibilities. Grateful Dead certainly weren’t interested in keeping their song under the three-minute mark. Richards saw this affinity as the downfall of rock.

“The Grateful Dead is where everybody got it wrong,” Richards once said. “Just poodling about for hours and hours. Jerry Garcia, boring sh**, man. Sorry, Jerry.”

Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty
If your cup is full, may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of men

(Photo by Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images)