'Live/Dead'

I'm not a big Grateful Dead fan, but I give those guys credit: They knew exactly the right buttons to push.

I don't think they were in it for the money as much for the drugs, girls and good times of never growing up and playing guitar with your friends for the rest of your life, non-stop.

I think their philosophy of rock music also defined them. They saw it as less art than oxygen. It was something that was all around. You breathed it. And like oxygen, if you lit a fire, that influx of air would let it burn brighter and with more heat.

Rock music, to the Dead, was the same way. Their instruments were the matchstick and kindling. This so-called rock music just burned.

Therefore, music was deconstructed. What they recorded in the studio was just a momentary burst of energy. It was a speck of light. It burned as bright as anything, as a supernova, for a brief second and then it went out and was never recreated again. It couldn't be. It was supremely unique.

Their lives performances were no different, which is what makes any live recordings so valuable. They had zero intention of covering their own songs, note for note. Again, they lit the match and it burned unique with a once-in-a-lifetime spark. It's the exact reason thousands of individuals followed them like some messianic mob.

Also, this was Tom Constanten's last album with the band. He was a piano prodigy, who roomed with bassist Phil Lesh at UC-Berkeley. Both studied classical music and were roped into minimalist compositions and performances. Constanten later quit after the band was busted for drugs in New Orleans. He refused to take LSD due to his religion: Scientology. Interesting rock tidbit.