They're like funk bands without any of the cool parts.

Seriously, though, is it just the excuse to have a party? I need some 'splainin.

8/19/2009 6:32:21 PM

I believe the appeal is that they never really play the same song twice. I'm not really a huge fan myself, though good jam bands are awesome live.

8/19/2009 6:34:50 PM

sometimes it's nice to bob your head to some music and not think about it

8/19/2009 6:35:16 PM

go to a concert and youll understand. while you may think its slow, the energy of the music drifts moreso than anything ive ever heard. molly or shrooms wont hurt the experience either.

8/19/2009 6:36:28 PM

If a band has great songs, you'll want to hear them multiple times.

^^^ That suggests that jam bands don't have great songs.

^ If you have to take drugs to have a good time, it's a shitty show.

8/19/2009 6:36:32 PM

this thread couldn't have come at a better time

I recently picked up this:



and I can't get enough of it

seriously people, just give "Super Stupid" a listen

8/19/2009 6:36:44 PM

Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time. For ya'll have knocked her up.

8/19/2009 6:38:39 PM

father earth just got prostate cancer

8/19/2009 6:39:17 PM

The other issue is that a lot of these bands play outdoor shows, where the sound sucks and you can't make a connection with the band because even the closest seats are 30 feet away.

I WANT YOU TO HIT IT

HIT IT AND QUIT IT

8/19/2009 6:39:33 PM

yeah but at most shows all of the front row seats never get bought so you just run up there. shit ive done that at every widespread concert.

8/19/2009 6:40:40 PM

hahaha

I totally should have suggested Hit It and Quit It

but for some reason I can't get enough of Super Stupid

8/19/2009 6:42:38 PM

Can't get into jam bands either.

I'm glad Bonnaroo and Langerado and such got so eclectic so fast, I keep going to them but have yet
to ever really see a jam band (besides STS9 I guess).

I just find nothing even remotely interesting about them.

8/19/2009 6:43:17 PM

some white people just love being as white as possible

8/19/2009 6:44:25 PM

Quote :

"molly or shrooms wont hurt the experience either."

I believe JayMcNasty has discovered the secret to success of jam bands !

8/19/2009 6:44:51 PM

they don't realize the band is jamming out; they think the drugs have got them stuck in a time loop.

8/19/2009 6:45:39 PM

my point is that even the front row is too far away

an outdoor show with proper crowd proximity:

8/19/2009 6:46:29 PM

8/19/2009 6:48:02 PM

Yeah I've tried to understand this for a long time, and I can't do it. No disrespect to the musicians therein, but it all sounds the same to me. I used to do a lot of general "rock" jamming with various musicians when I was younger, and I hear the same patterns and structures echoed (albeit more skillfully) in jam band music and I get bored with it.

I've never been to a show and there's a lot to be said for the environment, people, and general vibe of the experience, and I'm sure I'd have a good time. But as far as driving down the road and throwing on a Panic cd, I'll pass.

8/19/2009 6:51:02 PM

SHIT

GODDAMN

GET OFF YOUR ASS AND JAM

i think let's take it to the stage is my favorite funkadelic album today

because of that and "no head, no backstage pass" and "stuff and things"

8/19/2009 6:52:56 PM

never got into the jam band thing either, but a decent amount of respected friends like them... and i trust their opinions. guess its just not my thing.

but what you said about listening to a panic cd, etc. i think many of the heads out there who do listen to the cds in their car are listening to soundboard sets that they were actually at. maybe hoping for a flashback? LOLZ

8/19/2009 6:54:43 PM

one other thing:

i don't really LIKE much 'jamband' stuff, but i can kinda see the appeal etc. and i doubt a hardcore fan who goes to 600 phish shows per month would say this is the same genre at all

but theres a band called OAR. and they seem to set up their live shows a lot like your stereotypical jam band. but to me its nothing like any of the other stuff in that genre.

(also ive never seen what color OARs music is, so i cant really comment anyways)

8/19/2009 6:57:29 PM

saps852 must not have seen this thread yet

8/19/2009 6:59:12 PM

Quote :

"never got into the jam band thing either, but a decent amount of respected friends like them... and i trust their opinions. guess its just not my thing. but what you said about listening to a panic cd, etc. i think many of the heads out there who do listen to the cds in their car are listening to soundboard sets that they were actually at. maybe hoping for a flashback? LOLZ"

same here, and i know the latter is very much the case.

8/19/2009 6:59:59 PM

he's too busy hunting down the boards from the 98 new haven show

tweezer > possum


OMFG

8/19/2009 7:00:42 PM

this is also a funk thread

8/19/2009 7:08:06 PM

OAR puts on a good show and their roots are "jam bandish" They are pretty pop now but still get into it a little. Listen (preferably live) to a band like "moe" or "allman brothers" and you will get a better understanding of the talent. I have seen the two play together a few times and with a couple of them outdoor shows and even in the lawn you can fall into the groove.

Other jams are designed to revolve around and showcase one individual in each session generally broken up with a transition or tempo change. Check out the "Derek Trucks" listen to a session and listen to his individual jam grow while everyone else stays constant or to the monster transitions.

Obviously it is an acquired taste of music, personally, I am NOT a fan of the "jam bands" that ONLY jam and sound like everyone else as it is lame and boring as fuck. Listen to the names above as well as some dead, phish, yonder, or framte and you will find something far more original and distinct.

8/19/2009 7:08:24 PM

there are two, maybe three very good dead albums

but i had a friend who listened to dead show tapes almost exclusively

it's some of the worst shit i've ever had to endure

8/19/2009 7:09:55 PM

i like string cheese incident. i was able to see that music. the whole point is to be able to see the music, isn't it? am i doing it wrong?

8/19/2009 7:10:56 PM

^^ I am NOT a dead fan by any stretch. I think we all have that "Dead Head" friend who listens to nothing but old beat up dead vinyl. I have one too and a lot of it is shit... They do have some good jams though.

String cheese is good but I think that they are who this thread is directed too... The bands who almost exclusively jam and sound like a less exciting blend of the greats. They did however take a little bit of everyone and make it their own. I'm just not a huge fan (or haven't been able to get into them)

[Edited on August 19, 2009 at 7:14 PM. Reason : .]

8/19/2009 7:13:08 PM

Quote :

"They do have some good jams though."

I can't get behind that at all. I had to listen to hours of this shit and not once did I hear a musically redeeming moment past the real songs that were on the few good records they made.

8/19/2009 7:15:03 PM

Quote :

"seriously people, just give "Super Stupid" a listen"

or "maggot brain." i wish they wouldn't have kicked off the album with that song since everything afterward is a disappointment. not that they're bad songs, it's just that "maggot brain" is that good. i did see my morning jacket do "hit it and quit it" at bonnaroo in 2008 though, and that was awesome.

Quote :

"If a band has great songs, you'll want to hear them multiple times."

i think this was in response to people not wanting to see the same song played twice. and yeah, obviously if a band has great songs you'll want to hear them multiple times, but it's nice to see a great song played differently than it is on the album, that is, with more intensity and emotion and even extended a bit so the band can feed off of each other and take the song in a different direction. what's the fun in seeing a 2:30 minute song played 2:30 minutes live? it's the same great song you have on the album and the same great song everyone else is gonna hear on that tour too.

i'm not that big into jam bands, but one of my favorite bands is the black crowes, and they've been classified as a jam band for a while now. I've seen them twice in raleigh, and i would take the 15 minute version of "thorn in my pride" that i saw last november that no one else other than the people at that show saw over the 6 minute version that's on the album. and i would've loved to have seen the 18 minute version of "wiser time" that another fan in the crowd told me about from a show in new york.

like i said, i'm not a huge jam band fan, but i do understand why they're into it.

8/19/2009 7:17:17 PM

i don't enjoy any music that feels like an endurance contest to listen to

8/19/2009 7:19:34 PM

A HUUGE portion of the genre is in live shows too... I listened to m.o.e all the damn time with my jamhead buddies and never cared much for them.

Saw one life show and was hooked

8/19/2009 7:20:27 PM

I like that one moe. song Plane Crash, IIRC. The studio version. lol

8/19/2009 7:21:33 PM

Quote :

"i think this was in response to people not wanting to see the same song played twice. and yeah, obviously if a band has great songs you'll want to hear them multiple times, but it's nice to see a great song played differently than it is on the album, that is, with more intensity and emotion and even extended a bit so the band can feed off of each other and take the song in a different direction. what's the fun in seeing a 2:30 minute song played 2:30 minutes live? it's the same great song you have on the album and the same great song everyone else is gonna hear on that tour too."

I completely agree with this...for a song or two during a show. Rearrangements are great, a little extension is great, and a place to stretch out a bit can be wonderful. I don't want to see it on a majority of songs during a show, or even more than a couple of songs during a show. Also, you don't have to be improvising to have all the passion and intensity in the world. To illustrate this, I give you Lambchop, who absolutely stole the fucking week at XX Merge.

Lambchop @ XX Merge from sassafrassv on Vimeo.

8/19/2009 7:28:47 PM

a great example of when the elongated jam is worth the effort is "Layla" (allman brothers version). Listen to the track with the extended ending and jam session. Wraps the track up perfect

8/19/2009 7:30:12 PM

actually, i just thought of a time when i loved jam bands

people were playing some fucking awful music at a bar i was at

and i paid two bucks for a "play it next" selection

because i found an allman brothers song that was more than an hour long

it was innocuous enough to ignore and allowed me to watch the rest of the hockey game without having to deal with three doors down or creed that people somehow paid money to hear

8/19/2009 7:34:37 PM

i don't know

8/19/2009 7:35:24 PM

^^LOLman brothers

8/19/2009 7:41:22 PM

even worse to me is the electronic influenced jam bands that these people listen to (Disco Biscuits, Bassnectar, New Deal, Lotus, EOTO). just complete shit, every single one of those bands/djs

8/19/2009 7:47:11 PM

Boston doesn't jam. Pretty much the perfect band. They get in there, do two-and-a-half to four minutes of rock mastery, and don't overstay their welcome.

8/19/2009 7:49:20 PM

jam bands suck, especially widespread panic

[Edited on August 19, 2009 at 8:16 PM. Reason : .]

8/19/2009 7:49:37 PM

jams bands sound like this to me

deedly-doo deedly-doo doo-doo-deedly-dow-doo

8/19/2009 7:52:37 PM

COLLEGE DUDES AND DOUCHEY WEEKEND WARRIOR 30 SOMETHINGS ARE WHY JAM BANDS ARE AROUND.

8/19/2009 8:07:14 PM

especially cops who don't know who you are

8/19/2009 8:09:02 PM

we're playin slims this saturday dude.

8/19/2009 8:09:36 PM

i work saturdays son

8/19/2009 8:10:32 PM

that's cool. we're still playin tho.

8/19/2009 8:13:56 PM

rawr rawr my music is the best

8/19/2009 8:52:33 PM

i don't understand jam bands either.

at all.

8/19/2009 8:53:50 PM