What A Long, Strange Trip It Was

Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack in a California drug treatment center Wednesday, and there was genuine mourning in the land.

He was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a God or a flawless man. He drank too much, ate too much, ingested illegal drugs and had bad exercise habits.

But the passing of this legendary guitarist for the Grateful Dead nonetheless should be noted for what it says about America.

Garcia and the Grateful Dead began playing music together 30 years ago. They played through the eras of drug use and abuse, the Vietnam War, a rising divorce rate, the weakening of family ties and the loss of trust in most institutions.

Yet, they survived.

As recently as last month, a Grateful Dead concert ranked as the highest-grossing concert act in America - earning 10 times more than Yanni, a New Age musician.

To their fans, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead were more than a rock band. They had become leaders of a tribe, icons of a trusted institution, an enduring beacon on a changing sea. By some measure, this might be considered a jaded commentary on our society that millions of people would put an aging ‘60s rock band on a pedestal and consider its concerts life-affirming experiences.

Surely some lives were ruined and many days were wasted by those who couldn’t separate the Dead’s music from a lifestyle of drugs and aimless wandering.

A more compassionate view of Garcia’s enduring place in American pop culture might be this: The Grateful Dead understood the value of ritual and the human longing to find a place with others who share a profound cultural experience. The survival and prosperity of Garcia and band also speak to the importance of carrying on in life and making something of yourself and your experiences.

They didn’t retire. They kept pushing the envelope on new music, new technology, even as they preserved the best of their traditions. They found new fans - their biggest fans at the time of Garcia’s death were junior and senior high school students.

Garcia’s death at age 53 offers a reminder that much of what the ‘60s brought to our culture was, in fact, dangerous. He never could beat his drug habit, and he looked far older than 53.

But Garcia’s death also offers a time to reflect on the ability of music to bind people together. The mourning of his passing also reminds us of the need for ritual and a sense of belonging in our culture.

Jerry Garcia provided this for his fans. For this, he will be remembered most.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Chris Peck/For the editorial board