I'd like to introduce my favorite rock group, since you probably don't know about them.
My favorite rock group is the Grateful Dead. They were together from about 1965 to 1995, which is an eternity for a rock group. I first heard of them when their first album came out. My friend played it for me and said "Listen to this rock group that plays jug band songs." (I was into jug band music then.) I was amazed.
The musical influences on the Grateful Dead were very eclectic, and I have eclectic tastes, so I always enjoyed listening to their music. The members had backgrounds in folk, jazz, blues and even classical music. Many of them began playing together in a jug band, which was one reason they often performed many jug band songs. They had such different musical backgrounds, and they improvised so well, that the audience never knew what they would play next. Even they didn't know what they would play next. They just made up each concert as they went along, rather than playing from a standard list the way most musicians do. Their fans started following them around from concert to concert because each concert was so different. The Dead recorded each of their concerts and encouraged members of the audience to record, too. That attracted more people to each concert, and more of their fans began recording as many concerts as they could, because each concert was so different. It got to be a joke that you didn't have to advertise or even do preparation for a Grateful Dead concert because they not only brought their equipment, they even brought their audience with them. The audience kept growing and growing until they were the most popular concert musicians in America. Now more and more of their concerts are being released on CD.
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