# Deadheads - best first song for new Dead fans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadheads-best-first-song-for-new-dead-fans/115964 "2002-06-26T03:06:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadheads-best-first-song-for-new-dead-fans/115964/21 "2002-06-27T04:20:02Z")
The album that got me started was Anthem of the Sun. That’s it for the Other One into New Potato Caboose and I was hooked. I wasn’t really into Jerry dirge-ballads at first (He’s Gone, Must have been the Roses, etc) although I got into it later on. I wanted to hear if this band could stretch. Boy could they ever! So I guess how you would introduce someone to the Dead would depend on the type of music that person likes. The great thing about the Dead is that there’s something for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![todd33rpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@todd33rpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/todd33rpm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadheads-best-first-song-for-new-dead-fans/115964/22 "2002-06-27T12:44:10Z")
I’d get ‘em in through the out doors…pull the _Old And In The Way_ version of “Wild Horses,” the Bob Weir/Rob Wasserman duet version of “Victim Or The Crime” (in the U.S. on the _Michelob Sunday Night_ television program around 1989), "Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door" from _The Pizza Tapes_…and then on through the catalog proper starting with “Box Of Rain.” If you’re pulling much live stuff, though, I would avoid _Europe '72_, since a lot of it was doctored in the studio before release…Merl Saunders actually plays the keyboard parts, for example, though he isn’t credited on the album…Jerry Garcia gave him one of the gold record awards for the album in thanks (from _Keyboard Player_ magazine, IIRC). You might also want to track down the Dead’s take on the _Twilight Zone_ theme from the mid-80s for a few grins… ---
**Author:** ![Stellablue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Stellablue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stellablue)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadheads-best-first-song-for-new-dead-fans/115964/23 "2002-06-27T23:07:28Z")
Don’t forget my fav. STELLABLUE ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadheads-best-first-song-for-new-dead-fans/115964/24 "2002-06-27T23:45:11Z")
Well, if you friend likes to catch a buzz, you could throw a space jam in there. Space\>Fire on the Mountain from Dead Set got me hooked for good way back before I had seen a concert. Depends on whether the newbie would like the trippy stuff. I did, but that’s me and I suspect a whole lot of other fans. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadheads-best-first-song-for-new-dead-fans/115964/25 "2002-06-28T00:40:52Z")
I’d buy them ‘American Beauty’, but if only one, ‘box of rain’. …into ‘Sugaree’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadheads-best-first-song-for-new-dead-fans/115964.md?page=1)