# Why Were the Jefferson Airplane Such a Sucky Live Band? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668 "2002-11-20T01:53:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/21 "2002-11-20T20:05:15Z")
Unfortunately, the real story is that she got invited to a reunion of people from Fitch? College where she had attended for a couple of years but that Tricia? graduated from. (Sorry about this. I’m too lazy to go through all my shelves to see whether I own a JA bio or just got it out of the library.) But Grace thought it would be a gas to show up with Abbie Hoffman. They never even got in the door. She claimed later she was going to spike the tea with acid, but who knows whether that’s just a story or not. I was a huge fan in the day. The day being so long ago that when I got a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone I got the Volunteers album free. (Total cost: five dollars.) I even got to see them live one night, following which I returned to campus and saw the last couple of hours of the Grateful Dead concert, at which some of the Airplane showed up. A truly fine concert night. But I never purchased any of their live albums, for good reason. They were a studio band, at least outside the Winterland. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/22 "2002-11-20T20:37:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*You guys go listen to White Rabbit. \*\* It’s great, but it’s studio. Plnnr: Is your first name Lindsay by any chance? (Not that I would know you, but have heard of you if you.) ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/23 "2002-11-20T20:46:04Z")
Well they were a sucky live band because they were also a sucky studio band. Sly Stewart (of Sly and the Family Stone) once tried to record them and gave up after two hundred bad takes…and if you listen closely to studio recordings a large portion of the time Grace only had a vague relation to pitch anyways…and I am betting the drugs and personal conflicts didn’t aid things too, hard to be interested in playing a song if you can’t stand the person singing it. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/24 "2002-11-20T20:47:42Z")
OK, it was only fifty takes [Cite.](http://www.jeffersonairplane.com/grace.html) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/25 "2002-11-21T00:03:06Z")
Some performers stay good even when heavily altered by chemicals (García) Some performers bite it when heavily altered by chemicals (Slick) Some performers… who could tell? (Vicious) It’s not as if you can make a hard-and-fast rule. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/26 "2002-11-21T01:51:14Z")
The recorded Dead are pretty boring, but people say you got to have seen them live to appreciate them. Oh well. On the other hand, James Brown and his band were often horribly offkey on tape but sublime nevertheless. I just got the JJoplin Cheap Thrills CD and it really is great. Brings back good memories. The one I really wish I’d seen live was Otis Redding. He makes me cry. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/27 "2002-11-21T02:47:21Z")
Well, I bought the entire Monterey Pop set just for their performance of _High Flyin Bird_. Also, _Bless Its Pointed Little Head_ was a live album, and is pretty good. Not completely stellar, but good. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/28 "2002-11-21T02:49:08Z")
Jimi Hendrix was some one who was always out of tune and off key but somehow it just didn’t matter. He could have dropped his guitar on his foot and it would have sounded cool. ---
**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/29 "2002-11-23T21:17:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Why Were the Jefferson Airplane Such a Sucky Live Band? Because they were sucky musicians. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/30 "2002-11-23T22:34:32Z")
Thanks for sharing your deep insights, there, ace. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668/31 "2002-11-23T22:58:41Z")
Sly Stone dissing them!?!?!?!?!?! they MUST have been total losers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-the-jefferson-airplane-such-a-sucky-live-band/137668.md?page=1)