The 500 - #261 - American Beauty - Grateful Dead

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #261
Album Title: American Beauty
Artist: Grateful Dead
Genre: Folk Rock, Country Rock, Americana
Recorded: Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
Released: November, 1970
My age at release: 5
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #215, moving up 46 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Ripple

Since 2003, I have used the 1999 American teen drama/comedy (dramedy) television series Freaks and Geeks to help me deliver the health curriculum to Grades 7 and 8 students. Set in 1980 in the fictional Detroit suburb of Chippewa, Michigan, the show focuses on 16-year-old Lindsay Weir and her 14-year-old brother Sam as they navigate the challenges of high school life.

Promotional poster for Freaks and Geeks.

The story begins in September of Lindsay's Grade 11 year. An honour student ("mathlete") and model citizen, Lindsay is experiencing an existential crisis following the recent death of her grandmother. She begins to explore her more rebellious side, eschewing her academic friends to spend time with the "freaks", a group of slackers who prioritize parties over scholastic pursuits.

Protagonist Lindsay (brunette-center), flanked by (l-r)
her "Freak" school-mates.- Daniel, Kim, Ken & Nick.

Juxtaposing Lindsay's high school experience is her brother, Sam. He and his two best friends, Neil and Bill, are "geeks" -- non-athletic, conventionally "uncool" high school freshmen who are fans of Star Wars, stand-up comedy, Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games and the movies of Bill Murray.

Protagonist Sam (center) flanked by his best friends
Bill (left) and Sam.

The wonderful thing about period fiction, such as Freaks and Geeks (set in 1980, but filmed in 1998), is that it never seems dated. Consequently, the show works as well teaching the Ontario Health Curriculum in a  2023 Grade 7 classroom as it did with 7/8 students two decades earlier. Additionally, young viewers are better able to see themselves in the choices the characters make, good or bad, without being concerned about aesthetic similarities (fashion, music taste, pop culture).

Sam, Bill and Neil discuss life's big questions often.

Typically, I screen an episode weekly between October and February. Every episode lends itself to specific curriculum expectations we've already discussed. This isn't simply "TV watching". We pause episodes at key junctures and critically examine character choices and motivations. Over the past 20 years, I have painstakingly built lessons and activities that connect to the issues addressed in the show. These include bullying, underage drinking, marijuana use, body image, nutrition, pornography, peer pressure, gender roles, and relationships.

The perils and pitfalls of high school dating is an important
source of conflict, and comedy, in the series.

Freaks and Geeks lasted only one season on television because the network, NBC, badly handled its release and broadcast. Shortly after the decision was made to pull the plug, the show began to find an audience and was lauded by critics -- even receiving Emmy Award nominations for writing. Decades later, it still tops magazine and online lists of TV Show That Were Cancelled Too Soon, and has steadily built a loyal, cult following.

For educational purposes, that  single season is perfect for use in the middle-school classroom. Students connect with the realistically written and complex, sometimes contradictory, characters and the final episode is ideal for discussions about, "What would have happened next?"

Without giving away any spoilers, the album, American Beauty by Grateful Dead, plays heavily into the final episode and sets in motion events that would have been explored in the aborted second season. The record, the fifth by 'The Dead' and third of four on The 500, is introduced to the protagonist, Lindsay, by her guidance counsellor, a former hippie, Jeff Rosso (portrayed by Dave "Gruber" Allan).

While discussing opportunities for her academic future, the caring and supportive Rosso, surprises Lindsay with a lyric from the album's title track, Box Of Rain, saying:

"Maybe you're tired and broken
Your tongue is twisted with words half spoken
And thoughts unclear
What do you want me to do?
To see you through?"

As you might imagine, Lindsay is nonplussed by this unusual segue from her guidance teacher. However, Mr. Rosso presents her with a record and says: “When I was in college...I’d put their album American Beauty on whenever I was stressing out. It always helped.” He lends her the record, hoping it will help her find some comfort and guide her choices.

Lindsay looking at American Beauty record sleeve (see scene here).

A short time later, we see Lindsay in the comfortable confines of her bedroom, playing the album and connecting with its content. Eventually, all her inhibitions melt away and she begins to dance around her bed as the music plays. The short montage brilliantly captures an experience familiar to many teens; that beautiful moment when one discovers music that "speaks to them" and connects to their spirit.

Lindsay feeling the groove of Box Of Rain in her bedroom

Although I would have been about Lindsay's age in high school, I didn't discover Grateful Dead until after I had graduated. I knew a few "Deadheads", as they are called, particularly during my time working in restaurants as a twenty-something. It was played at parties and I was invited to attend Dead concerts during the late 80s and early 90s. Another opportunity missed.

Grateful Dead performing live in 1990

It wasn't until I watched that scene from Freaks and Geeks that I decided to take a serious look into American Beauty. It was the year 2000 and, although it did not inspire me to dance around my apartment, I still felt a connection to the music and the lyrics. It is a wonderful record and well worth a listen. Much like the series Freaks and Geeks, the record captures the exuberance and freedom of youth while still firmly planted on a road toward maturity and wisdom. If you haven't had a chance, I recommend taking in both the series and the record. I'm a little envious of the journey that will entertain and inform you.

The 500 - #473 - The Smiths - The Smiths

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

My plan (amended). 

• 1 or 2 records per week & at least 2 complete listens.
• A quick blog post for each, highlighting the important details and a quick background story.
• No rating scale - just an effort to expand my appreciation.

Album # 473

Album Title: The Smiths
Artist: The Smiths
Released: February, 1984
My age at release: 18
How familiar am I with it: Very Little
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: This Charming Man
Great Lyric:
As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine
Ceiling shadows shimmy by
And when the wardrobe towers like a beast of prey
There's sadness in your beautiful eyes
Oh, your untouched, unsoiled, wondrous eyes
My life down I shall lie 
(The Hand that Rocks the Cradle)

"I hate The Smiths" ... I have said those words on more than one occasion, particularly between1984 and 1990.

That's odd for me to admit. I regularly tell my student that "hate is a word we reserve for truly awful things - like war, famine and racism".

But, it was a different time then and, real or imagined, I was on the opposite side of a divide between the people who liked bands like The Smiths ... and...people who liked...good music ;-). 

This record came out when I was in high school. My clique were, for the most part, into classic rock (Led Zeppelin, The Who) and heavy metal (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath) with a few of us dabbling in progressive rock (Rush, Genesis), new wave (The Police) experimental rock (Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa) & folk rock (Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash).

As with most high school cliques - we rolled with an "Us & Them Attitude". It was a reality captured powerfully in both the film The Breakfast Club and the brilliant, but short-lived, series Freaks & Geeks. I still identify strongly with the latter because it nearly perfectly captures my entire high school experience...from my passion for Dungeons & Dragons to my singular obsession with the band Rush. 

There is an old yearbook picture that I wish I could find. It is from about 1982 and features me in my denim jacket, covered in Rush patches & pins. I am standing with the other members of the high school Dungeons & Dragons Club. It is the geeky me on the precipice of freakdom (skipping school, partying & experimenting...on all fronts). As one friend put it, "Grade 12 was the best three years of my life!" This picture might just be our friend Terry, the first of us to turn 19.

Being part of a clique that accepts you for who you are (or at least who you were trying to be at the time) is transcendent. It is probably the most important thing on every high school student's mind - other than the overwhelming desire to connect with a romantic partner. The feeling of belonging outside the family unit is at its zenith during the teenage years. Attaining it is sometimes challenging and often fleeting, or at the minimum, transient. Looking back, it is sometimes difficult to remember how powerfully important it was. As Guy Garvey of Elbow eloquently puts it, in the song Lippy Kids

Lippy kids on the corner again, settling like crows
Though I never perfected that simian stroll
The cigarette senate was everything then.

The cost of membership to the "cigarette senate" was loyalty. Collectively, we had somehow decided that navel-gazing, post-punk, misery-pop was an anathema. Posers, Preps and Popular kids liked it - so it was not for us. We painted with a wide brush and many acts I enjoy today were on our hit list - Depeche Mode, The Cure, Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, Yaz...and without a doubt, The Smiths. 

My friend Steve, whom I mentioned in my Husker Du post, used to call it "I don't know why music". However, just typing those words does not nearly capture the cleverness and depth of the derogation. 

He was dating a girl who listened to bands like The Smiths. When he would borrow her car, the cassette in the player would always be an easy target for our scorn. He would turn it on and, in a profoundly melancholy, comical faux-British accent begin to sing "and I don't know why" at perfect intervals. It always seemed to fit and never failed to make me laugh.

So, The Smiths. We meet again.

While preparing this post, I spoke with a friend who was is a fan. He informs me that I am failing to appreciating this band. He wants to listen to it with me...so, I'll report back when that happens.

At this point - the guitar playing is growing on me...I won't say hate - but I really don't enjoy Morrissey - particularly when he uses that bizarrely comical yet still gloomily falsetto voice to sing lyrics that are sometimes morose, sometimes narcissistic and regularly disturbing.

I am open to feedback - Comment below

Stay tuned for Part Two