I am happy to report that one of the most overrated bands in the history of music is breaking up. Trey Anastasio, the man who was almost responsible for ruining Primus by distracting Les Claypool with his highly talented form of boring rock and roll, has announced that Phish will be breaking up following their next tour. The band has one more album (that probably sounds like all their others) coming out on June 15th called Undermind. The band will tour in support of that album, further bleeding a fanbase that is too high on drugs to know any better.
While the majority of the music loving public is celebrating today, there are a few "victims." Makers of patchouli are said to be mourning the loss, along with all the people who would braid Phish fans' hair in trade for drugs, Volkswagen bus owners, acid dealers and of course pot paraphernalia merchants. This might be the straw that breaks the camel's back for these folks. They might have to get jobs, move out of their parents' basements and listen to something other than the 2.7 million taped Phish concerts they have collected over the years, despite not having large variations in the set list from night to night.
Well, I bid Phish good riddance. And good luck Phish fans.
(If this article pisses you off then we are laughing at you instead of with you. Think about it.)
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - brown_boognish
Hahaha, i totally agree. Terrible terrible jam band with nothing original to offer the musical world.
2 - Craig Lyndall
I am glad you agree. I am bracing myself for the hatemail to start soon based on this post.
3 - Triniman
Dear Brown;
What are some good jam bands?
Triniman.
4 - Tom Johnson
Phish . . . tried 'em, got bored of 'em real quick. Can't say I'll miss them. I'm actually always surprised to see that they even bother releasing albums - many of their fans don't seem to actually buy them, preferring instead to live off of the five billion lives shows floating around.
But hey, maybe Les Claypool will get back to making Primus rock again.
Good jam band? Try the Allman Brothers, for one!
I saw first mention of this over on the Ween forums (Brown Boognish is probably familiar, if he's not, he is encouraged to head over and enjoy the comraderie of other Ween nuts) where they asked the question, "What will the wooks do?" "Wooks" being their not-so-affectionate term for the hippie-types seen trailing bands like Phish. Indeed - what will they do? Likely they'll latch onto the coattails of another band, but who will it be? We're all just dying to know . . . or maybe not.
5 - Mark Saleski
wow, just what is it about bands like Phish that gets people so puffed up?
don't like it? don't listen.
6 - Craig Lyndall
Mark are you telling me it isn't fun to make fun of hippies? Or are you a Phish fan?
7 - Lono
first off, allow me to clarify this: every single Primus song sounds exactly alike. Same with Phish. However, Trey is one of the best guitarist in the buiness right now. Now he can challenge himself with decent music and sober listeners.
8 - Mark Saleski
dunno craig, i've never maid fun of one.
i'm a fan of earlier Phish. the first cd i ever got was "A Picture of Nectar"...which to this day i think is a very cool record.
never been to a show.
9 - Craig Lyndall
Once I heard the horribleness of "Never Get out of This Maze," my hatred boiled over and has been consistent ever since. I find their music really boring.
If Trey is one of the best guitarists in the business (which I would say he is) then what of Les Claypool Lono?
10 - HW Saxton Jr.
I must agree here with Craig L. I think
Phish are horrible. I don't get the jam-
band genre and these guys are at least
partly responsible for the "phenomenon".
Which makes them twice suspect in my
book.
No amount of substances,illicit or not,
could make this listenable.I don't like
The Dead either. About the best that can
be said of Phish is that they give all
of the faux hippies something to do.
11 - mike
Phish is so bad they make you appreciate the Dead.
12 - Mark Saleski
yea...you guys are a laugh riot.
i'd type more but i've gotta go refill my patchouli aromatherapy burner.
13 - Al Barger
Craig- No fair besmirching the good name of Cheech and Chong by associating them with this outfit.
Phish makes me think of the passage from the New Testament, "Would that thou were hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm I will spew thee out of my mouth."
Triniman, there are lots of bands that might be deemed "jam" bands that have songs, and something to say. War comes to mind. The classic live album from Chicago RULES, particularly the climactic 20+ minutes of "Get Down."
14 - Celestial Dung
I've never listened to much Phish, and what I have heard doesn't strike me in any way memorable. I still have a great amount of respect for their abilities to inspire people to celebrate the joys of music and comradery.
Strange that hippies are still laughed or scorned at. I suppose that's the bad karma you get for preaching a little love and peace.
15 - The Dude
I agree with Tom, the Allman Band is a good jam band.
Another one: Television.
16 - Natalie Davis
Pissed off? Nah. People are entitled to their opinions. And those who make fun of hippies and peace-and-love types only speak volumes about themselves.
Long live Phish.
17 - Mark Saleski
listening to "A Picture of Nectar" at this very moment...sorry, but there's just a ton of cool music on this: rock, jazz, bluegrass, funk.
oh well, guess i'm just a tofu-licking treehugger at heart.
18 - Natalie Davis
Peace, baby. Tofu-licking treehuggers deserve love too. I prefer to actually ingest soybean curd though; fuels the engine for hugging trees.
19 - brown_boognish
Most jam bands suck. I'd say Wilco is the closest thing to a good jam band and they are only a jam band 1/4 of the time.
20 - brown_boognish
Most jam bands suck. I'd say Wilco is the closest thing to a good jam band and they are only a jam band 1/4 of the time. Ween's live shows have jam band qualities, but they also write great songs. Jam bands are usually bad because they spend little time on songwriting,instead wasting time on repetitive and unoriginal instrumental pieces.
21 - Mike
While I can definitely understand that Phish does not appeal to everyone and that many have valid reasons for why they don't like the bands music, i must clarify a few things. I am obviously a Long time Phish fan, but understand where many of you come from. However, the stigmata of Phish fans being burntout, low-life, leaches that call themselves hippies is not cool. Yes, there are many people on Phish tour that are fried-out and actually leach off of the scene which they pretend to support. Yes, it can be very fun to make fun of the trendy hippy crap that is truly cheesiy in many ways. But, the fact is that there are many, many fans, the majority in fact, that are there for the music. I am one of them. I am not a "hippy", nor do me or my friends dress like or pretend to be hippies. Are goal is not to get fucked up, stagger in the parking lot and hit the show completely wasted. We go to be together as friends and experience what we consider to be our friend band, abnd to also use these experiences as positive influences in our daily lives. I grew up on prog rock and jazz, have been playing guitar and piano since I was 11, and am now a proffessional musican with a music degree. I sm not trying to say that my word is final and anybody is wrong in their opinion of the music. My point is that when you call "Phish fans" burnouts, or stoned out morons, you're talking shit about aot of people who don't fit that profile. For many of us, this is our favorite band that we've followed together for years and now it's suddenly ending. That sucks no matter what your favorite band is. Again, I have no beef with anybody's musical opinion,. Please respect the fans are truly in it for the spirit of the music.
22 - Mike
I would also like to add to my last comment that this ends something that could have benefited everyone. If anyone watched Trey on Charlie Rose, think about what Rose said about the band's situation. They were the largest commercial touring act that controlled everything. They toured when and where they wanted, released albums uder there own creative control, and basically ruled there own organization. The ending of this is a great blow to younger, independent musicians within the music industry. It will be a long hard, road before another band / organization can become as largely recognized with major label backing while still remaining complete creative and organizational control. Phish's organization could've done so much for younger band's in the future. Sucks that it's gone.
23 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Mike, I do appreciate where you are coming from, and like the Momart fire that destroyed work unpopular with many, the loss of a band that people care about, regardless of my personal musical opinion, is something to mourn, at least in passing. There ARE considerations that go beyond the purely artistic when talking about popular culture.
I wouldn't have picked the Grateful Dead as one of the ten most important rock bands in history if it wasn't for their rather amazing contributions to the economic, sociological and pan-musical aspects of the culture. And, when they were great, they were great.
Another thing I am absolutely astonished to find is that so many people don't realize that different kinds of music is used for different things, and that one can value different strengths for different reasons. Just because a jam band like Phish (and so many others) aren't particularly strong on songwriting doesn't mean they aren't important for other reasons. The jam bands have helped revive the importance and irreducability of the live performance, the particularity of a given show at a given place with a given audience. And they have also made improvisation cool outside of a purely jazz setting, which expands the horizons of many listeners and benefits jazz as well.
Let us all extract our craniums from our rather narrow lower intestines and look around ourselves anew, realizing that the blooming of the 1000 flowers in a boon to us all.
24 - ds
It's scary isn't it? A group of people could get along and not go on about bullshit all day long. Those bastards must pay
25 - Ratsin
I diagree completley with what u say. Phish is probably one of the greatest jam bands in history. It is also wrong to stereyotype phish listeners as a bunch of drug using hippies. i do agree that they have very simalr songs, but then what jam bands dont have song that sound alike. However, u can choose to form any oppinion u like, but as for me i feel it is a great tragedy that this great band is breaking up,and a huge loss to the music society.