Sunday Cinema | Unedited Jerry Garcia Interview And Vault Tour

In 1995 a massive 578-minute documentary called The History Of Rock And Roll debuted on public television and in syndication. The producers of the wide-ranging documentary scored interviews with many legendary performers including Eddie Van Halen, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Little Richard, Mick Jagger, Tom Petty and Lindsey Buckingham. Even Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead sat for a chat to discuss the band’s history and much more with The History Of Rock And Roll team.

Earlier this week an unedited version of Garcia’s 45-minute interview surfaced on YouTube as pointed out by our friends at Deadheadland. Jerry talks about his early days as a musician, how the Grateful Dead was formed, the acid tests, how Haight-Asbury boomed and then crashed, why “bad” Dead shows were better in the later days than the early days and much more. One of the many interesting moments happens towards the end (42:40 mark) when Garcia discusses rap which he claims “is not music. It’s talking.” He explains that doesn’t have a problem with it, but says there’s “no road from rapping into music” and that rappers aren’t great musicians. We’d hope Jerry would have changed his tune if he lived another decade or beyond.

Not only do we get to see this amazing unedited interview in the clip, but as a bonus the late Dick Latvala takes us on a tour of the Grateful Dead’s old vault. Check it out…

[via Deadheadland]