I am bothered by all these claims of he was to high to play or to addicted. He was dying of heart disease which cause memory loss, dexterity issues etc. Also the rest of the band could be accused of phoning it in the end. Jerry was still incredible for JGB to the end. There is no way that he was to high to play if he was okay in the 80's. Not such a problem here but it irks me. As far as the band talking bad about jerry at the end, they should have taken some time off instead of riding Jerry to death. I thinkl jerry was not as interested in the dead at the end and liked playing in JGB more.

I think Jerry was more comfortable in the later days in JGB because He could feed his addiction openly with JGB who mostly shared his addiction. He felt obligated to play JGB as a a way to help those friends out. Remember the 501 jeans commercial he did for them. As far as the dead taking time off, it became impossible after the touring machine became so big and supported many friends even going as far as zero interest loans for its employees for nice homes that weren't cheap in the late 80's. The band wrestled with the idea to stop but could not figure out how to pay their people anyway so the people could make their payments back to the band. The dead tried to get jerry clean and pressured him to do so which does not create creative energies. JGB (John Kahn in particular) practically encouraged his addiction. IMHO

Being diabetic and eating shitty food didn't help either.

RowTimmy wrote:


Yes he shared his addiction with Kahn and it was bad for them both but Jerry seemed to play much better with JGB at the end than with the GD. Also I doubt that jerry did less drugs if john was not around, if you are an addict with money and fame like jerry you do it when and how much you want, heroin is not one of those things things that you only crave when you are with a certain person. I tend to think that the blame on john is facetious coming from the GD, they were jealous of the fact that jerry preferred playing with JGB. The GD needed jerry as much as JGB did, and far more than he needed them. The GD obviously loved jerry but I feel they should have put their foot down and stopped for a while. Anyway my point was I think any decline in the music was MUCH more about his failing health. He was very unhealthy and had multiple serious diseases - that is what we saw at the end. He was clearly doing heroin for 15+ years and he was incredible almost always.

History gets changed around on this subject.Books have been written by people who were close by. Rest in Peace Jerry! Love you

I think being addicted to heroine for 15 years will cause some problems in your ability to play too. But I do agree that the rest of the band went through their own issues. From most accounts Phil was drunk for most of the second sets in the 80s and 90s. My own theory is that they never really were all clean and in top form together for the last stretch. Jerr would clean up and find Phil drunk and Billy tweeking so he would end up back with the turkish. Then Phil cleaned up and Jerr was out to lunch.

^^^ i am fairly certain in phil's book he says he stopped drinking in 89 or 90.

again, many have tried, but you cant beat it. The body can only take soo much

I think you might be correct wlewis. But by that time Jerry was not clean. That spring-summer 90 tour might have been the only exception to the lack of synchronicity in the bands later 15 years. Not to say that H addicts can't make great music...just that over time it will wear down their chops.