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The Midwest has been flirting with warm weather for a few weeks now. We’re right at the cusp of really special weather- the kind of weather that makes you happy to be alive. In my neck of the woods, it’s apparent that everyone is chomping at the bit to throw a pair of shorts on and live the patio life.
It’s at a point where I can comfortably go to a park around the corner from my house and get a game of croquet in or toss the frisbee around if I so choose.
The grass is obviously not in peak croquet condition, but when you love the game as much as I do that stuff doesn’t really matter. Would I prefer a finely manicured field consisting of 100 percent perennial rye grass? Absolutely. But I’m not a professional croquet player. I’m merely an ambassador to the game, a guy who wants to build the sport up and get youngsters interested in it. By the year 3000, no one is going to be playing football anymore. It is my hope that croquet will be the premier American sport.
I’m always looking for good to ways to organically grow the sport with the youths, and I think the best way to do that is by playing.
When I’m playing croquet at the park, I like to listen to music. This requires using a bluetooth speaker (which I am vehemently against) but in this very special case they are necessary. It’s embarrassing to admit to you all that it took me playing croquet to rediscover my love for Dave Matthews Band, but that’s where we’re at.
For a long time I cast them aside for fear of ostracization from my peers. And then one day out of nowhere Spotify randomly played me “Stay (Wasting Time)” live from Central Park and I remembered why I used to love their music so much.
I seem to be gravitating towards DMB every single time I hit the park now, when I’m walking to the grocery store, or sitting in traffic. It’s DMB, and to a lesser extent Dispatch.
It’s cliche to even say their name nowadays, and a mere mention of “Ants Marching” or “Crash Into Me” is, in 2018, met with laughter and rude remarks.
Outside of Dispatch and Phish (who are both equally as great in my opinion), Dave Matthews Band was the premier jam band during the 90s and 2000s, but somewhere along the way they became the butt of peoples jokes – right around the time that this clip started making the rounds on the internet.
This is obviously a very funny clip, and it perfectly encapsulates the type of person that is assumed to be a fan of DMB.
The first thing that most people think of when DMB gets brought up is an obnoxious frat boy dressed head to toe in Polo gear that his mom bought him from the outlet mall. A bunch of privileged white boys standing around on the front lawn of a fraternity house and tossing a frisbee whilst drinking Busch Light and listening to Live Trax Volume 6: Fenway Park.
Cliches are cliches for a reason, and fraternity day drinking and DMB go together about as well as peanut butter and jelly, but at the same time this band is so much more than being reduced to something you casually toss on when you’re drinking beers or playing a lawn sport.
They’ve got an outrageous catalog of music suitable for any situation under the sun, and yet the only thing people know them for nowadays is “Crash Into Me.”
Maybe I’m being too nostalgic for time spent listening to live concerts smoking terrible weed in college. It could very well be that I just have awful taste in music, but I don’t think that’s the case here. DMB got a bad rap, and for what? An unfortunate incident involving human waste and the Chicago River? Look that one up if you’ve got time. It’s pretty funny.
It’s just disappointing that they don’t hold the same value that they used to because ironic Twitter got its claws wrapped around them and won’t let go.
I’m not listening to DMB in 2018 in an attempt to be ironic on the internet. This is no bullshit. I truly, genuinely believe that DMB is a great band, and it’s sad that they’ve become a running Twitter joke, something to shit on because it’s easy. It’s my hope that the next time you’re headed out to play croquet or toss the fris around a little bit, you’ll put a DMB playlist on and enjoy that shit in the most unironic way possible..
Image via Youtube
Respond
jduda@grandex.co
They’re good in a “jam bands for people who don’t like jam bands” kind of way.
this is an accurate observation
If you’re looking for me this summer, I’ll be at the DMB concert
Damnit I want to hate him. But he’s making it hard with Phish respect.
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If you’ve never passed a J around while rocking out on the lawn at a summer Dave show I just feel sad for you.
DMB is truly great music for any situation and mood. I’m unashamed to say that if I had to choose one band or singer to listen to for the rest of my life, it would be DMB.
sup?
Seeing DMB play at the Gorge is on my bucket list.
that and Red Rocks.
There’s no amount of money I wouldn’t pay to see DMB at Red Rocks.
Saw them there, which was slightly marred when a youth who can’t handle altitude, weed, and alcohol threw up on me.
DMB shows have the hottest women in attendance hands down
I am no superman,
I have no answers for you.
I am no hero,
And that’s for sure.
But I know one thing,
That’s where you are, is where I belong.
The DMB Live Trax album at Fenway is superb.
From my view- Dave shows have been some of the most fun nights of my life. Cold beers with friends on the lawn jamming to #41, you can’t beat it. Love this take Duda!
There’s a stigma around DMB? Am I now that old and out of touch? Am I about to become one of those middle-aged people who obliviously rock out to Nickelback? Maybe ignorance is bliss…