X is the Y of Z

“X is the Y of Z” is a snowclone–an adaptable, Mad Libs-like idiom like “May I compare thee to an X?”, “X is the new Y,” and “I for one welcome our new X overlords.” This snowclone touches on every subject imaginable, including music. So without further adieu, today’s topic is…

Grateful Dead

Many bands have a cultural impact, but the Grateful Dead spawned an actual culture, one that was as unruly, varied, noisy, and colorful as anything you’d find in a forest or stem-cell smoothie. The remnants of that culture—plus the band’s kabillion recordings and periodic Jerry-less reunions—keep the Grateful Dead’s name firmly planted in our vocabulary, like a carpet that really ties the room together:

“Steal away. I’m like the Grateful Dead of bloggers. I fire and forget but my readers help me to remember.”

(April 17, 2009, American Digest)

“Edit: Punk calling ICP ‘The Grateful Dead of Awful Music’ is just awesome.”

(Nov. 29, 2008, Death Valley Driver Video Review Message Board)

“Ed Wynne is the only original member left in Ozric Tentacles. He’s a goofily affable presence on stage with shaggy brown hair curling down to his shoulders. He’s managed to keep this band going through shifting trends, releasing over 30 albums and becoming the Grateful Dead of space music. Ozric layers syncopated grooves, synthesizer swirls, deep throb bass lines and serrated guitar solos from Wynne.”

(Aug. 6, 2008, The Echoes Blog)

“I’ve always liked the idea of the Gormenghast books, but when I get to about page 50 of the first one I suddenly remember that I need to purge radiators. This has been happening a regular intervals for about 35 years. Should I keep trying, or is this the Grateful Dead of fiction: you either get it or you don’t?”

(June 23, 2008, The Word)

“I remember the Daredevil DVD and it had some commentary and extra footage of the characters and writers of DD. Kevin Smith who wrote Daredevil at some point, mentioned that Daredevil is the ‘Grateful Dead’ of comics. I am not too sure what he means by that, but he is saying that Daredevil represents the cool or underground style comics from a major comic company (Marvel), maybe. But as an urban, or underground type characters with a loyal core following, DD is a depressive comic, dragged down by writers that can’t seem to pull the character out of the hole he has been written into.”

(March 31, 2008, Morbius Glass)

“The Cira Center itself, though, is a stylish, sexy beast. Rae, the house restaurant that did the catering (think ‘global finger food’), is very, very Gattaca. And if that was too much cold futurism for you, there was also a huge party tent outside the building sponsored by House Of Blues with DJ Mark Farina laying down pretty much the same DJ set he’s rocked since 1998. He’s like the Grateful Dead of outmoded nu-jazz DJs. It’s weird.”

(Aug. 2, 2007, Philebrity)

“Whatever happened to the Grateful Dead of garlic sauce? Eff you, Zankou!”

(April 23, 2007, la.foodblogging)

“Why is there such a frenzy to score a Trader Joe’s in one’s neighborhood? To sum it up with a quote sourced amid the hysteria of NYC’s first Trader Joe’s ever last year (pictured above), ‘It’s kind of like the Grateful Dead of supermarkets.’

Yes, it’s a chain, but for the neighborhood that isn’t able to organize its own co-op supermarket, finds Whole Foods too pricey for normal shopping, detests the suburban chains, and can’t get everything it wants from the smaller neighborhood groceries, downtown populations want a Trader Joe’s… badly, desperately… as this L.A. article provides evidence of.”

(April 18, 2007, CoolTown Studios)

Mark Peters is a language columnist and humorist who writes for Good, Visual Thesaurus and other mags, while maintaining too many blogs, including Wordlustitude, The Rosa Parks of Blogs, and The Pancake Proverbs.

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