It was daylight, so I wasn’t that worried as we made our way to the basement. After about an hour, we started talking about music, and he said he had something to show me. He was a super nice guy, and we hit it off. He wore (almost) exclusively tie dye shirts, had long-ish hair, and his house smelled funny. Long story short, he was a Deadhead in the truest sense of the word. By then I was listening to a lot of Black Crowes, Led Zeppelin, Jane’s Addiction, and Beastie Boys, a little of everything, so I was open. On the way to his house, I was warned by my girlfriend’s parents that he was ‘a little weird’, and was into ‘hippie music’. One weekend, we were invited to go visit her uncle (or cousin, I can’t remember – not important). I was dating a girl my junior year in high school. Looking back, I can tell you exactly when I got into The Grateful Dead. Seems like a simple enough question, but after giving it a little thought, the answer wasn’t as easy as it sounds. What would you recommend I listen to to get going?” I had a good friend ask me a question recently: “I’ve never really listened to the Grateful Dead, and I didn’t have any friends that listened to them coming up either.