When I think about the music of Phish, it signifies for me almost the whole of the early to mid-90s, specifically the time I was at college. Sure, grunge was exploding and nu-metal was, uh, grooving, but you couldn’t walk across campus without a) getting close to smacked by runaway hacky sacks, and b) said near-hacky sack attack being accompanied by the music of Rusted Root, the Spin Doctors, Dave Matthews Band or Phish. They’re the quintessential jam band in my mind, for better or for worse, and when I finally caved in to check them out it was with A Live One, their first official live release. My approach was similar to how I got into The Grateful Dead – if they’re known for their live shows, might as well start off with one of those, huh?

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