Gordinier, J. (1996, November 1). High Tide. Entertainment Weekly, (351), pp. 30-33.

The article explains:

They’ve gone from BIG FISH in a LITTLE POND to the WHALE that swallowed ROCK’s tie-dyed nation. But can PHISH make waves in the mainstream?

Trey Anastasio, the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Phish, has managed to avoid the lights of stardom and remain a regular American guy. Anastasio and the rest of the band, including bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell, and drummer Jon Fishman, are not easily recognized. They have never appeared on MTV, and their songs rarely hit the radio.

In spite of this, they sell hats, shirts, and stickers through Phish Dry Goods, "a lucrative L.L. Bean-style merchandising company in Burlington (Vermont), the band’s home base." Phish also attracts an "army of tie-dyed nomads that rivals the Grateful Dead’s in scale and devotion." In fact, they have been favorably compared to the Grateful Dead.

The popularity of Phish may have been best demonstrated in August 1996, when Phish put together the Clifford Ball, "a massive two-day jamboree," on an abandoned Air Force base in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Between 70,000 and 135,000 people attended. However, while the media heralded Kiss all summer for selling out 15,000 seat arenas, they just ignored the Phish extravaganza.

Anastasio says, "It’s just like we weren’t even there! Which feels really good to me, to be the band that is ignored by the media, and meanwhile to be putting on the biggest concert in North America."

Phish was formed in the early 1980s, when its members were students at the University of Vermont and Goddard College. Not one of them was a native Vermonter but they "eventually eased in to the state’s slow, pastoral pace." They have been content to gradually make it to the top over the past 13 years. Says Mike Gordon, "We’ve spent more time avoiding growth than seeking it."

Phish’s latest album, Billy Breathes, may push them into mainstream stardom. Unlike the past six collections of "endless fugues and computer-geek limericks," Billy Breathes is a "sweet, catchy, stripped-down song cycle," comparable to Neil Young’s Harvest and the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty. Gordinier claims it is "ripe for commercial breakthrough."

Part of the breakthrough is evident in Billy’s debut at No. 7 on Billboard’s album chart. The New York Times has even listed Phish as one of the "new party faces." Phish manager, Jon Paluska, concedes that all this publicity will "take things up a notch" in the band’s celebrity status. Even so, the band is cautious about that status. Paluska remarks, "But I guess our feeling up here is, we take all this stuff with a grain of salt. Because if you buy into it, you can quickly get caught in the undertow and lose your bearings."

The followers of Phish, known as Phish-heads or Phish phans, don’t want to hear a hit song. They do not even want to hear the same song two nights in a row. "They listen to whatever we play—even if it’s strange, even if we’re taking risks," says Mike Gordon. These fans want to be at the concerts, and Phish’s rise from the underground may undermine that.

One veteran fan, Doug Ryan, doesn’t want the band’s draw to be so big that tickets are difficult to get. He says, "When there aren’t enough tickets to the show, it kinds of tends to lead to hysteria." This happened in early August when Phish played four sold-out performances at Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheater. Hundreds who could not buy tickets formed a mob after a truck accidentally hit and injured a 21-year-old Phish-head. Police donned riot gear and fights broke out.

Anastasio looks back on the incident with "anger, sadness, and resignation." He does not want people to get hurt at his concerts. "Ironically, Anastasio began composing some of the material for Billy Breathes as a retreat from such hysteria" in the fall of 1995. Phish began recording by "forcing each musician to play one note at a time," taping that note, then playing the next note and taping it. Eventually they gave up "that experiment—you can’t keep a jam band from jamming." But, they kept the principle: simplify. And so became Billy Breathes.

The Clifford Ball skyrocketed Phish again. Will they be propelled into the mainstream, or remain swimming in the sea of contentment?

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. How can celebrity status affect performers? Is it better to remain more obscure?
2. Apply the same situation to yourself, how do you handle public recognition? Does an increase in status change you? For better or worse?
3. How can youth workers help young people discern between what is right and what only appears right because of its popularity?
4. How can you help students process music?

IMPLICATIONS

1. A popular music group achieves stardom without really seeking it. But the devotion of their followers is extreme.
2. The principle to simplify, like Phish used for their latest album, can be applied to one’s own life. We should all rid ourselves of endless "busyness" and concentrate on what’s essential.