"This Is Spinal Tap" was pretty obviously about a group modelled on various and sundry British Invasion/progrock/metal bands (Yes, Jethro Tull, Slade, Stones). I've had a sneaking suspicion that they were partly based on that haggard warhorse of a jam band, The Grateful Dead.

There was one running joke in "Spinal Tap" about how their drummers kept dying. It got me thinking about the Dead's keyboard players. Let's see... Pigpen drank himself to death in 1973. Keith Godchaux dropped dead in 1980. Brent Mydland OD'd in 1990. Yesterday, Vince Welnick bought the farm.

I know that the Dead formally disbanded in 1995 after the death of Jerry Garcia. It's ironic that all of their keyboardists died young (Pigpen: 26, Godchaux: 42, Mydland: 37, Welnick: 55). It seems like the mere touch of the keys means certain death if you've played with these guys.

Watch out, Bruce Hornsby.