I don't mean the band itself...more a certain part of a song.

For me.... I LOVE YEM....I was/am so excited for every one I have heard. It never gets old. It really hurt when trey said he couldn't run around the country just playing YEM anymore. It is arguably the most technical and hardest song they play.....and I am all but guaranteed a sick bass solo every time they play it...

but......

If I am getting down to a nice YEM jam with a none fan.....I usually skip to the next track early in the vocal jam.
Don't get me wrong..I enjoy the vocal jams live etc..and there are some really funny/great ones I cannot skip when i am listening to them solo. But the look the non phans get when the boys start their little vocal number is rough. I honestly think I am doing phish a service by not perpetuating a very wrong stereotype that phish is a talentless bunch of hippies that can do whatever they want (piss in our ears) and we will love it because we are just drugged up and will enjoy whatever.

Taken out of context (without the 15-20 mins of beautiful, technical, amazing music..the vocal jams seems a bit strange...and can be a bit weird when someone gets into your car right after they stop playing and start the vocal jam.

IM sure I will get tons of hate about how the vocal jam is the best part...or I dont appreciate yem etc. That is not what I am arguing....I am just saying if someone happens to walk in at the wrong moment...and ALL they hear is the vocal jam....you get a weird face, or an eye roll...and said person may dismiss phish even more.....which is fine..not everyone has to like the same things...I'd just rather play them something else so they don't make a snap judgement.

PS: kung chant applies too.....i def don't mind it at a show....but if i am in a car...especially with someone who "doesn't get it" i skip.

You suck at Phish.

Just kidding. I actually have a similar experience with tension and release jams. Non-fans seem to HATE the tension aspect, and no matter how many times I try to explain that the release feels so much better because of the tension they still don't get it. So I have given up. I acknowledge that this is an aspect of music that some people just don't enjoy. Their loss. In an effort to not have to put up with any negative comments I tend to skip over high tension jams when nOObs are about.

Interesting, whenever I play a vocal jam to a non Phish fan they are usually intrigued by the sheer weirdness of the whole thing. I guess it depends on the person's musical tastes.
But as to the specific question of this thread I have definitely never been embarrassed by Phish and generally enjoy showing off their strangeness to which people respond with a baffled expression and the question "what is this?"

@molefromtheministry said:

Interesting, whenever I play a vocal jam to a non Phish fan they are usually intrigued by the sheer weirdness of the whole thing. I guess it depends on the person's musical tastes.
But as to the specific question of this thread I have definitely never been embarrassed by Phish and generally enjoy showing off their strangeness to which people respond with a baffled expression and the question "what is this?"

but do you play JUST play them vocal jam?

I have had similar experiences...but it usually is AFTER they sat through the 15-30 mins of YEM FIRST....and THEN are more open to the weirdness that is the phish.

If youre not at least slightly embarrassed by a song like Gotta Jiboo, youre in too deep.

Phish themselves are embarrassed by some of their lyrics.

Well, not exactly "embarrassed" but so much of phish is an inside joke.

@TannisRoot said:

so much of phish is an inside joke.

Bingo. +100.

I can give you a non-phish comparison.

My friend in college was the BIGGEST fan of the fx show the shield. After weeks of beging me to watch an episode, I agree.

10 or so minutes in, I watch a man (i guess he was police chief or something) forcing a gang member to give him a blowjob at gunpoint.

I start to get uneasy which my friend sees, and tries to explain that it's all good because the gang member had previously forced the police chief to give HIM a bj at gunpoint.

The sad degected look he gave me, when he realized he tried to defend his favorite show by explaing it was a "revenge bj" was so sad. He knew there was nothing he could say and that his attempt to get me hooked had passed. He shut off the tv insisting he would finish it later on by himself. (i think he was just worried of more bj's....but i can't be sure)

The point is....I saw one out of context part of something he loved and tried to get me into it. That..among other things turned me off to the show...probably unfairly...and i havnt going back since assuming its just one vengeful bj after another.

ps; is that show really any good? it used to get so much hype..but i kinda feel part of that is that it was so edgy....saying shit and asshole on cable tv before anyone else was.....that...and showing forced bjs...

pps; i sure do talk about bj's alot.

yeah when people think were all stoned hackey sac playing wastoids. oh wait never mind

All the aspects people have cited so far - vocal jams, vacuum solos, and almost unbearable tension/release - are aspects that Phish designed and developed for their LIVE experience.

If you emphasize that to love Phish is to experience them live, that these are all showmanship vehicles that don't translate nearly as well to a recording (especially without the light show to support them), most people who've seen concerts will be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.

That said, if you choose these moments to play for people who've never seen the band live, you're kinda setting yourself up for an objection.

I put on a YEM after a few bong hits with my cousin and his girlfriend, and I decided f*** it I'll let them hear the vocal jam too. They ended up loving it, especially my cousins GF. She said it was the most beautiful music she had ever heard.

i was embarrassed by Treys general attitude in the Bittersweet Motel dvd. hes a bit pompous around that time period. especially how they f***ed everyone out of a picture with them by cutting out their heads or the actual members of the band. i thought that was a bit douchy.

@Lizards1024 said:

especially how they f***ed everyone out of a picture with them by cutting out their heads or the actual members of the band. i thought that was a bit douchy.

Really? I thought that was f***ing hilarious.

A YEM vocal jam is definitely something that begs an explanation when non-Phish people are around. It's weird and people won't know what's going on. That's fine.

The feeling of mild embarassment comes from you wanting your friends to like the music. I understand that. Anyone who's passionate about anything at some point wants to explain or share the passion with others. There's this hope that if your friends hear the perfect jam something will click and suddenly they'll start obsessively listening to Phish. That might happen with one out of a hundred people, but generally people want to choose their own interests and passions. Your friends see Phish as part of your identity, not theirs.

So don't worry about what your friends think of Phish. If they're going to like the band, they'll like it, vocal jams and all. There's no reason to cover up the less accessible aspects of the music in the interest of not turning people off.

bdtnl
pigtail

So it actually is embarrassment, but since I'm embarrassed to be embarrassed I call it something else?

This discussion does remind me of a similar situation that acctually worked out well....

Jamming out to CONTACT with a none phan...not really thinking about the lyrics. After the second verse or so friend turns and asks how i can listen to this....the music isn't bad..but jesus the lyrics are ridiculous...so simple and stupid.

I assure him all will be well in a moment, and on cue mike comes to town with some thunderous bass bombs while the rest make it nice and funky.

Said friend smiles..nods his head and admits it was worth it....

@Lizards1024 said:

especially how they f***ed everyone out of a picture with them by cutting out their heads or the actual members of the band. i thought that was a bit douchy.

i thought that was hilarious

@boymangodshiiiiit said:

i havnt going back since assuming its just one vengeful bj after another.

hahaha gold

No. Never. I wave my freak flag high. If a piece of Phish's music is weirding someone out then I crank that shit up

I'm not embarassed by the band so much as the forum I belong to that is obsessed with the band

I think I'm not embarrassed by the band as much as there are aspects of the scene that make me embarrassed by it. People will either get or not get the music, and that's fine. The only people i've had chastise me for my love of Phish are friends dads that sit around and listen to The Scorpions and talk about how awesome the 80s were.

But the part that does get me are the embarrassing parts of the scene. But any music scene has those factors and i just need to learn to not think about it.

I wouldn't use the word embarrassed, but I know what you're getting at OP. For me, it's part 'embarrassment' and part frustration/'how can you not get how awesome this is?'
The vocal jam is a good example. It's unique, it's fun. But it's also kind of annoying sometimes. Anyway, I love the band. I love the quirkiness and weird stuff. Some folks just can't hear it, they can't get on board with it all. So, I understand that it's not everybody's bag... re:the 'embarrassed' part, I know there's a time and place for phish. you have to know your audience.

@Frizz said:

What does this word "embarrassed" mean?

Ask your mom, I'm sure she can tell you all about it.

When I think of Phish and the odd parts I always think of this piece of music.

A Musical Joke (in German: Ein musikalischer Spaß) K. 522, (Divertimento for two horns and string quartet) is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the composer entered it in his Verzeichnis aller meiner Werke ('Catalogue of all my Works') on June 14, 1787. The music is intentionally written to be funny, being liberally sprinkled with obtrusively clumsy, mechanical and over-repetitive composition, together with passages evidently designed to mimic the effects of inaccurate notation and inept performance. Commentators have opined that the piece's purpose is satirical—that "[its] harmonic and rhythmic gaffes serve to parody the work of incompetent composers"[1] -- though Mozart himself is not known to have revealed his actual intentions.

Huh. I sometimes feel as if I should be embarrassed/defensive about certain aspects of Phish... but those are never the aspects that are deal-breakers for people, especially since so many have made up their minds that they hate Phish before they've even heard any. Idiots.