Can someone please explain Dave Matthews Band to an Australian Millennial?

I’m not a “fan”. But I respect their unique sound and their artistry. Also Dave has done so much for Farm Aid which is a fantastic cause/organization.

Jam band, really good live in a way that doesn't always transfer to their recordings. Not to say they don't have some great songs, just that the live shows are a completely different experience that's hard to translate. Lead singer's voice has been parodied a million times and they're one of those bands that became kind of synonymous with an entire sound. The fanbase of gen-x/millennial white dudes also is a big target for memes.

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College is still one of my top 10 albums of all time. It's the album that made me want to play acoustic guitar 30 years ago.

Bunch of really good musicians. Fun, but also technically hard music to play, I’ve always thought, watching Dave Mathew’s play guitar and his fingers look like a spider all over that thing.

They were a band that saw a huge rush of mainstream popularity for awhile. As a result the haters will always follow after they've hit their peak.

The thing about them is that they broke around 94. The landscape at that time was Soundgarden, GreenDay, Pearl Jam, Post Nirvana…so pretty heavy grungy stuff. Their first record was played a lot on the local Alternative Station so they were marketed as 'alternative' yet you have these absolute monster musicians playing a 'softer' music but since they're all so good they were absolutely cooking. A lot of elements on that first record are very jazz fusion(y) and was a stark juxtaposition to what was popular at the time. So you'd be rocking out to some hard ass grunge then all of a sudden… Crack…Crack…Crack… Duh…Duh duh duh I'm a musician and I recognized Carter's drumming style immediately. We went from hard, pounding, driving drums to a tighter, more virtuoso sounding drum. Which isn't to say that Soundgarden didn't have amazing drum parts but Carter brought the sound of drummers-drummers like Dennis Chambers, and Dave Weckl and Vinnie Calautti to a broader audience. After their first record they started making sort of soft, commercial rock and I think that's where the cheese factor overcame them and they started being a meme… that and the poop bus.

They started in the early 90’s, gaining grassroots popularity playing small local venues, frats, and clubs. They had an eclectic and original sound, blending horns and fiddle with the standard guitar, bass, drums, while also gaining a reputation for their high energy shows and quality musicianship. By the mid 90’s they started to have mainstream success with their studio album releases, including Grammy awards. For many fans they were have always been known as a “live” band. They encouraged taping and distributions of their concerts. Over time they built a large fan base that would regularly travel for their concerts. Even today they are one of the highest grossing tour bands year over year. Part of the meme of the band is that much of their audience was made up of younger college age kids, and synonymous with a 90’s “frat” scene. Think of hackeysacks, weed, beer, partying. Overtime the audience became annoying for many and easy to make fun of. Another part of their meme/lore, is their more popular and widely known songs can both be overplayed, and also corny from some people. Dave Matthews has a unique voice and delivery (he makes fun of it himself). They also got big during the whole grunge, rock, hip hop era of the 90’s. So it makes sense how people would make fun of this style of music. For fans, they’re still known and respected as a “live” band filled with amazing musicians. For others, they’re an easy target for their stereotyped fanbase, and also corny, overplayed “hit” singles. And there’s also the notorious bus incident mentioned in this thread.

They're really good, but I could see them being memed for their frat bro fanbase. They also infamously emptied their tourbus's toilet waste off a bridge coincidentally at the exact time a tour boat was going underneath: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave\_Matthews\_Band\_bus\_incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Matthews_Band_bus_incident) The music is fantastic though if you are into that kind of thing.

I'm from the DMB's hometown in Charlottesville Virginia. Here's the deets: First you have to understand the vibe: eastern US college town in the 90s, full of kids who are sort of vaguely hippie but with rich parents. Pukka-shell bracelets and Subaru Outbacks. Also a very artsy little town. Dave was a bartender who had lived in South Africa and wrote some good songs with exactly the kind of world-beat vibe that people were into. A local jazz trumpet player hooked Dave up with some incredible musicians from the scene, like a teenage bass prodigy from a hippie commune, a sort of weird violin player, and an absolutely monster drummer named Carter. Legend has it that Dave got some songwriting help from a local producer guy. The band's local shows just kept getting bigger. Dave really took off when he hooked up with a somewhat shady but ambitious guy to be their manager. They played tons of clubs and frat parties at all the east-coast colleges and got a name for themselves on the jam band scene that was sort of taking off around Phish after Jerry Garcia died. Tourists started coming to town to take pictures of the bar Dave worked at. A lot of older fans like me think that early DMB was pretty good but his later albums are sort of boring dad rock. They kinda became a symbol of khakis wearing frat bros who sort of play like their hip but still get drunk and piss on stuff that's not theirs. The violin player got in trouble with some sex stuff and their saxophone player died in an ATV accident. Dave's manager used his money to start a record label that employed a bunch of my friends, signed some cool bands like My Morning Jacket, and started the Bonaroo festival. There is a lot of DMB money floating around Charlottesville, supporting some bars, restaurants, music venues, real estate developments and tons of charity stuff.

Basically he makes music for guys in college who wear Birkenstocks

When I was in college they were kind of the stereotype for white guy music. They have some good songs though.

I never got all the hate. I like to hear an occasional DM song, but never felt motivated to buy an album.

I found them to be sort of a suburban semi jam band. Kinda boring but not offensively bad

They are all top level musicians and the songs are solid. I hate the band. I can’t really explain why. Maybe that they over play to the point it starts to sound pretentious to me? The crazy bit is I’ve seen a Mathew’s cover band and the first half of that show was all acoustic. One guitar, one voice. I loved it.

If you haven’t had sex to crash it’s hard to explain.

Well, they’re definitely famous in Chicago…

I found them hard to get into because their music is often non-linear, the drummer used heavy syncopation in his beats (polyrhythm beats) so the music doesn’t flow as neatly as 4bar/8bar regular rock music. That said, I’ve always thought they were a terrific band technically and said drummer is incredible.

I moved to Australia in 2011 from the US and I could not believe that no one I met had ever heard of Dave Matthews Band. They were so huge in the 90s and early 2000s, I just never stopped to consider that they are reached never made it beyond the US on a grand scale. But yet to everyone else’s point everyone in that band is an incredible musician.

They were big in the 90s. Especially with the college crowd, but had an appeal for the light jam band crowd that wasn’t really into the Grateful Dead and Phish. The frat boy and college crowd kind of killed the popularity as it grew. Then the popularity of acoustic alternative died off and the band kind of stagnated after the 3rd album and lost their ability to write about anything relatable and fell into a forgotten band for most and kind of a joke to others. Similar story as Blues Traveller. I liked them back in the day and saw them live quite a bit,then just grew out of them. I’d consider seeing them again, but not spend insane prices to do so.

Real fans call him Dave. It guess you didn't have two ears and a heart in the 90s.

Watch the acoustic version of The Stone and you'll get it.

All I know is that their drummer is fuckin great

Imagine a band that every puka shell wearing jock douchebag in highschool gravitated towards; you will have just imagined the Dave Matthews band.

Old American GenX here…I can’t explain it. I’ve been confused about Dave Matthews from the jump.

Real fans just call him “Dave”

No real reason to dump on DMB, and I'm not a fan. But I saw them in concert once and they were pretty great live. Also good guys in general, from what I remember.

I don’t really get it, I used to work with a guy that had an iPod of only Dave Matthew’s and he’d listen to the same song over and over but from different concerts and just be jammin all day. I couldn’t tell the difference but he really seemed to enjoy.

Phish, but for normie preppy white folks

They were a generic soft rock band that was paitable toa wide spectrum of fans. Catchy and safe enough for children and your grandparents which made them huge in the US until the soubd inevitably grows old and newer acts emerge and tastes shift. In the rock spectrum ypu also had similiar bands like Hootie and the Blowfish and slightly harder rock like Nickelback. This bled into nu-metal as well with the emergence of Linkin Park. Its just widely palitable, radio friendly good but not exceptional music.

They once dropped a bus load of tour bus shit on a passing tour boat on the Chicago river. Became a meme for that. In the 90s they were huge with radio hits like Satellite and Crash into me. They developed a jam band following similar to Phish or String Cheese Incident. Constantly toured with great musicians and festivals. Heavily involved with farm aid. They are definitely like most jam bands: lots of people don't get it. So I leave you with the famous joke: What did one hippy say to the other hippy once the drugs wore off? This music sucks.

They once dumped their shit all over a bunch of tourists and their music is only okay.

50-time DMB show attendee here. I got into them in 1999 when I was about 15-16. I often hear people describe them as “frat boy rock” but I always saw them as a jam band for stoners (I was a huge hippie stoner back then). I still see them every year and it seems the jams are a lot shorter these days. They’re a group of extraordinary talented musicians. Dave is known for his challenging guitar parts and Carter is often cited as one of the best rock drummers in the business. There have been changes to the lineup over the years and the “new” guys are just as incredible. They honestly seem to have a great time on stage and I think the audience picks up on it. I think the nostalgia factor keeps many of us coming back. It’s certainly the case for me. I remember what was happening in my life when certain albums came out and those songs take me back.

Their tour bus dumped poop on people. They are a jam band with some top ten hits in the 90s (What Would You Say, Ants Marching). The hit songs are sort of an acoustic, popy, up tempo "unwindulax" (unwind & relax) have fun vibe. Their live shows are purely jam band sensibilities, such as 20 minutes long improvised parts and lots of smoking the reefer. The front man, Dave Matthews, played a drifter in a kids movie, "Because of Winn Dixie," and I believe that soured a lot of people against him because it was corny and cheesy. So, if you only know DMB from the radio, I suspect you would consider them in the same company as Sheryl Crow and Barenaked Ladies. Edit: added tour bus incident [Their tour bus dumped poo on people!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Matthews_Band_bus_incident)

It was university Stoner music for conservatives.

Wife loves them. Went to see them. It’s a jam band. Good artists. Couple hits. Loved to hate them before my wife. Happy wife, happy life.

Ants Marching

'Ants Marching' is iconic. I never followed them but here in the US, it struck a chord. Like 'Freebird' many decades before.

It was the band that all of us mid-late 90’s college kids were having sex to in dorm rooms. I don’t remember anything at all about the songs or music, but it was always playing in the background.

Ari Herstead, a musician and a once diehard DMB fan in high school, opens a little bit about his perception of public opinion towards the group in his book “How to Make it in the New Music Business”. On pg 25-26 of the Liveright edition, he noted that when he was first exposed to criticism of the band, much of it never seemed to be about the music itself but more about the band’s standing within the culture of music. I was in school after this time period, but I imagine that it’s similar to the same knee jerk opinions I used to hold about most popular groups during the 2000’s. Just remnants of hipster culture.

Like a 90s version of Toto, they have incredible artists at each instrument, so music nerds can gravitate as well as having several radio songs and music videos at the time so college bros and girls were also attracted. Hit that nerd + jock sweet spot at that time in the 90s.

Random: they had a lot of flexibility in who they toured with, so theyd bring in older bands, and new jam band stuff that peaked a few years back. As a male millennial, the women in their fanbase were overwhelmingly hot.

Lol i cannot name a single Australian band. Not a surprise you never heard of Dave Matthews until the memes penetrated.

They basically took what Paul Simon was doing in the 80s and added extra Americana. They’re only made fun of because jam bands in general have an aura of stinky granola people, even though the fan base for such bands is pretty diverse. A lot of those jam bands don’t even really sound alike- I would never confuse Phish with DMB, for example, and Ween is even more of an outlier.

I saw Dave in a box, I saw Dave with a fox, I saw Dave in a house, I saw Dave with a mouse, I saw Dave here and there, I saw Dave everywhere. I so do love Dave Matthews Band. I so do love them, Sam I am.

Just listen to Under the Table and Dreaming for the primer. It’s so good.

Older here, I've seen them twice in concert and own several of their early albums. they are a band very much of the time, their sound holds a lot of memories. incredibly talented musicians and their live shows are absolute joys. . I recommend Under the Table and Dreaming. it's the big album and it's super radio friendly. love Dave and my crush on him is eternal, lol.

How much weed do you have?

They were/are a live show phenomenon. The songs are well crafted and for the most part very melodic and catchy with superior musicianship from each member. Dave's vocals are unique and his lyrics are often quite poetic yet melancholy. But their real appeal is their phenomenal live performance. Each member demonstrates near studio quality sound and expertise. They were always so well in sync with one another that improvisations and impromptu jams occur seamlessly in their live songs. Most concerts also have a unique setlist, and with so many studio albums and EP's, as well as a ton of great covers, every show has a chance to be a completely new experience. There is a reason they have over 60 live albums in their discography. It's what they are best at.

Dave Matthews Band is kind of bro coded even though their persona lives don't really reflect that. They have a mass appeal and vibe that makes them the natural target of the hip and cosmopolitan which is a little bit paradoxical since they came onto the scene with the big college rock explosion in the 90s.

Sure thing. HeE haw heE haw heee haw Haawn. Also, see the what I call "The Dave Matthew's experience" when everything goes to shit, lol. I don't have a link, but it's the internet so you'll find it. Just Google the story about his tour bus. Ok, I think I've sufficiently explained DMB.

I saw my first Dave show at a frat party in 93. Great songwriter, incredible guitarist, it together a nice little band that put on an energetic unique show…then completely sold out when the pulled the “Lillywhite Sessions” in favor of that god awful album “Everyday” that had no sax, no violin, and no band in the Dave Matthew’s Band. Most of his original fans tuned out then and really haven’t checked back in. That being said, I’d still love to see one of the Dave and Tim acoustic shows.

In high school it was basically Grateful Dead for popular kids. Now I have no clue.

Decent band from Virginia.

They were a great jam band. Listen to their live cover of “All Along The Watchtower “

They rose to fame as a mid-late 90s college touring band with incredibly talented musicians. They had great energy in their live shows, and they offered a very unorthodox and distinct yet highly accessible brand of music compared to slew of post-Nirvana pseudo grunge bands that record labels were pushing. Basically, unless you considered a mosh pit and internal organ damage from the bass amps to be a critical part of your concert experience, they were the best and most unique live act in music for a good 5 year stretch.

It’s not the notes they play, it’s “the space between”

Their drummer alone is worth the ticket

I saw them 6 or 7 times before the year 2001. They were great live. Their music after that didn’t really do it for me.

They were hugely popular in the US, never heard of the roasting or memes though.

I was not a fan, had nothing against just thought their studio work to be boring at times, which to be fair I still think to differing degrees today. My friends who are major fans dragged me to one of their two day shows and now I go every other year to see them or so. I don't recommend listening to studio and just go listen to the central park concert or any live album really, no two concerts of theirs are the same and every time they play a song they jam it differently so it's just different than most artists.

They were alternative rock while grunge was trending. To 80s-90s rocker kids, they were our parents' rock music. I did actually like them but I never would've let my friends know that. What's funny is most of my friends were probably the same way.

It goes like this man..if you’re a drunk you go to Dave shows if you like tripping you go to phish shows

Cant speak to their music, but ALOT of genx seem to love it. I can say that Dave has been outspoken with support for Palestine and for that, i will always be cheering for them.

Yep lol as an American in middle school during the hate machine for that I can attest it was very true. DMB and Coldplay and maybe Jack Johnson were the most popular to hate groups I remember. I love all of these bands lol so definitely was awkward for me

They were pretty popular here in Canada

You can't explain it. It's alright if you bounce off of them, they are not for everyone. If you don't enjoy the album Crash then you'll never like them and can live your life without listening to them again. But if you like crash then listen to their live albums. Also weed helps

They have had kind of a cult following here, a bit similar to the Grateful Dead. My older millennial spouse is one of those people that have been to over a dozen of their concerts and has every song and multiple versions of it- by association, I’ve now been several of their concerts. The live shows are a big part of it. But people also make fun of it for being a bunch of yuppies, and Dave Matthew’s kinda sounds like Kermit the frog. I’ve always been kind of meh on most of their songs, not my style, but you can’t deny they’re pretty unique. They’ve also been consistently good guys. They do a lot of charity and didn’t hesitate to kick out one of their members when he turned out to be a creep.

They are unique band with good instrumentalists and a good songwriter. They have catchy songs that are well written and they also do a lot of instrumental improvisation during shows. They have a lot of haters for a few reasons... people don't like Dave's voice or his mannerisms, the overall sound is considered by some to be overly soft/smooth, and perhaps most significantly, they have a very annoying fanbase. The latter issue might not be as big a problem as it was in prior years but when I was a kid I found their fans to be insufferable. A lot of annoying drunk white dudes.

Beeebopbahbahbahbahdum

The parameters for being a “millennial” are way too broad. There is not one person from any background that is my age and never heard of DMB. Or were they just not popular in Australia?

The lore is American millennials went to college at a higher rate than previous generations and there had to be a band to act as the soundtrack. Dave Matthew’s is that band. But it’s limited to mostly elder millenials and late Gen X.

[The Dave Matthews Band doesn't Rock.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR2GpGtyqDg) [Oh, excuse me for being alive in the 90s and having 2 ears connected to heart!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEDkyYqhmYk) I hope that explains.

They're a good band, with some quirks and enough success that a lot of people clowned on them. But a lot of people love them, and they've toured worldwide for 30+ years, putting out a bazillion live albums along the way. Some really good instrumentation and complicated mixes in their discog. Check out: - Dive In. Criminally underrated song, a little slower but probably my favorite by them. Lying in the Hands of God and Baby Blue are similar softer songs off the same album, different from most of their discog. Then the classic DMB: - Two Step (original or the Radio City Music Hall version) - So Much to Say And some really strong songs that show the power of the band's live performances: - What You Are, Live at Central Park - **Don't Drink the Water/This Land is Our Land, Live at Radio City Music Hall**. If you listen to one song, make it this one. - Sledgehammer, Live at Mile High Music Festival (Peter Gabriel Cover) Edit: forgot Stay or Leave, that song is also incredible. Another one I'd recommend the RCMH version. "May be different but remember, winter's warm there you and I / kissing whiskey by the fire, with the snow outside."

I thought it couldn’t be true because they were so pervasive here in the states, but DMB only had 2 singles crack the top 100 of Australian radio ever. And neither of them made it above 91

Tasty live noodles.

Grateful Dead for Gen Xers maybe?

It was college rock music that was just jazzy enough that frat bros could make it look like they were cultured. That being said, DMB are all super talented musicians and aside from the frat boy followings deserve a chance.

They were VEEERY popular in their time. Filled up arenas. They were catchy, different from what was on the radio, but somehow fit into the sensibility of the time. They wrote a lot of songs that made good singles, and got lots of radio play. Of all bands to get hyper popular, I really don't mind this one. They might not have been THAT good, but compared to other garbage that gets hugely popular, they were actually talented musicians.

As an older Australian, their success made it interesting to observe how things could be huge in one market and got very little exposure in others. From readings mags like Rolling Stone or Spin, you got the sense as to how popular they were in the US. From an Australian perspective, I don’t recall them getting any Triple J play (which were very much the alternative tastemakers at the time). They also didn’t get much mainstream radio play. I did used to read a lot of the English press at the time (NME/Melody Maker) and don’t really recall them in those. Maybe it was one of those things the record company just thought would only really sell in the US…

You know how you guys have John Farnham and Jimmy Barnes and the rest of the world has never heard of them? It’s a bit like that.

He was massive in the 90’s. All his fans are in their 40’s and 50’s now. His live music is very good if you like live Jam Bands. I can see how it’s not on your radar.

They were so huge in their peak mostly due to their live shows. They were the top grossing act for multiple years in a row when they didnt even cut an album, which used to be how bands earned money.

Fantastic musicians that dominated the airwaves in the late 90s early 2000s , you either like em or daves voice grates on you, its no othee way. I personally loved them in high school but the fans at shows tend to be in their 50s now

They did multiple Australian tours and sold out every show. They were pretty popular down under.

Their concerts are top tier. Only time I've said, "that fiddle solo was absolutely nuts". I'm not even a fan; a buddy had an extra ticket and I tagged along. It's still one of my favorites I've ever been to.

Just listen to some live shows on spotify or elsewhere and see what you think about them.

“I got two microphones, a four-track recorder and every bass tab to Dave Matthews ever…We’re going to jam for like nine hours, is that cool?” --Andy Dwyer, Parks & Rec

Thats funny, I was introduced to them back in the day by an Aussie when they were just getting famous.

I like a handful of songs, but it was always so weird to me that people my age were so into them. They seem/ed like an older people's band.

Dumped a sewer tank from their tour bus while crossing a bridge in Chicago, as a boat passed underneath - is a tale that should follow them. Otherwise harmless jam band music

I’m just here for the tour bus comments.

on August 8, 2004. A tour bus belonging to the American rock group Dave Matthews Band dumped an estimated 800 pounds (360 kg) of human waste from the bus' blackwater tank through the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto an open-top passenger sightseeing boat sailing in the Chicago River below. and this is why you're no longer allowed to poop on a tour bus.

Their music is whiter than Pauline Hanson's t***

Imagine repeatedly stabbing a pencil into both of your ears. That's Dave Mathews Band.

There’s a lot of angst for them in Chicago over the bus incident.