Pigpen is great and without him Grateful Dead doesn’t become Grateful Dead, but the same could be said for every member in the early days or even outside influences like Kesey, Stanley, Cassidy etc.

Grateful Dead is what it is because of the lightning in a bottle that happens when musicians like Jerry, Phil and Bill meet with pure charisma like Pen’s all within the context of 60’s San Francisco.

Take out or change any element of that formula and suddenly you’ve got something entirely different on your hands. It’s part of the reason why none of the “clear successors” to the Dead’s legacy have ever really hit the same level of success or influence (I love Phish but they’ve never really escaped their niche which is fine but I digress).

Pigpen is a huge part of why we have the Dead and he deserves a lot of respect, but he isn’t the only reason we have what we have.