Grateful Dead (music group)
The Grateful Dead was an iconic American rock band that emerged in the 1960s, known for their eclectic mix of folk, blues, and rock, rather than the psychedelic sound typically associated with the era. Formed in 1965 in San Francisco, the band originally consisted of Jerry Garcia, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann, with percussionist Mickey Hart joining soon after. They gained a reputation for their spontaneous live performances, which became a defining feature of their identity and attracted a devoted fanbase known as "Dead Heads." The band was deeply intertwined with the countercultural movements of the 1960s, participating in events like Ken Kesey's acid tests and supporting various social causes.
Throughout their career, the Grateful Dead released several influential albums, including "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty," which contributed to their legacy as a cultural institution. Their unique approach to concert ticketing and encouragement of fan recordings helped cultivate a loyal following. After a hiatus in the mid-1970s, they resumed touring and remained popular until the death of Garcia in 1995, which led to the band's disbandment. The Grateful Dead's enduring impact on music and culture continues to resonate with audiences today.
Grateful Dead (music group)
A rock band inextricably linked to a time and place San Francisco in the 1960s. The presence and influence of the Grateful Dead were felt musically and culturally.
Origins and History
The Grateful Dead and their distinctive blend of traditional and experimental music date to the summer of 1961, when bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia joined with blues harmonica player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and folksinger-songwriter Robert Hunter to play in Northern California. The group broke up, and Garcia, McKernan, and rock drummer Bill Kreutzmann joined in a band called the Zodiacs. By 1964, Garcia, McKernan, guitarist Bob Weir, and a few others were playing in San Francisco Bay Area bars and coffeehouses as Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. In 1965, Garcia, McKernan, Weir, Kreutzmann, and jazz bassist Phil Lesh formed an electric blues band called the Warlocks. A year later, they changed their name to the Grateful Dead. Percussionist Mickey Hart joined in 1967. The Dead had a few additional members, but these six formed the band’s core.
Musically, the Grateful Dead were made up of contradictions. Although they were at the center of the hippie movement, they played an eccentric fusion of folk and blues rather than psychedelic music. First known as a studio band unable to duplicate their sound on stage, they are usually remembered as an energetic, even meandering, spontaneous live act. They released the album The Grateful Dead in 1967, followed by Anthem of the Sun in 1968.
Culturally, the Dead were a social institution, often living communally and crossing paths with such 1960’s icons as novelist Ken Kesey, musician Bob Dylan, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide or acid) manufacturer Augustus Owsley Stanley III, and promoter Bill Graham. As the Warlocks, they performed at Kesey’s acid tests, which were multimedia LSD parties. They lived for about seven months at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco and played many free shows and benefits. Some of their performances a 1966 benefit to legalize marijuana, an anti-Vietnam War moratorium show on November 15, 1969, and fund-raisers for the Black Panther Party showed their support of key issues of the 1960’s. They also played on the roof of the student union at Columbia University not long after the student strike there.
In 1968, the Grateful Dead moved to Marin County north of San Francisco to concentrate on recording. They released four albums in four years including 1969’s studio record Aoxomoxoa and 1970’s concert recording Live Dead. At the end of the decade, the group produced two of their most enduring recordings, Workingman’s Dead (1970) and American Beauty (1970).
Impact
Grateful Dead became forever associated with Haight-Ashbury, acid tests, and the 1967 Summer of Love. Their lives in the 1960’s epitomized the hippie movement and their music, although not acid rock, has come to embody the spirit of that time. Their mellow sound and the group members’ frequent collaborations with other musicians have had a great influence on rock music.
For some time, the Grateful Dead was the only American pop band to partially control concert ticketing and to invite fans to record concerts despite a potential loss of record revenues. This resulted in extraordinarily loyal fans, dubbed Dead Heads, who ranged from basketball star Bill Walton and U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy to anonymous fans and followers who trailed the tours. These fans carried on some of the traditions of the 1960’s by using hallucinogenic drugs, donning tie-dyed clothing, and rejecting the materialism of the society around them.
Subsequent Events
In the 1970’s, the Grateful Dead’s concert popularity grew, forcing them into larger venues and compelling them to develop a massive sound system dubbed “the Wall.” The group stopped touring in 1974, then resumed in 1976, eventually becoming one of the top concert draws in the United States. In 1977, the band released The Grateful Dead Movie, footage of performances at San Francisco’s Winterland Auditorium in 1974. In 1987, the Grateful Dead had a top-ten hit, “Touch of Grey.” That same year, their sixty-minute video, So Far, was a top-selling music video. McKernan died in 1973, and in 1995, after Garcia died of heart failure, the group disbanded.
Additional Information
A thorough chronicle of the group’s first twenty years is Blair Jackson’s Grateful Dead: The Music Never Stopped (1983). Grateful Dead: The Official Book of the Dead Heads (1983), edited by Paul Grushkin, combines photos and anecdotes with a list of more than twenty years of concert dates and places.