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Grateful Dead

• devotion of "Deadheads"
  • If you are interested, Dr. L will share his  experience in Los Angeles at Pauley Pavillion

The Early Years	Deadheads
"Captain Trips"	Bob Weir

• only a single Top 40 hit - "Touch of Grey" (#9, 1987)
• the band focused on their live show, rather than studio recordings
• built an incredibly loyal following
• Jerry Garcia (guitar) symbolized the "drop out & turn on" culture
  • dropped out of school at 17
  • joined the army ... he was discharged after a series of court martials & AWOLs
  • influenced by the folk music rage of the early 60s
    • became fascinated with bluegrass
    • learned to play 5-string banjo
    • began to play coffeehouses
• 1964 - Garcia, along with Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (harmonica & organ) and Bob Weir (guitar) formed Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions
  • turned to electric rock under at least partial influence of current Beatlemania

Haight-Ashbury and the Grateful Dead's "China Cat Sunflower"

• 1965 - changed name to the Warlocks, adding Bill Kreutzmann (drums) & Phil Lesh (bass)
  • became the house band for Ken Kesey's ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") wild parties
• acid tests - gathering of intellectually liberated friends, Hell's Angels, and the Warlocks
  • predictable constants were drugs (esp. LSD), weird costumes, and loud rock music
  • according to Garcia ... "The acid tests were thousands of people, all hopelessly stoned, all finding themselves in a roomful of other thousands of people, none of whom any of them were afraid of."
• this free environment allowed an inordinate amount of musical experimentation
  • distortion, feedback, electronically-generated sounds were all met with enthusiasm by the stoned audience
• 1966-67 - lived communally (as the Grateful Dead) at 710 Ashbury Street
  • playing free concerts regularly
  • their name came from an Egyptian prayer that Garcia found in a dictionary
• appeared at Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969) and Altamont (1969)

• The Dead's repertoire in their early years consisted of blues material, Motown, soul, and Dylan songs, incorporating:
  • extended improvisations
  • experimentation (fuzz guitar, feedback, tremelo bar)
• The Grateful Dead (debut album released in 1967) was a relatively unimpressive effort
  • after its release, they added Mickey Hart (drums) and Robert Hunter (lyricist)
• released two moderately successful albums ... Anthem of the Sun (1968) and Aoxomoxoa (1969), followed by a live recording Live/Dead (1969) - considered their best recording of the 60s by Deadheads ... here are some excerpts ...

[Dark Star - complete recording of performance on February 27, 1969]

• illustrating lengthy instrumental improvisation, this song is 23 minutes & 19 seconds in length!
  • typical of the Dead & other SF groups

• the opening of the song appears to grow out of nowhere
• known for taking an hour to tune up & decide what to play!!

Feedback

example of electronic experimentation

album also contains more typical rock songs …

Turn on Your Lovelight

• blues-based rock style & fine instrumental improvisation

  ... this music is better if it is LOUD!!

• early 70s - the Dead moved in the direction of simplified country, relying more on acoustic instruments
  • exemplified in Workingman's Dead (1970) and American Beauty (1970) … dramatic shift away from psychedelic rock of the 60s
• Garcia began to play the pedal steel guitar

Dire Wolf

• established a foundation for country rock

during the summer of 1971, the Dead played as one of the premier acts during the Last Days of Fillmore West

• experienced renewed popularity in the late 80s
  • even had a Top 10 single ("Touch of Grey", #9 in 1987) ... their only Top 10 single
    The Dead as "a family"

Touch of Grey

• 8/9/95 - Garcia died in a California treatment center where he had reportedly gone to kick a heroin dependency

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