Jerry Garcia and the LSD trip that “changed everything”
“To get really high is to forget yourself – and to forget yourself is to see everything else.” – Jerry Garcia, 1972
Every generation has its drug of choice, but no drug encapsulated an entire cultural shift in the same way as LSD did back in the 1960s. Single-handedly birthing the hippie counterculture, lysergic acid diethylamide opened people up to entirely new ways of thinking. For that generation and beyond, acid has represented a means of freeing oneself from imposed restrictions and the shackles of normality; something that Jerry Garcia always tried to reflect within his songwriting.
There isn’t a whole lot you can say about Garcia or the Grateful Dead that has not already been covered extensively by the legions of ‘Deadheads’ around the world. Perhaps one of the most obsessive, dedicated cult followings in music history, the band that typified the psychedelic age seemed to capture something in the minds of millions, that sense of freedom, free expression, and living by your own desires.
In essence, that is the message and motivation of the Dead, but it is a message which went on to typify the entire counterculture age of the 1960s.
Jerry Garcia was always destined for greatness. A profound thinker with a deep-rooted adoration for literature, poetry, and art, the songwriter had an innate ability to speak directly to an audience’s innermost consciousness, but it was the advent of LSD which provided the final piece of the puzzle.
“Along came LSD, and that was the end of that whole world. The whole world just went kablooey.”
Jerry Garcia to Rolling Stone in 1972.
LSD arrived on Garcia’s radar in the form of Ken Kesey’s infamous ‘acid tests’, which Garcia’s friend and fellow songwriter Robert Hunter took part in. These tests were essentially trying to gauge the effects of this new drug, which had not yet been made illegal, but the greater effect of the experiment was the formation of the Grateful Dead in 1965. Not only did the drug inspire the formation of the beloved band, but its mind-expanding effects were key to the longevity of the Dead, too.
“It just changed everything, you know,” Garcia recalled of his first acid trip – the moment that altered the course of his existence forever – thought to have taken place between 1963 and 1964. “It freed me, you know; the effect was that it freed me because I suddenly realised that my little attempt at having a straight life and doing that was really a fiction and just wasn’t going to work out.”
He added, “I think the first lesson that LSD taught me in sort of a graphic way was just, it’s okay to have something, and it’s also okay to not have it.”
Garcia’s explanation of LSD’s power in that quote is integral to understanding the rich history, appreciation, and enduring legacy of the Grateful Dead, and Garcia’s incredible power as a songwriter. More so than any other musician, writer, or artist of the psychedelic era, Garcia gave listeners a tangible means of freeing themselves from the “straight life” that was being presented to them by mainstream society.
Over the course of their tenure, the Grateful Dead amassed a colossal following, making them one of the biggest bands America has ever produced. However, when you speak to Deadheads – and, don’t worry, they will let you know that they are Deadheads very early on – they are very rarely immersed in the banality of mainstream society. It is much more likely that Deadheads and appreciators of Garcia are doing whatever they themselves find fulfilling, whether that revolves around art, music, scientific research, or whatever their passions might be.
Within his songwriting, unlike other artists, Garcia never gave his followers a definitive manifesto for life. Rather, he gave audiences the tools to realise their own passions, loves, and destinies, to free themselves as he had done back in the early 1960s. That first acid trip, which first alerted the songwriter to this revolutionary power, didn’t just change the life of Jerry Garcia; it also changed the lives of millions of listeners across multiple generations.
Garcia himself passed away three decades ago, in 1995, but his legacy as a writer, musician, and spiritual advisor is still palpable. For as long as people continue to discover the incredible discography of the Dead, and for as long as people have a desire to live freely, it is unlikely that Garcia’s legacy will ever truly subside.
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