Grateful Dead

Across nearly 60 years of music, no band has ever had a following quite like the Grateful Dead. Formed initially as Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, all of the pieces for what was to become the Grateful Dead were in place by 1965. Spearheaded by frontman/harmonica player Ron McKernan, better known among friends and fans as Pigpen, the Dead slowly began to evolve from an R&B covers group to the premiere psychedelic outfit of their native San Francisco, largely thanks to the leadership of singer/lead guitarist Jerry Garcia.

As the Dead tripped through the Summer of Love, their concerts became notorious for existing outside the mainstream. Aided by copious amounts of LSD, the Dead were at the forefront of the emerging counterculture, eventually playing at legendary festivals like the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock. By the end of the 1960s, thanks to the emerging presence of lyricist Robert Hunter, the Dead embraced a folkier and more harmonically rich style, eventually evolving into the eclectic jam-focused sound that they’re best known for today.

Since their earliest days, the best way to experience the complete Grateful Dead experience was through their live concerts. The melodic runs of Phil Lesh, the intricate contrapuntal lines of Bob Weir, and the perfectly entwined rhythms of the band’s two drummers, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, all joined together when the Dead took the stage.

Throughout the crowd, the band’s dedicated fanbase of Deadheads grew with every year, eventually sprawling out and taking over entire cities wherever the band played. Along the way, the group revolutionised the preservation of their music through fan taping, a practice that allowed their music to spread worldwide.

But just as their name implied, death followed the group throughout their 30 years of existence. The keyboard seat was infamously dangerous, with players like Pigpen, Keith Godchaux, Brent Mydland, and Vince Welnick all meeting premature ends. As they continued to blend rock, folk, blues and jazz on record-breaking tours, Garcia’s perilous health was constantly threatened by drug addiction. At the height of their cultural powers, Garcia died of a heart attack in 1995, officially putting an end to the Grateful Dead.

Even though the Grateful Dead officially disbanded with Garcia’s death, various spinoffs and tribute acts featuring the surviving members continue to tour, keeping the band’s music alive for generations of new Deadheads. A thriving community still surrounds the band three decades after Garcia’s death, with their music, lyrics, imagery, and influence constantly filtering into various forms of pop culture. For the Grateful Dead, the long, strange trip continues.