How the Grateful Dead changed Miles Teller’s life
The cultural impact of the Grateful Dead can be found in the form of references and easter eggs throughout popular culture, from multiple episodes of The Simpsons to characters in World of Warcraft. Millions of people around the world have enjoyed the music, ethos and aesthetic, and Miles Teller is no exception.
When the Top Gun: Maverick actor listed a bunch of songs, gigs and albums that were particularly important to him, whether that was growing up or something to give him comfort when on the set of a film, Teller gave the psychedelic-rock outfit a big shout-out.
Referring to the ‘album that changed my life’, the actor gave Deadhead Teller-fans cause to rejoice by singling out the band, their titular first album from 1967 and a festival gig as a definitive moment in his life.
“In the holiday between my freshman and sophomore years in college, I went to this music festival called Gathering Of The Vibes, and Bob Weir was playing Grateful Dead classics with Dark Star,” Teller said in an NME interview. The actor went on to imply how the experience was elevated by a certain type of recreation often associated with The Grateful Dead and their lifestyle and explained how it resulted in a definitive moment for him.
Teller said: “I went, took some ‘elements’, and had a truly spiritual experience! From then on, that was it. I was sold. And I’ve always enjoyed live albums.”
The Gathering Of The Vibes festival lasted from 1996 to 2015, and with Teller being born in 1987, we can assume that — at the absolute oldest — the actor could have been 28 when the “spiritual experience” happened to him. We’re betting, however, that he was probably a little bit younger.
Who are the Grateful Dead?
Formed in California in 1965, The Grateful Dead were a hugely influential and eclectic band that brought many different musical genres under one umbrella and pioneered the concept of being a ‘jam band’, often turning one song at a performance into a 20-minute set. They were a defining band within the 1960s/1970s counter-cultural movement, associated closely with the Acid Tests along with Ken Kesey.
Whilst the band formally ended in 1995, guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir, went on to form several other bands, including Bobby and the Midnights and Dead & Company. Ever prominent on the musical scene and not one to let age stop him from gigging, he teamed up with the English psychedelic group Dark Star at the festival and subsequently gave Teller his transcendental musical moment.
