When Grateful Dead drugged an entire unsuspecting TV crew
It’s a little pointless to remind someone of Grateful Dead’s quiet influence over rock and roll. Breaking out of the San Francisco scene during the summer of love, the band cultivated a wild stage show that enraptured their fans and left them feeling like they were in a spin. They delivered the king of performances that were more likely referred to as “experiences” by Deadheads and encouraged the kind of fan devotion that would make Taylor Swift blush, as thousands of fans would not only show up for the gigs but also travel the road with the band ready for the next city, the next date, the next vibe.
As well as having one of the most incendiary live shows around, the Grateful Dead were famed for something else too: drugs. The group acted as one of the bastions of free thought during the 1960s and invariably that included expanding one’s mind to achieve them. While enlightenment was the name of the game, the followers of such fashions were impatient, and the post-war gloom had lifted just enough that escapism was now on the menu du jour. With LSD and marijuana, mind expansion was as accessible as a drive-thru burger.
That’s not to say that Grateful Dead were just about drugs. The group were wildly talented musicians who had an uncanny ability to feed off one another when performing. While some of this may be down to the pre-show libations, much of it is through tireless practice and working with each member’s own vibe. All combined with the added ideals of heralding the live performance as the ultimate artistic experience for a musician, the group were a powerhouse set.
It can all sound a bit ridiculous until you see the band in full flow amid a chaotic scene. Somehow, they retain the peace of mind of a Buddhist monk. A perfect moment to see this in action is when Grateful Dead arrived at the Playboy Mansion to take part in Hugh Heffner’s late-night CBS show, Playboy After Dark, back in 1969.
Drummer Bill Kreutzman recently revealed that though the show went off without a hitch, even receiving a glowing review from Hugh Hefner himself, the show was a lot more chaotic behind the scenes. Much of that can be pinned on one man, Owsley Stanley.
If that name rings a bell, then you already know where this is heading. Stanley was a famed chemist and has been widely credited with being at the epicentre of the explosion of LSD on the West Coast in the mid-to-late 1960s. Naturally, he and the Grateful Dead were good friends and often travelled together to gigs. This performance was no different.
When the group arrived on set ready to chat and play a few songs, something felt a bit wrong. They realised the cameras were out of focus and the whole crew seemed to be acting strangely. Reports were rife that Stanley had dosed the crew’s coffee pot with LSD during the soundcheck and turned the set into a crucible of fleeting thought and kaleidoscopic tales.
This is where you see the inner calm Grateful Dead possess. As the world loses its cool around them, they just motor on like the champions. Of course, it should be noted, the sheer volume of practice sessions the band had under their belts to be able pull of such a show of peaceful performance – much like a circus lion tamer – there’s something unique beautiful about the band plying their trade and the lunacy that is swirling around the studio, just out of view.
