A Brief Guide to The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead are the type of band that everyone at one point has had some encounter with, often without realizing. Their iconography is very popular and it's all-too-common to see people wearing Dead-related merch without having any interest in the music (this is fine, but it's definitely a common experience).

But what type of music did they play? What were they actually all about? Why did fanatics follow them from show-to-show en masse? Why do people like me have terabytes of bootlegs saved to their computers? Why does this even matter on a leftist forum? This is a brief post to give you an introduction to the band if you've ever had an interest in them, but never knew where to start or to take the plunge. I've also had a few convos here about the Dead and wanted a post to send ppl.

The Dead were formed in 1965 with Jerry Garcia (Guitar, Vocals), Bob Weir (Guitar, Vocals), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Organ, Vocals), Phil Lesh (Bass), and Bill Kreutzmann (Drums) - Mickey Hart would join as a second drummer two years later. Their origins were first as the house band for Ken Kesey's Acid Tests in San Francisco. LSD use was a primary interest of the members and there are numerous stories of the band spending hours under the influence in early practices (as well as certain shows). Their soundman, Owsley Stanley (known as "Bear") produced no less than 500 grams of LSD (amounting to a little more than five million doses) and funded the band with the proceeds.

The experimentation with LSD led the band to improvise a variety of new sounds and experiences with their concerts - of which they played over 2000. Their association with psychedelics and the San Francisco counter-cultural movement of the 60s made them popular to hippies, anarchists, communists, and general fuck-the-man audiences, but as a consequence, the band never achieved commercial popularity until the twilight of their 30-year career.

While improvisational music was popular in jazz groups throughout American history, the Dead were the first to really incorporate it into a widespread touring phenomen. The band eschewed proper set lists, often deciding what songs to play when on stage, and never playing a show the same way twice. For a band that had difficulty turning heads in the studio, they thrived in the live experience. In some eras, they could play the same "song" for thirty minutes and could easily weave in and out of different tracks.

In the late 60s and early 70s, the band played a host of benefits for charitable organizations. Notably, as you've seen from the header image, they played for the Black Panthers and other revolutionaries - far from an uncommon thing for the band. This willingness to put on shows like this greatly improved their popularity among the rebellious youth. This eclectic group of followers recognized that the band put on a different show every time and were willing to drop everything to go on tour, funding their travels through selling merch or other goods in the lots outside of shows. Eventually, people started taping shows. As Garcia said: "The shows are never the same, ever. When we're done with it, they can have it."

Okay well that's good and all - I can hear you say- but what about the music itself?

As previously covered, the Dead primarily can be categorized as an improvisational rock band. However, over the course of 30 years, they incorporated psychedelic, R&B, bluegrass, jazz, pop, and funk styles into their music. If you've heard a Dead song before and thought "this isn't for me," chances are it wasn't, but they have done something for you.

I can give you four places to choose where to start:

• If psychedelia is more of your thing, Live/Dead is a quintessential psychedelic album designed to feel like a show experience. If you're a fan, move to the 1968-1970 era below.

• The acoustic-driven American Beauty album is very popular and remains a classic in the roots rock genre. If you like what you hear, check the 1970-1971 era.

• If you want to jump straight into live material, the compilation album, Europe 72 highlights the band's best moments from their 1972 European tour. If you dig this, start with the 1971-1974 era below.

• I want to rock and roll and dance all night! Okay then, check out the Red Rocks 78 live album. If you like this, you'll be a fan of the 1975-1979 era.

While these are great introductions, to really appreciate the Dead you have to actually dig in to their live shows (which is easy in the internet era because every one of the shows recorded can be found online). Because the band evolved with different members and instruments over 30 years (only Garcia, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart remained constants - but even Hart briefly left the band for a few years), it's most easy to explain the Grateful Dead "sound" in terms of the individual eras.

All shows that were taped via soundboard or by an audience member are available on Archive.org. Lots of shows have been commercially released though, so you'll find some of the best (with great quality) on Spotify, Youtube, google music, etc.

1965-1968: Jugband Origins & Acid Tests

This era is raw and can be highly characterized as "jugband rock" as the band is literally playing with a lot of basic and/or borrowed gear. Sound quality in this era ranges too. Some shows will sound pristine while others will sound just totally ragged.

2/23/68 and 2/24/68 at the Kings Beach Bowl in Lake Tahoe are both great in playing and in sound quality. These shows were released commercially as Dick's Picks, Vol. 22.

9/2/68 the band shows up unannounced to the Sky River Rock Festival in Sultan, WA (known as the "West Coast Woodstock"). They play a scorcher. Archive.

1968-1970: Late '60s Psychedelia

The Live/Dead era when the band added notable square Tom Constanten on keyboards. If you're big into psychedelic shit, this is where you should start.

2/27/69 is where the bulk of Live/Dead comes from. Give yourself the real experience.

4/17/69 the band performs for Wash U students in the middle of a torrential downpour. They slay everything and perform one of their first "sandwiches" of a song.

1970-1971: Country and Folk-Influence

If you chose American Beauty above, you'll feel right at home as the Dead suddenly throw out the bulk of their psychedelic material, opting for a more rootsier approach. Shows in this era often have one full acoustic set before they break out the amps. Tom Constanten had departed at this point and would be replaced with Keith Godchaux on piano at the end of 1971. At the start of this era, the band was arrested while on tour with New Orleans, with Bear ultimately taking the fall. As a result, you have the song Truckin' but importantly for us there is slim pickings in '70 with the quality of recordings, as most 60s recordings survive because Bear recorded the soundboard on stage.

You'll want 5/1/70 and 5/2/70 for that acoustic experience. Both are great shows, the latter is more popular among heads but I'm more partial to 5/1.

5/15/70 is also good but a pain in the ass to listen to. If you really want drop a comment and I'll write up a how-to.

1971-1974: Exploratory Folk Jazz

"Yo what if we played that country rock stuff and the psychedelic stuff at the same time" = this era. And it's damn good. A lot of heads' favorite shows are from this period, mine included. You might be here if you liked E72. The Godchauxs - Keith (piano) and Donna (vocals) joined here. Pigpen would depart midway thru 72 due to alcohol-induced illnesses. Hart was also absent for the majority of this era (check the song He's Gone).

5/3/72 is the best show of the European tour, heavily mined for the compilation album. Happy anniversary!

9/27/72 is my pick for best show of the year. Some incredible moments across the board.

8/6/74 if you want the Wall of Sound era. My favorite show to trip acid to.

1975-1979: The Rock and Roll Era

"Gee guys it's really tiring playing the same song for thirty minutes and lugging around a mountain's worth of gear to every show, maybe we should tighten it up?"

Tighten it up they did. Starting from the album release party on 8/13/75 to the last great Godchaux show on 1/10/79 the Dead put together some of the most consistently epic shows in their history.

My personal favorite show of all time is 12/30/77 and 2/3/78 is a close second.

Unfortunately, this era is when certain members of the band began eschewing psychedelics for other hard drugs (heroin), which led to a dramatically different feel in the next decade.

I cover the 80s/90s in the comments due to character restrictions (so much for "BRIEF" LMAO).