Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead were many things: originators of the '60s San Francisco psychedelic scene, early, influential adopters of country rock, and the original (and definitive) jam band, to name just a few. They grew out of a mid-'60s Bay Area jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, including singer/guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, and singer/harmonica player Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. By 1965, these three joined with bassist Phil Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann and started playing a garagey brand of rock 'n' roll. They soon became linchpins of the blossoming hippie scene and the house band for Ken Kesey's "acid test" LSD events, which were legal at the time. By the end of '65 they were rechristened The Grateful Dead, and before 1966 was out they had a deal with Warner Bros. Their self-titled debut LP was released in 1967 but didn't make much impact beyond the West coast. Shortly afterwards second drummer Mickey Hart was added to the group. By 1968 the band began the relentless touring that define the rest of their career, developing an expansive, psychedelic sound shot through with jazz-informed improvisation, with Garcia's liquid, searching guitar lines and Lesh's harmonically advanced bass playing leading the charge. That year's Anthem of the Sun was a huge leap forward artistically. But after the acid-rock adventures of 1969's Aoxomoxoa, the band decided to make a drastic detour. Right in line with the mood of the times, they swapped psychedelic jams for concise, folk/country-inflected songwriting and harmony-heavy vocals in the milestone 1970 LPs Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. This brought them their biggest success to date, and the songs "Uncle John's Band" and "Truckin'" became rock radio mainstays forevermore. By the early '70s, the indefatigable legion of followers known as Deadheads had become a key component of the band's audience, and the focus shifted definitively to live shows, where the set list and the performances were radically different every night. Pigpen died in 1972, not long after pianist Keith Godchaux and his wife, harmony singer Donna Godchaux came aboard. The band's mid '70s albums were jazzier and more complex, but by the late '70s, having moved to Arista Records, they edged into more commercial-sounding territory on Shakedown Street. In 1979 the Godchauxs were replaced by keyboardist/vocalist Brent Mydland, who brought a new energy to the band. Keith Godchaux passed away in 1980. The Dead's first album with Mydland, 1980's Go to Heaven, widened the band's audience, and the single "Alabama Getaway" became a frequent radio presence. The Deadheads continued expanding their numbers, and by this point the band was regularly playing stadiums and arenas. Their next studio LP, 1987's In the Dark, brought unexpected commercial attention via the band's first and only Top 10 hit, "Touch of Grey." Unfortunately, the subsequent growth of their audience brought violence and unrest to their previously peaceful shows; the band had simply gotten too big. An overwhelmed Garcia, who had been self-medicating for years and had already experienced a diabetic coma in '86, sank deeper into drug abuse. Drugs claimed Mydland in 1990. He was replaced by two new players: former Tubes keyboardist Vince Welnick and renowned singer/songwriter Bruce Hornsby, the latter staying until '92 and the former continuing on. Garcia suffered a fatal heart attack on August 9, 1995, ending the band. In later years, different combinations of the remaining members would perform under various names. As The Dead, the surviving members celebrated the band's 50th anniversary in 2015 with a handful of shows including Garcia disciple Trey Anastasio of Phish on guitar and vocals.