Grateful dead created their own distinctive sound, merging together forms and genres to musicifly one incredible experience. They formed in 1964 in Menlo Park, and became official in 1965, under the name "The Warlocks." Unfortunately, a band was already recording under that name, so Jerry Garcia opened up the Britannica dictionary and said "what about grateful dead?" In folklore, the story of the grateful dead is one where a soul has not been properly buried due to an unpaid debt. A traveller happens upon the soul and takes care of his debt, putting them at peace and the traveller is later rewarded somehow in life. Literally, grateful, dead. The band took to the Bay Area, where they became the heart and soul of the psychedelic movement around Haight-Ashbury. The band represented "all the elements of the San Fransisco scene and came, therefore, to represent the counter culture to the rest of the country." They were at the forefront of psychedelic music, which tries to recreate drug induced states of mind due to hallucinogens. Although they were part of the psychedelic movement, each song the band has could fit under a different genre. They combined rock and roll and folk and eastern sounds and classical and and and...
Their first CD, "The Grateful Dead" was released around the same time as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," by the Beatles.
The Grateful Dead established a huge network of underground fans before they "made it big." These fans became a HUGE part of their culture. "Deadheads" would follow the band on tours, and lines would form for days outside their concert venues. The Grateful Dead usually played large venues often outdoors and would have long improvisations. There was a freedom and buzz in their music and in the air that could not be captured in the studio.
The "Touch of Grey" music video was the first and only music video the Dead ever recorded. Coincidentally, despite their immense popularity, "Touch of Grey" was the only Grateful Dead song to ever reach the Top Ten on the music charts. The video played for MTV and widened their audience. The Grateful Dead defied the laws of music business and made millions of dollars despite not being at the top of the charts and with "real" albums.
The Grateful Dead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, a year before Garcia's death.
Band Members:
Jerry Garcia - started playing guitar when he was 15 and also played bluegrass on the banjo. He founded The Warlocks in 1964 and took his blues background to influence the more psychedelic and experimental sound, in addition to country and folk influence.
Bob Weir - when he co-founded the band in 1964, he was 17.
Bill Kreutzmann - Drummer and older bohemian role model.
Phil Lesh - one of the most "extraordinary musical talents in rock history," he played bass and would have improvised jams with Garcia and Weir. He joined the band after seeing the Warlocks play at a pizza parlor in Menlo Park.
Mickey Hart - joined the band in 1967 and added a non-western sound flair.
Robert Hunter - also joined in 1967 as a lyricist and turned the Dead's lyrics in to complete, elaborate and beautiful stories.
Pigpen - Ron McKernan, played the harmonica and keyboard and added blues vocals.
There was also:
Tom Constanten (TC), Keith Godchaux, Donna Jean Godchaux, Brent Mydland, Vince Welnick and John Perry Barlow.
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