Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American psychedelia-influenced rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco from the remnants of another band, "Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions." The Grateful Dead were known for their unique and eclectic songwriting style—which fused elements of rock, folk music, bluegrass, blues, country, and jazz—and for live performances of long modal jams. The band's numerous fans, called Deadheads, were renowned for their dedication to the band's music; many followed the Grateful Dead from concert to concert for years, and often referred to the band simply as The Dead.

Related Topics:
American - Psychedelia - Rock - 1965 - San Francisco - Eclectic - Rock - Folk music - Bluegrass - Blues - Country - Jazz - Modal - Jams - Deadhead - Music - Concert

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The Grateful Dead's careers began, under the name "The Warlocks," in Palo Alto, California. They eventually moved to the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. Many bands from this area?such as Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and Santana?went on to national fame, giving San Francisco an image as a center for the hippie counterculture of the era. (Also see entry for the San Francisco Sound.) Of these bands, the Grateful Dead had the most "musicianly" background, including banjo and guitar player Jerry Garcia, blues musician "Pigpen" McKernan, the classically trained Phil Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann {{ref|musicianlybackground}}. In addition, the Grateful Dead most embodied "all the elements of the San Francisco scene and came, therefore, to represent the counterculture to the rest of the country" {{ref|SanFrancisco}}.

Related Topics:
Jefferson Airplane - Big Brother & the Holding Company - Santana - Hippie - Counterculture - San Francisco Sound - Banjo - Guitar - Jerry Garcia - "Pigpen" McKernan - Phil Lesh - Bill Kreutzmann

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The Grateful Dead (a name chosen at random from a dictionary?some claim it was a Funk & Wagnalls, others an Oxford Dictionary?by Jerry Garcia) became the de facto resident band of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, with the early sound heavily influenced by Kesey's LSD-soaked Acid Tests, as well as R&B. Their musical influences varied widely with input from the psychedelic music of the era, combined with blues, jazz, rock and roll, and bluegrass. These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead, along with Cream, "the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world." {{ref|experimental}}.

Related Topics:
Funk & Wagnalls - Oxford Dictionary - Jerry Garcia - Ken Kesey - Merry Pranksters - LSD - Acid Test - R&B - Psychedelic music - Blues - Jazz - Rock and roll - Bluegrass - Cream - Jam band

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