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Grateful Dead

So I think I’ll drift for where it’s at, down where the weed grows green and fat…The group that would be known throughout the world as The Grateful Dead would go on to solidify their place in music history and go down as one of the most influential bands of all time. The group was founded on a multi music genre and would create music that would break the boundaries of rock n’ roll, funk, gospel, blue grass and country. The group is most well known for its band member Jerry Garcia who would stand at the forefront although he never did like to think of himself as a leader in any way.

The group would get its start in the mid 1960’s as an offshoot from numerous other projects and would stay together until the present although the death of Garcia would prove to be a trying time for both the band as a whole and the many fans that continued to follow the group in every state and country that they would travel.The group would form with members who played a multitude of instruments that would range from the banjo, guitar, French horn, and almost any other instrument that has been played on stage. The Grateful Dead was part of a revolutionary movement of the 1960’s where the use of mind altering substances such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms along with the drug of choice that was marijuana.

The group would go into jam sessions that would sometimes last for hours but only playing two or three songs. It was said that the audience would become entranced in their music along with the many lights that were used during their shows. The group would produce countless albums such as the ever popular Terrapin Station as well as Franklin’s Tower. Still to this day, the group is releasing a number of albums from what is called their album vault.

They would have one of the most extensive play lists although they would rarely make it through five songs that would last a whole set. Their audience was known for its extensive delving into the mind altering LSD, which was very popular during this time. Fans, or ”Dead Heads”, would “trip” on the substance and sometimes would spend hours dancing and frolicking with others after the show had long ended. The group would do many experiments with the drug while using music to enhance the effects. They were also a part of what was to be known as the Kool Aid Acid tests. The Grateful Dead would be cited numerous times as stating that they were only as successful as their fans would allow them to be. The group was part of a movement that no other rock n’ roll act of the time would be able to match as far as the participation of their fans. The many dead heads would travel with the band from show to show in busses and cars and any possible way.

Before the show was to begin, many would sell their wares in the parking lot before and after the show, which would consist bean burritos, grilled cheese sandwiches, hemp bracelets and necklaces, and almost anything else that the many tourist fans would buy.

The group would become embroiled in controversy when the activities and drug use at their shows would reach the ears of the mainstream and in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, local police would often set up road blocks with canine units that would search anything that resembled suspicious activity. It was said that the state of Maryland once granted the authority of the police to search any vehicle that contained a Grateful Dead emblem.

Did you know that...

• ...Jerry Garcia played in a blue grass group called Old and In the Way.
• ...Garcia only had four fingers on his right hand.
• ...the group would split off into a number of bands after the passing of Jerry Garcia.