The Grateful Dead Research Paper

THE GRATEFUL DEAD During the british invasion of the Beatles, another group was just starting out in Palo Alto, California. The Grateful Dead

THE ORIGIN STORY.

A young Jerry Garcia picked up his first guitar when he was only 15 years old, and didn’t put it down since. The Grateful Dead, or “The Dead” as what they’re also referred as, started out in 1965, in Palo Alto, California. They were first known as The Warlocks, but later changed to The Grateful Dead, “a name from an Egyptian prayer that Garcia spotted in a dictionary.” (Kreps) The members Jerry Garcia(lead singer, ), Though they got their start in the 1960s, they didn’t get their big break until the 80s. They had loyal fans, or “The Deadheads”, that would travel with the band to their next concert.

THE MUSIC

During the 1960s, the age of rock was really kicking into swing; other bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, were also emerging. The Dead had a wide range for their music, ranging from blues to country, folk to jazz to rock. Prodominity, their music is know to be very psychedelic, which isn’t a surprise considering the time period; the band

Their excessive touring allowed nearly all Deadheads to witness at least one concert; just as how fans of The Heavy Pets are also able to view their favorite band. Improv was also a huge part of the Dead’s persona that influenced bands like Dave Matthews Band, “The Grateful Dead were famous for never playing the same song twice: Instead, they improvised together, creating new sounds with every concert. A single song could last more than a half-hour, and multiple songs often blurred into each other as the musicians went wherever the music took them”…. “in concert, the band's members improvise just as the Dead's did, finding new interpretations of songs each time they play them, and sometimes topping the 30-minute mark, too.”