Touch of Grey, or How the Grateful Dead Became Pop Stars tells the story of how one song transformed the popular legacy of one of rock’s most iconic musical groups.
John Brackett traces the history of the song “Touch of Grey,” beginning with songwriter Robert Hunter’s lyrical sketches and the Grateful Dead’s earliest live arrangements, culminating in the group’s popular renaissance following the release of “Touch of Grey” and the album In the Dark in the summer of 1987. Brackett details how particular recording technologies, notable musical characteristics, modes of attending and listening, and the mechanics of the contemporary music industry shaped this defining moment in the group’s career.
Drawing on extensive archival research, Touch of Grey examines how the band and their label worked to produce a hit record, a dynamic music video, and an effective promotional campaign that would propel the Grateful Dead from a group with a devoted cult following to become a pop culture phenomenon.
“A crucial, careful, and fun look inside one of the Grateful Dead’s least-examined and least-understood periods, perhaps ironically also their commercial peak.” – Jesse Jarnow, co-host of the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast and author of Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America
“The Grateful Dead lived on the periphery of the music industry for the most part, making records but thriving on live performance. The band’s conquest of the pop charts in 1987 was a huge surprise to everybody—and oddly enough, over the ensuing decades the industry has come around to the Dead’s way of doing things. John Brackett offers a detailed and insightful history of how it happened and what it meant to the Dead, to the music industry, and to the fans. Brackett combines a scholar’s insights with a fan’s enthusiasm, to great effect.” – David Gans, co-host of “Tales from the Golden Road” on Sirius XM’s Grateful Dead channel
Pre-orderTouch of Grey, or How the Grateful Dead Became Pop Stars here
Read the Introduction here
Check below for links to performances and broadcasts examined in Touch of Grey, or How the Grateful Dead Became Pop Stars
Introduction
“Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, December 15, 1986
Chapter 1
Premiere performance of “Touch of Gray” by Robert Hunter at The Other End (aka The Bitter End), NYC, NY, August 21, 1980
Early reference recording of “Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead. Recorded at Club Front, San Rafael, CA, August 1982
Debut of “Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead at the Capital Centre, Baltimore, MD, September 15, 1982
“Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead at the Oakland Auditorium Arena, Oakland, CA, December 28, 1982
Chapter 2
“Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, December 15, 1986
“Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA, March 3, 1987
“Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead at the Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA, March 23, 1987
Chapter 3
Dead Ringers: The Making of “Touch of Grey,” dir. Justin Kreutzmann (1987)
Chapter 4
“The Mob & The Music Industry: Payola” (1986)
Footage from MTV’s “Day of the Dead” broadcast, August 9, 1987
Footage from MTV’s “Day of the Dead” broadcast, August 9, 1987
Chapter 6
“Touch of Grey” performed by the Grateful Dead at Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, July 9, 1995
