Popular Culture Icons: Grateful Dead and Deadheads

Abstract

The Grateful Dead are usually described as a psychedelic rock band, but their improvisational music cannot be neatly categorized as rock or, for that matter, as folk, blues, jazz, or country, though each of these types influenced it. Deadheads, as the fans of the Grateful Dead call themselves, followed the band from venue to venue from 1965 through 1995, when the band's lead guitarist Jerry Garcia died and the members of the band stopped playing together as the Grateful Dead. Many of these fans remain committed to this community and continue to gather at performances of cover bands and of bands featuring one or more of the Grateful Dead. This entry describes the history, size, and values of the Deadhead community. In addition, it describes the scope of interdisciplinary scholarship on the Grateful Dead and Deadheads and the types of source material available. It also describes the sociological scholarship in this area which focuses mainly on three inter‐related themes: the trajectory and functions of the show ritual, the development and management of Deadhead identity, and the complexity and diversity of the Deadhead community. Finally, methodological challenges in studying Deadheads are discussed.