What a Long Strange Trip — LSD and the Grateful Dead
A story about music, psychedelics and the CIA
No other band is as closely connected to the psychedelic molecule LSD-25 as the Grateful Dead. In a way, they are one and the same: unpredictable and playful, visionary, ecstatic. In short, the driving force of the 1960’s counterculture.
The Acid Tests
The common history of these two Hippie holys begins with Ken Kesey. The young author, who had already achieved international fame with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, turned away from writing in 1965. The reason for this was his experiences with LSD, which he made during CIA-led experiments known as MK-Ultra. Fascinated by it, Kesey wanted to make the then-legal drug known to the masses. The medium for this was the Acid Tests: legendary parties with wild light shows, LSD, fancy costumes — and music. As house band, he hired the Grateful Dead, a then-unknown band from Palo Alto, California. Their improvised and explosive mixture of psychedelic rock and blues is the musical score to the Acid Tests.
The Dead do not see themselves as entertainers, but as part of the audience — or better: for them, there is no distinction between audience and performers. Oftentimes, they play under the influence of LSD, they are on one wave with everyone present, with the music. This communication, communion between band and fans is what gives the concerts the so-called “X-factor” and makes the Grateful Dead the soundtrack of the psychedelic revolution. In his classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, author Tom Wolf gives a nice summary:
“The first mass acid experience, the dawn of the Psychedelic, the Flower Generation.”
The Acid Tests are considered the beginning of the Hippie movement; in the months that followed, it became unstoppable. LSD is now more and more popular, thousands of young people move to San Francisco, they grow their hair long, take acid, make music — and the Dead are right in the middle of it, geographically as well as culturally. The band is friends with Janis Joplin and Grace Slick, with Tim Leary and Allen Ginsberg, and performs regularly with other San Francisco bands. They move into a flat in Haight-Ashbury, they perform at Woodstock and Monterey.
Besides Ken Kesey, Owsley Stanley (called Bear) is one of the central figures of the 60s. He is also the biggest LSD producer in America and sound man, sponsor and friend of the band. The song “Alice D. Millionaire” is dedicated to him. Without him, there would be no LSD and no Grateful Dead, and therefore no flower power.
Soundtrack to the Psychedelic Experience
The philosophy of the band is formed by the psychedelic experience as well: There is no hierarchy, no leader. Everyone — bass, lead and rhythm guitar, drums — gives musical impulses and follows those of his colleagues. Especially when listening to the thousands of live recordings of the band. this becomes very clear. The band’s performances are never identical, on the contrary, they are characterized by a lot of improvisation. The songs become jams, the music a medium of psychedelic dimensions. The Dead play with two drummers, two guitarists, bass and piano, and from 1972 on, Donna Jean, a female voice, also joins in. The band’s repertoire ranges from 30-minute sound collages to covers of country classics, from jazz to blues. All this: the diversity and unpredictability, not least the duration (three hours and more) of the concerts make them the central meeting place of acid heads and hippies, of drop-outs and psychedelic aficionados.
But it’s not only the history and sound of the band that puts them in such a close relationship to acid — the lyrics are the perfect trip companion as well. Most of them are written by Robert Hunter, the lyricist of the Grateful Dead, who died in September 2019. Songs like “Dark Star” and “China Cat Sunflower” — two figureheads of psychedelic rock — were written under the influence of LSD. Just like Ken Kesey, Hunter also took part in the CIA’s MK-Ultra experiments.
Speaking of intelligence: The FBI kept a file on the Grateful Dead, which reads:
“LSD originates from San Francisco, California through a renowned rock group known as the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead is well known to DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), San Francisco.”
The Dead (and LSD) are Rising Again!
Later, in the ’80s and ’90s, the band’s tours can be traced back to an LSD track through America: Where the Grateful Dead are, there’s LSD. This is also due to the Deadheads — fans of the band who, following Tim Leary’s mantra, have dropped out of society and follow the band from concert to concert, often for years, decades. A Dead concert becomes a mass for them, LSD a sacrament.
Now, more than twenty years after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, the comeback: the band plays as Dead & Company in sold-out stadiums, LSD gets more and more into the mainstream, is finally being researched and written about.
LSD and the Grateful Dead: inseparable on this long, strange trip through American culture and counterculture.
