Top 10 Songs by the Grateful Dead

I am by no means a faithful Deadhead, but I do love the Grateful Dead’s music. They were an American psychedelic rock band that began in the mid 1960’s, 1965 to be exact. Fittingly the Grateful Dead started in San Francisco during the height of the experimental 60’s. The stars must have aligned over San Francisco to create a sound like this.

The Grateful Dead infused a variety of influences to create their unique brand of feel good rock and roll. Blues, bluegrass, country, jazz, gospel, and even folk music were major influences for the band members. The Grateful Dead had a large number of members throughout the years, but Jerry Garcia never changed. He was their “leader” although a reluctant one.

While Jerry Garcia was the most well known member of the Grateful Dead he was humble. He did not ever proclaim to be their leader and did not ever proclaim to be the reason they had such a huge following. In fact, in good hippie nature, he always said the band mates were all equally vital parts of the group. Jerry Garcia was the lead guitarist and was even known to play the banjo on occasion. He is infamous for a little flavor of ice cream that was named after him.

Other band members included Phil Lesh, a classically trained trumpeter who plaid the bass guitar. Ron McKerman was on harmonica, keyboard, and vocals for the Grateful Dead until 1973. Bob Weir played rhythm guitar for the Grateful Dead.

Lovers of their music often refer them to as The Dead.

Here is my Top 10 Pick of Grateful Dead Songs:

1. Sugar Magnolia
2. Uncle John’s Band
3. Mixicalli Blues
4. One More Saturday Night
5. Friend of the Devil
6. Truckin
7. Golden Road
8. Rosemary
9. St. Stephen
10. Casey Jones

I first started listening to the Grateful Dead in college. A friend of mine lent me the CD and I was forever hooked. Songs like “Sugar Magnolia” are such a good feeling song that they are perfect for hanging out with friends or even just chilling out while you drive to campus. Te song reads like a poem and even sounds like one.