SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8 -- The legendary Grateful Dead rock band ended months of speculation Friday by announcing it will disband rather than carry on without lead singer Jerry Garcia, who died of a heart attack last summer.
The legendary Grateful Dead rock band ended months of speculation Friday by announcing it will disband rather than carry on without lead singer Jerry Garcia, who died of a heart attack last summer.
In a written statement, the band told its legion of tie-dyed followers that its 'long strange trip is over,' referring to the lyric 'What a long strange trip it's been' from their longtime anthem 'Truckin.''
'What they decided was that the live performances of the Grateful Dead are over,' said long-time publicist Dennis McNally. 'Without Jerry Garcia, the band is not going to continue as the Grateful Dead.... There are five remaining members who are going to be making music in the future. Under what name that will be is something that will be decided later.'
The announcement surprised many fans, who had anxiously awaited word on the group's future. As recently as this week, Dead guitarist Bob Weir indicated that the band would attempt to carry on.
'We're going to take time and regroup and make an attempt to reinvent ourselves,' Weir told the San Jose Mercury News. 'We've been having regular meetings, once a month or so, and we are all in agreement to do something.'
But long-time fan Anne Blackshaw, a staffer for California state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, said it just won't have been the same without Garcia. 'I'm not surprised,' Blackshaw said. 'I think that for a lot of us the idea of the Grateful Dead without Jerry doesn't really feel right... The Dead now only exists in my imagination.'
The announcement came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the band's first performance, a milestone that was to have been celebrated at the his The legendary Grateful Dead rock band ended months of speculation Friday by announcing it will disband rather than carry on without lead singer Jerry Garcia, who died of a heart attack last summer.
The group, known for a repertoire that covered psychedelic rock, folk rock and even a bluegrass country sound, grabbed the national airways with the likes of 'Truckin'' in 1971 and 'Touch of Grey,' which reached No. 9 on the charts in 1987. But it was the band's loyal following that brought the Dead its most fame.
Over the years the group's concerts grew into a cultural phenomenon, attended by fans in blue jeans and tie-dyed T-shirts -- regardless of how outdated they sometimes appeared.
In 1994, the Dead was the fifth-highest grossing touring act, taking in $52.4 million in that record-breaking year for the North American concert industry, according to the trade magazine Pollstar.
Many Deadheads made a lifestyle out of traveling with the band from one gig to another, surviving on cottage industries such as selling crudely produced concert tapes out of their cars and Volkswagen buses.
Most Grateful Dead concerts had the atmosphere of a '60s love-in -- peaceful gatherings of young and old enjoying their common bond of adoration for the band. But the Dead's last tour, which ended in early July, was plagued by fan melees and two deaths. That prompted band members to post a warning July 2 on the Internet to their followers: 'A few more scenes like Sunday night, and we'll quite simply be unable to play. The spirit of the Grateful Dead is at stake, and we'll do what we have to do to protect it.'
Before Garcia's death Aug. 9 after years of heroin and alcohol addiction, the band had more than its share of turnover and tragedies. Organist Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan died in 1973 of a liver ailment, pianist Keith Godchaux died in 1980 following a motorcycle accident, and keyboardist Brent Mydland died in 1990 of a drug overdose.
