The Grateful Dead spent decades building one of the most devoted followings in rock history without ever needing a conventional hit single. Then came “Touch of Grey.” In 1987, the song became the band’s first—and only—Top 40 hit, introducing the Dead to MTV and an entirely new generation of fans.
Author John Brackett joins Booked On Rock to discuss his book Touch of Grey, or How the Grateful Dead Became Pop Stars. We explore the song’s long evolution before it reached the studio, Jerry Garcia’s remarkable comeback following his 1986 diabetic coma, the making of In the Dark, the impact of the “Touch of Grey” video, and what happened when a countercultural institution suddenly found itself in the mainstream.
Was “Touch of Grey” simply a great Grateful Dead song that happened to become a hit—or did its success fundamentally change the band and the culture surrounding it? Brackett takes us inside one of the strangest and most consequential success stories in Grateful Dead history.
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