Touch of Grey, or How the Grateful Dead Became Pop Stars by John Brackett
Published 2026 by Duke University Press
Long regarded by many Dead Heads as an acknowledgement of the unique relationship that had developed between the band and their fans over more than two decades, "We will survive!" assumed even greater meaning and significance following the Grateful Dead's dramatic return to the stage on December 15, 1986.
I remember being somewhat confused watching the very first airing of the “Touch of Grey” video on MTV on June 19, 1987. East Coast Heads, Johan, Hal, Josh and David and I gathered around a television to watch before walking five blocks to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.
At the time, it felt more amusing than historic. The Dead made a video for MTV? Marionette skeletons? Jerry sharing airtime with 1987 pop stars like Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and Crowded House?
That moment sits at the center of John Brackett’s Touch of Grey, or How the Grateful Dead Became Pop Stars. A performing musician and musicologist, Brackett sidesteps the colorful pageantry and wackiness that permeates much of the printed universe surrounding the Dead. Instead, he approaches 1987 like a detective reconstructing a case. What looked like an unlikely breakthrough was not a freak accident. It was a culmination of years of musical evolution converging with changes in recording technology, the music industry, popular culture and a band suddenly playing with renewed vitality.
Brackett traces “Touch of Grey” from Robert Hunter’s early lyrical sketches through the Dead’s evolving live arrangements beginning in 1982, showing how both the words and music continued to shift over several years. He follows the song through Garcia’s frightening collapse in 1986 and jubilant Oakland Coliseum shows following his return that December. After Garcia nearly died, lyrics about getting by and surviving suddenly carried a resonance neither Hunter nor Garcia could have anticipated when the song first began taking shape. From there, Brackett takes a step back and widens the lens. He explores the unusual recording process for In the Dark, including the band’s attempt to preserve the feel of live performance by working in the Marin Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium before laying overdubs in the studio. He also examines the contemporary technology that shaped the record’s sound, including Brent’s Yamaha DX7, which places portions of the album within the sonic landscape of mid-80s pop. For listeners accustomed to associating the Dead with guitar-driven psychedelia, country rock flavorings and extended jams, it’s easy to overlook just how contemporary parts of In the Dark sounded in 1987.
Featuring the distinctive tones and timbres of Brent Mydland's synthesizer, however, "Touch of Grey" sounded like many of the songs what appeared alongside the Dead on the Top 10.
Brackett digs into Arista Records, radio promotion and the murky world of independent promoters, including connections to organized crime, that helped determine what songs disc jockeys put on the air. Add MTV, the twentieth anniversary of Summer of Love, Garcia’s highly publicized return from the brink and the fact the Dead sounded good, and their sudden arrival in the Top Ten looks less a fluke than the product of several cultural currents converging at the just exactly perfect moment.
For longtime Heads, some of the story will be familiar. What makes Touch of Grey stand apart is Brackett's ability to connect the song with recording technology, record-company strategy, radio promotion and the broader cultural elements to explain how Dead became pop stars and landed a Top Ten single.
Looking back nearly forty years later, I’m glad our little group stopped to watch that first MTV airing before walking over to catch the first of three shows at the Greek. At the time, the skeletons felt a bit cheesy, Jerry’s presence looked slightly out of place and none of us had a sense the ground was shifting. Brackett makes a persuasive case that it was. The Grateful Dead did not suddenly become something different on June 19, 1987. But after that summer, the band and scene would never be quite the same.
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