Grateful Dead, "In The Dark"

Mitch writes a love letter to Touch Heads and '80s Dead

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Feb 17, 2021

Mitch’s Pitch:

On December 15, 1986 the Grateful Dead returned to the stage after an unexpected break. Jerry Garcia had slipped into a diabetic coma in July, the culmination of ten years of declining health and increasing dependency. A few weeks later the band recorded their stellar comeback album, In The Dark, which heralded the final peak period for the band and brought my generation of Deadheads, the much maligned “Touch Heads,” into the scene.

Unfortunately, the OG Deadheads didn’t exactly roll out the welcome wagon for us kids. To them, the Dead’s explosion in popularity was ruining their scene and we were to blame. Their attitude, while hurtful, was somewhat understandable. The scene was changing, with frat boys who were there just for the party bringing an aggressive vibe, and the vultures who were preying on the frat boys bringing a dangerous element.

But us Touch Heads were different. We really were there for the music and we loved and respected the band and its history. Sure, we were there for the party, too, but let’s be honest: everyone was (except the Wharf Rats!) The generational divide was best represented by the toxic game “Deader Than Thou,” where credibility in the scene was correlated with seniority and quantity of shows attended, rather than passion or knowledge.

The summer Jerry laid in a coma, I traveled the country by bus on a teen tour (I know, I know) where we wore out everyone’s Dead tapes. Even though I had a taste for the ‘70s, we mostly listened to ‘80s shows. Everyone adored (fourth keyboardist) Brent Mydland. He represented our generation’s Dead, and most people preferred the high-energy ‘80s sound. By the following summer I was more than ready for In The Dark and promptly taped it from the Needham Public Library when it came out.

In The Dark is the Dead’s best studio record since 1975’s Blues for Allah. The production is bright and welcoming, the sound is upbeat and fun, and the songs and performances are all top-notch. “Touch of Grey” is a rousing opener, with a great Jerry solo. “Hell in a Bucket” is a fun Bobby rocker, with a fantastic riff and powerful vocals. “When Push Comes to Shove” is a pleasant but slight tune that demonstrates the magical musical connection between Brent and Jerry. “West L.A. Fadeaway” has a cool and sleazy vibe that would make Lou Reed proud. “Tons of Steel” is the best Brent tune and shows off his dynamic, husky vocals. “Throwing Stones” is another strong Weir-Barlow sing-along rocker and gets credit for being an early pro-environment song (pay no attention to the discarded cigarette butts and balloons, brah!) The album ends far too soon with “Black Muddy River”, a wistful, beautiful, reflective Jerry ballad that balances the light of “Touch of Grey” with a stroll on the dark side.

For a band that allegedly couldn’t make good studio albums it’s a fantastic studio album.

After Jerry died the old heads drifted from the scene, but us Touch Heads kept the fire burning through every iteration of GD family bands. There were epic shows and lesser shows. The scene was smaller but it was still the music we loved, great times to be had with friends old and new, the smell of patchouli and nag champa, a window to the past.

You see, Dead shows are actually time machines. Through them you can experience the past, visit your former selves, and recall half-true memories that have become myths. All the years combine, and all that remains are the emotions: the feelings of love and connection, of comfort and familiarity. Us Touch Heads respected that from the start.

By the time the Grateful Dead hit 50 they had completed their journey from counterculture to mainstream culture and are now widely embraced as a uniquely American idea. The Grateful Dead and their iconography are now synonymous with the very concept of creative freedom in our society.

It’s high time for us Touch Heads to proudly celebrate our era of the Grateful Dead, the wonderful album In The Dark, and our vital role as keepers of the flame.

Don’s Response

No one – and I mean no one – can drop names like my father. He’s turned it into an artform. Just when you think you’ve heard all the stories from his ad agency glory days, he’ll casually mention that campaign he shot with “Avedon,” as if they were on a last-name basis. Or that he wrote Felix Cavaliere’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame speech when The Rascals were inducted. But my dad’s best #humblebrag is a veritable mic-drop: he took guitar lessons from Jerry Garcia.

Somewhere around 1963-4, when he was back home in Los Altos, on break from University, his bandmate in The Towne Criers was learning banjo. A few times my dad tagged along with his Guild acoustic because apparently the instructor could really pick ‘em. That teacher was Jerry, making ends meet. The Towne Criers faded after releasing one single. The Grateful Dead survived a bit longer.

As Mitch mentioned above, In The Dark was a rebirth, for Jerry himself, as well as The Dead, Inc. Hell, they even had a MTV hit with “Touch of Grey.” Talk about a new lease on life.

Maybe that’s why this record is so much fun. It’s eclectic, and aside from the cheezy “Tons of Steel,” everything works. My favorites are “West L.A. Fadeaway” and the two tunes that close the second side, “Throwing Stones,” and “Black Muddy River.”

But what stands out most, of course, is Jerry’s guitar. Just ask my dad.

Pitch Successful

Ken’s Response:

Sometimes the stars are aligned just right; I’m so grateful that I was there when it happened in 1987. As a kid born in 1970, I knew the Dead songs that got radio play: “Uncle John’s Band”, “Friend of the Devil”, “Sugar Magnolia”, and some DJ’s were even bold enough to play “Casey Jones”. But while the Grateful Dead were undeniably at the top of their on-stage game in the ‘70s (if you’re keeping score at home, my list goes ‘77, ‘74, ‘73, ‘72 in that order), they were pushing out one lackluster studio album after another from ‘75-’80. In 1987 though, In the Dark hit the record stores and provided GenX kids like me one of the best albums of the decade, and our first ticket onto the bus.

This isn’t a traditional record where guys in a band come together to play new compositions and feel out the songs in the studio; most of the tracks on In the Dark had been played on-stage by the band for at least 5 years. The result is a maturity and a confidence that comes through unlike anything they’d done before. But the real joy is the playful banter and back and forth between Jerry Garcia’s “Tiger” guitar (a custom Doug Irwin guitar that Jerry relied on heavily from the late ‘70s until the end of the run in ‘95) and Brent Mydland’s keyboards. Every song on the album has Brent prominently featured, and every song gives Garcia a solo to give us just a taste of what we might hear the next time the bus rolled into town. It’s a masterpiece! And without it, I’m not sure I would have had eighty something of the best times of my life.

Also, please become an organ donor. ((((Cody))))

Pitch Successful

CJ’s Response:

I have two very powerful associations with the Grateful Dead. The first is a remembrance of high school classmates who would gather every day at the flagpole in front of the school to play hacky sack and listen to the Dead. Possessing neither exemplary foot-eye coordination nor a strong connection to the music, I never joined these hacky circles. But, I did admire them. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves and nobody got left out. It was the most democratic unofficial club in the school.

The other association has to do with my children. When my two oldest were 5 and 3, we used to go to the same pizza joint every week. While waiting for our order, we played songs on the jukebox to keep them entertained. Every time I put on “Sugar Magnolia” or “Scarlet Begonias”, my kids would step to the middle of the floor and dance with unbridled joy. Sometimes they would be in time with the music. Other times they wouldn’t. Didn’t matter either way. It just made them happy.

The Grateful Dead is, by and large, happy music. It is ideal for Saturday night whiskey drinking or Sunday morning coming down (RIP Johnny Cash) coffee drinking. In The Dark is right in that comfort zone. I was surprised how many songs felt like Dead classics. I could’ve sworn “Hell in a Bucket”, “West L.A. Fadeaway” and “Black Muddy River” were around when Tom Wolfe was writing about Jerry & Co. in the The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. “Push”, “Throwing Stones” and even “Touch of Grey” seem like logical evolutions.

The big outlier here is “Tons of Steel”. I can only assume that the band lost a bet to John Waite and was forced to put the follow up to “Missing You” on this album. Let’s just pretend it never happened.

Look, if you want to enjoy some classic Grateful Dead, throw In The Dark on the turntable. As Tom Wolfe would say, “That’s good thinking there, Cool Breeze.”

Pitch Successful

Mitch’s pitch jumped like a Willy’s in four-wheel drive and the Grateful Dead’s In The Dark has been added to the Newbury St. Collection.

It looks like Uncle John’s band was built to last, so you might as well wheel on down to the comments section and tell us what the deal is with the Grateful Dead and In The Dark.

Exile on Newbury St.

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