Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead were one of the bluegrass-oriented "roots rock" bands popular in the sixties and seventies. They developed a phenomenal cult following known as "Deadheads". There is a course on their history at the University of California at Santa Cruz, in which their archive is housed. They were a part of the Haight-Ashbury sound going on during the sixties and seventies. They performed at both the Monterey International Pop Festival of 1967 an the legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969. Despite their legacy they were inducted their second year of eligibility, a shame. They were also one of the original jam bands. They were a great influence on modern jam band Phish. They had numerous certified albums. They did not have a hit single, however, until the eighties with Touch of Grey. The same goes for rock hits, of which they had five.