Brent Mydland – organ, synthesizer, backing vocals.
The video was directed by Gary Gutierrez, who had previously created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie. Near the end of the video, the camera tilts up into the rafters to reveal that the living band members are themselves marionettes being operated by a pair of skeletal hands. The skeleton of bassist Phil Lesh catches a rose in its teeth, thrown by a female attendee later, a dog steals the lower leg of percussionist Mickey Hart, and a stagehand hurries to retrieve and reattach it. The music video for "Touch of Grey" gained major airplay on MTV and featured a live performance of the band, first shown to be life-size skeleton marionettes dressed as the band, then as themselves. It was released as a single with "My Brother Esau" and later " Throwing Stones", and has appeared on a number of albums and collections. The song got into the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 9, and reached number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts. It was also released as a music video, the first one by the Grateful Dead.įirst performed as an encore on Septemat the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, it was finally released on In the Dark in 1987. The music was composed by Jerry Garcia, and the lyrics were written by Robert Hunter. It combines dark lyrics in the verses with upbeat pop instrumentation. The song is known for its refrain "I will get by / I will survive". " Touch of Grey" is a 1987 single by the Grateful Dead, and is from the album In the Dark. The Dead didn’t hit the stage until midnight, and they played for approximately five hours, and then had breakfast with the audience at dawn.For the film, see A Touch of Grey. The opening acts for the concert were the New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Blues Brothers. After the success of Touch of Grey on the Rock chart, four of their next six singles were top 40 hits on the Rock chart, with two top ten singles for Hell in a Bucket, peaking at number three in 1987, and Foolish Heart, peaking at number eight in 1989.Įnjoy this look back at The Grateful Dead’s music video for Touch of Grey from 1987 as well as their music videos for Hell in a Bucket and Foolish Heart!įor a look at what the Dead were like in their heyday, check out this video of the Dead performing Sugar Magnolia, Scarlet Begonias, and Fire on the Mountain during the opening of their 1978 New Year’s Eve concert in which the entire concert was recorded and released on an album titled The Closing of Winterland. It also became their first and only number one hit on the Mainstream Rock chart.
With the help of an incredibly popular music video on MTV, Touch of Grey became their first and only top 40 hit on the Hot 100 chart, peaking at number nine.
They rarely released a song as a single, but in 1987, they released the song Touch of Grey as the first single from their 1987 In the Dark album. Throughout their career, The Grateful Dead were never known as a radio-friendly band, which explains why they only charted six songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during all their years. They were known for their eclectic style and live performances which included lengthy instrumental jams as well as their loyal fanbase who were known as Deadheads who followed the band from show to show. The Grateful Dead formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California.