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Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead T-Shirts for Men and Women

What a long, strange trip it’s been …

The Dead came out of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury counterculture of the 1960's, and Deadheads followed them all over the globe to party to their laid-back jamming style. Our Grateful Dead t-shirts contain some of the most iconic images in all of rock 'n' roll. Old School Tees specializes in vintage style Grateful Dead shirts from many of their most epic tours and concert dates. We have Grateful Dead tee shirts from legendary shows like Fillmore East in 1970, London ’72, Boston ’77, Ithaca ’77 and Telluride ’87.

Grateful Dead was a rock band that was formed in Palo Alto, California. The band was formed in 1965. The Grateful Dead had a unique sound and style. The band would fuse all different types of music together to create their own sound. The founding members of Grateful Dead include Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and Phil Lesh.

Grateful Dead fans are also known as “Deadheads”. Many of the die-hard fans or Deadheads followed the band from concert to concert. The band got their name from the old Britannica Dictionary. Jerry Garcia picked up the dictionary and seen the word Grateful and Dead appeared opposite of one another, and the definition was, “the soul of a dead person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial.”

Grateful Dead’s first album was released in 1967, and was called, “The Grateful Dead”. The “Wake of the Flood” was their next album, then “From the Mars Hotel” soon followed. In the late seventies the band began to use cocaine. Most members of the band became dependent on the dangerous drug.

Grateful Dead is known for their psychedelic music in the early years. The Grateful Dead icon is a red, white and blue skull that has a lightning bolt going through the skull. The lightning bolt skull is found on many of the Grateful Dead’s album covers. Owsley Stanley designed the logo, and Bob Thomas was the artist. The lightning bolt skull was put on the bands equipment.

The Grateful Dead Dancing Bears were first seen on the back cover of the “History of the Grateful Dead” album. The marching bears were drawn by Bob Thomas, and the artist said the bears aren’t dancing, but they are just stepping high. A video game called, “Grateful Dead Game” was released in 2012, and the video game was created by Curious Sense.

Jerry Garcia passed away on August 9, 1995. He died of a heart attack. Ron “Pigpen” McKernan passed away on March 8, 1973 with complications with his liver. You can keep the Grateful Dead alive when you wear one of the Grateful Dead T-shirts. The Grateful Dead 1980 Tour T-Shirt features the Grateful Dead iconic skull and lighting bolt logo along with on tour 1980. The Good Ol’ Grateful Dead Raglan T-shirt features a skull with red, white, and blue lightning bolts coming out the head, and the saying, “Good Ol’ Grateful Dead” on the front of the tee shirt. On the sleeve of the t-shirt includes a heart with the lightning bolt, and other added graphics. Any Grateful Dead fan would be proud to wear this Grateful Dead tee shirt.

The Grateful Dead Dancing Bear T-Shirt features a tie dye dancing bear on the front of a royal blue tee shirt. The Grateful Dancing Bear references Owsley “Bear” Stanley, the sound man for the Grateful Dead.

Deadheads can wear their very own Grateful Dead t-shirt with pride, and let everyone know they are true Deadheads for the Grateful Dead band.

Also, remember, to check out the Jerry Garcia tee shirt page! .