MUS 59 — Did It Matter? Does It Now? The Music and Culture of the Grateful Dead
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): David Gans
Date(s): Oct 3—Dec 5
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—7:20 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class on October 24 and November 28
Tuition: $465
Refund Deadline: Oct 5
Unit(s): 1
Status: Open
Quarter: Fall
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 8 weeks
Time: 5:30—7:20 pm (PT)
Date(s): Oct 3—Dec 5
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $465
Refund Deadline: Oct 5
Instructor(s): David Gans
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Please Note: No class on October 24 and November 28
The Grateful Dead’s groundbreaking fusion of music, counterculture, and community engagement forged an enduring legacy that transcends generations while shaping the evolution of music and cultural expression. Nearly 30 years after the band played its last show, Grateful Dead music is more popular than ever—in both live and recorded form. This course invites students to delve into the phenomenon that is the Grateful Dead through a captivating exploration of the band’s history, music, and cultural impact.
The course will feature a collection of stories and conversations with scholars and historians, each offering facts and personal perspectives illuminating every aspect of the Grateful Dead culture. Together, we will take a guided tour of the music in the form of focused excerpts from live and studio performances to learn what makes the Dead’s music-making unique and explore the broad musical universe the band created in its 30-year history.
Finally, we’ll examine the Dead’s impact on society, diving into the band’s influence on art, literature, and social change, as well as its unique fan culture and the phenomenon of the Deadhead. By the end of the course, students will have a well-rounded appreciation for the roots, struggles, and milestones that shaped the Grateful Dead’s trajectory, an understanding of their profound impact on music and culture, and insight into a legacy that still resonates deeply today.
Guest speakers include:
Blair Jackson, Author of Garcia: An American Life and Grateful Dead Gear, Co-Author of This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead, and Co-Publisher of The Golden Road fanzine
Regan McMahon, Co-Publisher of The Golden Road fanzine
Jesse Jarnow, Producer/Host of The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast and Author of Wasn’t That a Time and Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America
Gary Lambert, Co-Host of SiriusXM’s Tales from the Golden Road and Nugs.net’s Dead Air and Former Editor of The Grateful Dead Almanac
Dennis McNally, Former Grateful Dead Publicist and Author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
Mark Pinkus, President of Rhino Records
David Lemieux, Grateful Dead Archivist and Legacy Manager
Jay Blakesberg, Photographer and Filmmaker
The course will feature a collection of stories and conversations with scholars and historians, each offering facts and personal perspectives illuminating every aspect of the Grateful Dead culture. Together, we will take a guided tour of the music in the form of focused excerpts from live and studio performances to learn what makes the Dead’s music-making unique and explore the broad musical universe the band created in its 30-year history.
Finally, we’ll examine the Dead’s impact on society, diving into the band’s influence on art, literature, and social change, as well as its unique fan culture and the phenomenon of the Deadhead. By the end of the course, students will have a well-rounded appreciation for the roots, struggles, and milestones that shaped the Grateful Dead’s trajectory, an understanding of their profound impact on music and culture, and insight into a legacy that still resonates deeply today.
Guest speakers include:
Blair Jackson, Author of Garcia: An American Life and Grateful Dead Gear, Co-Author of This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead, and Co-Publisher of The Golden Road fanzine
Regan McMahon, Co-Publisher of The Golden Road fanzine
Jesse Jarnow, Producer/Host of The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast and Author of Wasn’t That a Time and Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America
Gary Lambert, Co-Host of SiriusXM’s Tales from the Golden Road and Nugs.net’s Dead Air and Former Editor of The Grateful Dead Almanac
Dennis McNally, Former Grateful Dead Publicist and Author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
Mark Pinkus, President of Rhino Records
David Lemieux, Grateful Dead Archivist and Legacy Manager
Jay Blakesberg, Photographer and Filmmaker
This course expands on the material covered in MUS 49: “Psychedelia and Groove: The Music and Culture of the Grateful Dead.” Six course sessions will include a presentation and discussion of significant musical moments featuring relevant experts; two course sessions will be dedicated primarily to active listening, featuring significant musical interludes selected by the instructor.
Please read one of the books listed below.
DAVID GANS
Producer and Host, The Grateful Dead Hour
David Gans has been curating Grateful Dead music on the radio since 1985 as the producer and host of the nationally syndicated Grateful Dead Hour. Since 2008, he has been a co-host of Tales from the Golden Road, a two-hour weekly talk show on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel. Gans is the author of five books about the Grateful Dead. He has also produced several boxed sets and compilation albums of Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia music.Textbooks for this course:
Blair Jackson & David Gans, This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead (ISBN 978-1250098160)
Blair Jackson, Garcia : An American Life (ISBN 978-0140291995)
Dennis McNally, A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (ISBN 978-0767911863)
Rosie McGee, Dancing with the Dead—A Photographic Memoir (ISBN 978-0984985210)
Blair Jackson, Garcia : An American Life (ISBN 978-0140291995)
Dennis McNally, A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (ISBN 978-0767911863)
Rosie McGee, Dancing with the Dead—A Photographic Memoir (ISBN 978-0984985210)