Kelley and Mouse designed the cover, but the turtles are based off a drawing by Heinrich Kley.

The design is by Gregg Gordon, and prominently features the bears in their classic look.įor the Grateful Dead, the famous jamming turtles first appeared on the cover of their 1977 album “Terrapin Station”. This includes the poster for their June 26th performance in Bristow, VA. Of the 19 shows from their 2019 Summer tour, at least 12 posters used the bears in some form. Stanley has also stated that while people usually think the bears are dancing, they are actually marching.Īlong with many of the Dead’s other mascots, the bears continue to be used heavily on concert posters for spin-off and sequel bands such as Dead & Company. It was “a standardized figure from a printer’s font of type”, though the specific font is unknown. Designed by Bob Thomas, they appear on the back cover and are a reference to the band’s soundman, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, who chose and compiled the songs on the album.Īccording to Stanley, “a 36 point lead type-slug of a generic bear” originally inspired Thomas’ design. Like the Stealie, the colorful Grateful Dead bears first appeared on the aforementioned 1972 album, “History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear’s Choice)”. Radio City first tried to shut down the performances completely, but in the end only stopped the band from selling the poster and demanded all copies be destroyed. They also claimed that the building’s façade shown in the poster was copyrighted and could not be used. Rockefeller executives argued that the skeleton “suggests the Music Hall’s impending death and is unpatriotic”. According to “ So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead” by David Browne, the poster was not well received by the venue. The 1980 Radio City Music Hall poster designed by Dennis Larkins and Peter Barsotti is one of the most famous to feature this skeleton. Blues”, it featured in the movie’s animated opening segment. Gary Gutierrez designed the Uncle Sam Skeleton for 1977’s “ The Grateful Dead Movie“. The first song on the album was “Bertha”, and fans sometimes refer to the mascot as such. The band later used the design again on their untitled 1971 album (often called “Skull and Roses”). Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse designed the poster, but the famous skeleton originally comes from a 1913 “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan. The legendary poster for the Grateful Dead’s 1966 shows at the Avalon Ballroom supplied them with one of their most used mascots: the skull and roses. One example is the poster for their famous 1977 performance at Cornell University, often considered one of their best shows. The Stealie is one of music’s most recognizable logos, and can be found on countless concert posters throughout the Dead’s career. The term has fittingly stuck to it since. In 1976, the Dead released an album titled “Steal Your Face” with the skull on the cover. However, the term “face stolen” caught on with Deadheads as a form of “mind blown” (usually in reference to hearing particularly good jams). One of the lyrics, “ steal your face right off your head“, was originally about the band’s former manager (and drummer Mickey Hart’s father) who had stolen money from them. The name Steal Your Face Skull (often just referred to as “Stealie”) comes from the 1972 song “He’s Gone”.

Grateful dead art