However, by then Constanten wouldn't be the only member to have left the band. The Dead played as a five-piece without him for the next year, and in 1971 they released their second self-titled album, affectionately known by Deadheads as "Skull & Roses" due to the cover image. He ended up leaving to pursue a career in composing, and the band never looked back. Designing with Grateful Dead fonts is a great way to add a touch of fun and personality to your designs. Include the Grateful Dead Fonts in your design by adding them to the text box. While his musical contributions were always highly valued, personality-wise he was often at odds with the band's ethos.Īccording to "A Long Strange Trip," Constanten's stances on both religion - he practiced scientology - and his abstinence from psychedelic drugs like LSD, kept him spiritually apart from much of the band and their crew. How To Use Grateful Dead Fonts In Your Designs Fabulous Steps. Constanten's exit from the band coincided with a drug bust in New Orleans, but it had been clear for a while that he and the band were not the best of fits. Like much of the Dead’s music, maybe the message is more about discovering what you personally take away from it.However, the period was markedly different than the one prior, somewhat due to the departure of former organist and keyboardist Tom "TC" Constanten that January. Perhaps the number of points didn’t matter at all and the lightning bolt signifies enlightenment, transformation, and the raw powers of nature. Or it could even be a reference to the 13th Tarot card: Death. Some say it could refer to the Sumerian Zodiac which used 13 constellations.
Being that Bear was the King of LSD, another popular theory is that the 13 points represent some aspect of the LSD molecule or the 13 steps involved in the chemical process of creating the trippy and transcendent drug. This could make sense, since it is in line with the patriotic red, white, and blue color scheme as well as another one of the band’s famous symbols: the Uncle Sam skeleton, which is referred to in the song U.S.
One theory is that the 13 points represent the original 13 American colonies. Even we’re a little curious about why Owsley chose to make the bolt with 13 distinct points. While the original purpose of the bolt was purely functional, theories of the meaning behind the symbol have been swirling around during deadheads’ heady conversations since its inception into the band’s vast iconography. Not only was he credited with conceptualizing the band’s first symbol, Owsley was also known as the King of LSD, a notorious and beloved hallucinatory chemist, whose extremely pure “Monterey Purple” blew the minds of Haight-Ashbury hippies before and throughout the Summer of Love.Ī few years later in 1973, the 13-point lightning bolt joined the classic skull to create one of the band’s most identifiable symbols: The Steal Your Face! The album, titled History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (and nicknamed Bear's Choice), honors the band’s beloved soundman and chemist by featuring his favorite live tracks and the symbol he had a hand in creating as the cover art. Together, they brought his vision of a round visually striking logo with red and blue separated by a lightning strike to life. Inspired by the shape and bold markings of a dual-colored freeway sign he passed on the road, Owsley teamed up with a friend and graphic designer named Bob Thomas. While on tour with the band in 1969, Owsley realized that they needed an identifiable symbol to spray paint on the band’s equipment so that it would be easily discernible when jammed next to other band’s gear backstage. As the first band to utilize trippy, brilliantly designed show posters and psychedelic light displays during their shows, from their inception, the Grateful Dead have expressed their unique message just as much through their visuals as through their sound.įrom the classic Steal Your Face to the terrapin to the dancing bears, there is a vast archive of artwork associated with the band, but today we’re starting with the first symbol to enter the Dead’s iconography: the 13-point lightning bolt. Curious about the creation of the Dead's first symbol? Then keep on reading.Īs fans of the band, you’ve probably heard of the group’s sound engineer and longtime friend, Owsley “Bear” Stanley. Since our humble beginnings selling tie-dyes in the lots at Dead shows, you could say that here at the Hippie Shop, we’re pretty big deadheads. The Meaning Behind the 13-point Lightning Bolt.