{"id":8453,"date":"2020-09-10T12:50:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T16:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/?p=8453"},"modified":"2021-03-24T14:36:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T18:36:28","slug":"grateful-dead-logos-dancing-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/grateful-dead-logos-dancing-bears\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Fade Away: The Design Legacy of the Grateful Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

So, the most perplexing question coming from the NBA\u2019s playoff bubble this weekend isn\u2019t whether Giannis will stay in Milwaukee or if Kawhi Leonard can lead yet another team to the Finals. The real question is, what\u2019s up with those cartoon bears on LeBron\u2019s pregame get up? The sweatshirt and shorts in question, from the streetwear hipsters at Chinatown Market, are festooned with brightly-colored, suspiciously upbeat cartoon bears that are familiar to anyone with any fluency in the art and iconography of the Grateful Dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/GratefulDead\/status\/1302829553212030976?s=20\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Dancing Bears, as they\u2019re commonly known, are a staple of the Grateful Dead\u2019s visual identity. They\u2019ve been showing up on bootleg t-shirts, bumper stickers, and even headbands since they first appeared on the back cover of the forgettable 1973 album The History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. One<\/em> (Bear\u2019s Pick). The Bear in question was Owsley \u201cBear\u201d Stanley, the architect of the Dead\u2019s distinctive sound and a pioneer in the production and distribution of early LSD. The dancing bear icon first showed up as stickers slapped on Bear\u2019s amplifiers and other sound equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of which explains LeBron\u2019s affinity to the Dead<\/a>. He was only ten years old when Jerry Garcia, the Dead\u2019s creative lead and reluctant patriarch, died of an overdose, and his pregame setlist veers more toward Meek Mill and 2 Chainz than the masters of American psychedelia. So what dissonant cultural forces commingled to bring us LeBron in the Dancing Bears? Probably the same ones that put the Dancing Bears on a pair of Nike Air Force Ones<\/a> this summer, and that encouraged the designer James Perse\u2019s Grateful Dead-focused collection<\/a> from last summer and inspired street photographer Mister Mort<\/a> to publish this summer\u2019s Dead Style<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s merely the cycles of fashion (eventually even Jennifer Lopez gets around to wearing<\/a> tie-dye) or the fact that the Grateful Dead have carried on with some youthful recent hires\u2014 guitarist John Mayer and bass player Oteil Burbridge\u2014the band\u2019s cultural currency is enjoying a second, okay, probably closer to fourth,<\/em> wind. Which means you\u2019ll continue to hear, and see the Dead\u2019s unlikely brand extension far and wide, and not just on LeBron\u2019s hoodie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a guide to some of the Grateful Dead\u2019s most durable visual identifiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Steal Your Face<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To the uninitiated, it\u2019s just a red and blue skull you still see on bumper stickers and the occasional tattoo; to everyone else, it\u2019s the Steal Your Face. Like the Dancing Bears, this logo is also attributed to Owsley Stanley, who helped design the Stealie in the late \u201960s. Its name comes from a line in \u201cHe\u2019s Gone,\u201d a song about drummer Mickey Hart\u2019s father, the band\u2019s avaricious former manager who disappeared after embezzling their profits. The lightning bolt splitting the skull asunder is a nod to a higher level of consciousness and the possibility of enlightenment, whether chemically induced or achieved by natural methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Dancing Bears<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whether they\u2019re dancing or simply high stepping, these happy bears have endured as mascots of the Grateful Dead experience. Even some fifty years after they\u00a0were drawn by artist Bob Thomas, they march on as cheerful brand ambassadors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Flying Eyeball<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Egyptian imagery moves in and out of the Dead\u2019s visual repertoire as fluidly and unpredictably as the band moves in and out of its setlist. Comic artist Rick Griffin first used the Flying Eyeball motif in a poster for the Dead\u2019s 1968 concert at the Shrine Auditorium and it lingered, making appearances on album covers like 1969\u2019s Aoxomoxoa<\/em> and on posters and any fan-generated artwork imaginable. Griffin would design album covers (Without a Net<\/em>, Wake of the Flood<\/em>, et al.) and create special anniversary art for the band until his death in 1991.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Skull & Roses<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The fact that you can buy a Skull & Roses beach towel on Amazon may not be surprising to cynical retread shoppers like us, but it would likely shock Stanley \u201cMouse\u201d Miller, who based his drawing for the cover of the band\u2019s eponymous 1971 live album The Grateful Dead,<\/em> from a book of poetry he found at the San Francisco library. The cover art outshined the record\u2019s boring title\u2014most heads refer to it as Skull & Roses\u2014and endures as another motif woven into the band\u2019s art and design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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