The logo had already been a part of the band’s culture by that point, and had in fact already been used on official artwork in the past ( Bear’s Choice Vol. The cover of Steal Your Face by the Grateful Dead (1976) These shows were also the focus of the Grateful Dead Movie, released in 1977. The album features recordings from October 17-20, 1974 to close out the final tour before the band’s touring hiatus in 1975. In June 1976, the Grateful Dead released a double album titled Steal Your Face Which features the iconic logo front and center on the album’s cover, and thus officially connecting the logo to the phrase. The lyrics actually refer to the father of drummer Mickey Hart, who had served as the band’s manager but stole a bunch of money and left, but it was soon taken to have another layer of meaning by the fans. Later, (on 4/17/72, to be precise) the band introduced the song “He’s Gone”, which includes the line “Steal your face right off your head”. The band stenciled the design on their road cases and used it in their album cover art and soon it became engrained in the culture surrounding the Grateful Dead.Īt first, though, the skull and lightning bolt symbol was not referred to as the “Steal Your Face” logo or as some call it a “Stealie”. Bob elaborated on Stanley’s initial design and came up with the Steal Your Face skull and lightning bolt that has become so famous over the years.
The initial idea was to use a lightning bolt as the dividing line between the red and blue half of a circle, because apparently he thought it would look cool, though some speculate that the lightning bolt has something to do with LSD.Īnyway, Bear made a stencil with his circle and lightning bolt design and showed it to artist Bob Thomas (who also designed the dancing bears). It started because the band needed a way to easily identify their road cases while out on tour or playing festival-style events with other bands. According to the official website of the late Bear Stanley, the Grateful Dead skull and lightning bolt symbol was first designed out of necessity way back in 1969, right near the beginning of their long, strange, trip. Steal Your Face could have been a musical testament - instead, it’s only a memento.Much like the Grateful Dead bears, the Steal Your Face logo is one that both Deadheads and non-fans of the band are familiar with at this point. And this incarnation of the Dead still lacks a capable vocalist. It shows in the sameness of the arrangements, Garcia’s reluctance to attempt new changes and the fading of Bill Kreutzmann’s once sharp and decisive drumming. The emphasis isn’t on what they’re playing, but that they’re playing at all. Blues” is a good example - but generally, they don’t seem to want to. The group can still raise some excitement - “U.S. Their slowed down remake of “Cold Rain & Snow” is seductive, but it’s an exception. “Stella Blue,” for example, has no edge, no pivot for the arrangement.
But even when everything’s in place, there’s little of the tight ensemble playing that distinguished their early work. The Dead are too loose here, and frequently sloppy as well, particularly on the opening verses of Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around.” On another Berry song, “The Promised Land,” Jerry Garcia’s guitar playing is downright careless. Nine years after the Summer of Love, the acid mystique lives on. These four live sides aren’t really very good, but few will notice. Steal Your Face isn’t so much a collection of music as a further confirmation of the Dead’s existence.
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