Like the Dancing Bears, this logo is also attributed to Owsley Stanley, who helped design the Stealie in the late ’60s. To the uninitiated, it’s just a red and blue skull you still see on bumper stickers and the occasional tattoo to everyone else, it’s the Steal Your Face. Here’s a guide to some of the Grateful Dead’s most durable visual identifiers. Which means you’ll continue to hear, and see the Dead’s unlikely brand extension far and wide, and not just on LeBron’s hoodie. Whether it’s merely the cycles of fashion (eventually even Jennifer Lopez gets around to wearing tie-dye) or the fact that the Grateful Dead have carried on with some youthful recent hires- guitarist John Mayer and bass player Oteil Burbridge-the band’s cultural currency is enjoying a second, okay, probably closer to fourth, wind.

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 this summer, and that encouraged the designer James Perse’s Grateful Dead-focused collection from last summer and inspired street photographer Mister Mort to publish this summer’s Dead Style. He was only ten years old when Jerry Garcia, the Dead’s 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. None of which explains LeBron’s affinity to the Dead. The dancing bear icon first showed up as stickers slapped on Bear’s amplifiers and other sound equipment. The Bear in question was Owsley “Bear” Stanley, the architect of the Dead’s distinctive sound and a pioneer in the production and distribution of early LSD. They’ve 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. 60 on the Billboard 200.The Dancing Bears, as they’re commonly known, are a staple of the Grateful Dead’s visual identity. It was recorded on February 13 and 14, 1970, and offers concert highlights from the show at the Fillmore East in New York City. The live album by the band was released in July of 1973 on Warner Bros. History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear’s Choice) That amounts to more than 5,000,000 doses.

By his own account, he produced at least 500 grams between 19. He was reportedly the first known private person to manufacture mass quantities of LSD. He also helped develop the group’s “wall of sound.” Many in the media called him the Acid King. He was the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead and recorded many of the group’s live performances. Said Bear of the bears, “the bears on the album cover are not really ‘dancing.’ I don’t know why people think they are their positions are quite obviously those of a high-stepping march.”Īn American-Australian audio engineer, “Bear” was a key figure in the Bay Area hippie movement in the ’60s.

The bears themselves are a reference to Owsley “Bear” Stanley, who recorded and produced the album upon which they appear. Thomas said that he based the depictions on a lead sort, which is a block with a typographic character etched on it, from an unknown font. Drawn by Bob Thomas as part of the back cover for the band’s 1973 album, History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear’s Choice), the “dancing” bears may not even be dancing at all.

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