The Grateful Techeads

The Grateful Dead have a very unique history that is full of intriguing facts but here are five that tie them to tech and engineering in surprising ways.

1. One of the original "Acid Tests" which included Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters was hosted by Stewart Brand, who created "The Whole Earth Catalog" and the original online community "TheWell"; the Grateful Dead were the house band for the event and members of the band including the lyricists John Perry Barlow and Robert Hunter were original participants in TheWell.  

2. The tech connection deepens... Some of the first files traded on ARPANET were Grateful Dead set lists. The founder of archive.org is a deadhead, and Wozniak and Jobs were fans and had the Dead play at their US Festival,  

3. Sound system and instrument technology companies launched through pioneering efforts in support of the band, including Alembic and Meyer Sound. The only free gear Alembic ever gave a musician was the guitars it gave to Jerry Garcia. Meyer Sound used the band's live shows as a laboratory to develop groundbreaking sound systems in conjunction with UC Berkeley. 

4. The Dead's "Wall of Sound" concert system (shown above) in the early seventies of the past century is still considered one of the best stadium sound systems ever developed, and literally innovated the world of concert sound production.

5. Barlow, one of the lyricist's, is a founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation which protects rights online.