Stanford University Offering Course On The Grateful Dead During 2024
Dedicated Grateful Dead fans who hope to learn more about the band’s music and cultural impact can now sign up for an online course taught under the auspices of Stanford University. Registration is now open via the official Stanford University website.
The six-week online course, entitled Psychedelia and Groove: The Music and Culture of the Grateful Dead, will comprise of six 50-minute sessions, and will be taught by musician and journalist David Gans, producer and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Grateful Dead Hour and co-host of Tales From The Golden Road, a two-hour talk show on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel. Gans is also the co-author of the book This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead.
Gans said in a statement: “Grateful Dead music is collaborative and improvisational. Accordingly, I have invited guest speakers to join me in at least five of the classes. I’ve been an oral historian and a radio interviewer for more than 40 years; I have learned that conversation is a vastly more effective mode of presentation than lecturing.”
The course aims to trace the Grateful Dead’s evolution, beginning with the band’s formation and the early San Francisco music scene. It’ll also focus on their approach to touring, their cultural impact on society, their connections to art, literature, and social change, and the culture of their ‘Deadhead’ followers.
Psychedelia & Groove also promises to take students on “a sonic journey through the band’s diverse and ever-evolving musical catalogue“, allowing them to “dissect the distinctive blend of rock, folk, blues, and improvisation that defined the Grateful Dead’s sound.”
Students are advised to listen to Live Dead, Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses), Europe 72 volumes 1 and 2, Reckoning, Dead Set and Without A Net before beginning the course.