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Grateful Dead Records: Back Stage Passes, Tickets and Laminates
MS.332.Ser.12
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Grateful Dead Records: Back Stage Passes, Tickets and Laminates
creator:
Grateful Dead Productions
Identifier/Call Number: MS.332.Ser.12
Physical Description:
6.8 Linear Feet
10 boxes
Date: 1965-2009
Abstract: This series includes backstage passes, tickets, and laminates from Grateful Dead concerts and tours. Only some of the band's
2,300+ concerts are represented.
Physical Location: Stored in Special Collections and Archives.
Collection is open for research.
Property rights for this collection reside with the University of California. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. The publication or use of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use
for research or educational purposes requires written permission from the copyright owner. Responsibility for obtaining permissions,
and for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information on copyright or to order a reproduction, please visit
guides.library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/reproduction-publication.
Grateful Dead Records: Back Stage Passes, Tickets and; Laminates. MS 332 Ser. 12. Special Collections and Archives, University
Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of Grateful Dead Productions, 2008 and 2012.
Selected images may be viewed at the
Grateful Dead Archive Online (GDAO)
The first accrual of materials from the band was received in 2008. Additional materials for this series were added by a second
accrual in June 2012.
The Grateful Dead were an American rock band that formed in 1965 in Northern California. They came to fame as part of author
Ken Kesey's Acid Tests, a series of multimedia happenings centered around then-legal LSD. Famed for their concerts, the band
performed more than 2,300 shows over thirty years, disbanding after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia in August 1995.
Although their only Top 10 hit, "Touch of Grey," charted in 1987, their popularity was based on concerts, and in their last
decade they consistently placed in the top five tours every year. Known for the range of their repertoire and the caliber
of their compositions, the Dead's songbook has been covered by a wide range of other musicians, from Bob Dylan to Jane's Addiction.
They released thirteen studio albums and nine contemporary live albums during their career, and more than 100 live releases
since then. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Scope and Content of Collection
This series contains back stage passes, tickets, and laminates to Grateful Dead concerts and tours.
Backstage passes are usually printed fabric stickers about the size of a playing card that allowed access to a restricted
area of a venue, where journalists and guests would be entertained during a performance. Designed to be used in conjunction
with a ticket, backstage passes could be simple, abstract designs or images derived from mass media, popular culture, or even
band members' children's doodles. Unlike laminates, which tended to feature artwork commissioned specifically for that purpose,
backstage passes tended to be simpler and more casual, often more whimsical, and generally disposable. Over time, the standard
rectangular shape was augmented by a variety of sizes and shapes, from circles to triangles.
Grateful Dead tickets can be grouped into several categories, roughly corresponding to era. In the 1960s, rock promoter Bill
Graham quickly recognized the utility of reproducing concert poster images in business card-sized tickets in an effort to
impede counterfeits, usually stamped along the bottom or back with the day of the show. These tickets are the most highly
prized, collected along with handbills and posters for the concerts. In the 1980s, the band pioneered the direct sale of tickets
to fans via mail order, creating tickets that often featured graphics incorporating band logos and motifs. Tickets for special
events such as New Year's Eve were often works of art in their own right. By contrast, tickets printed at outlets such as
BASS (Bay Area Seating Service) and Ticketmaster were created with a strictly information-only template using a thermal ink
printing process that did not hold up well over time, with the lettering often fading quickly.
Laminates are small, playing-card-sized badges made of either printed cardboard sealed in plastic or printed plastic, usually
designating an entire tour but sometimes only a single show or run of shows at a single venue. Worn on a lanyard or clipped
to outer clothing, laminates serve as identification for band, band family, crew, or touring staff, providing access to secure
areas, including backstage and performer areas. Over time, increasingly sophisticated designs intended to thwart counterfeit
efforts (nicknamed "scaminates" by enterprising fans) supplanted the simple identification badge style common in the 1970s,
giving rise to beautifully rendered artistic efforts by artists such as Timothy Truman, featured in the book
Access All Areas: Backstage with the Grateful Dead (Grateful Dead Books, 1998). The interplay between art and security produced striking designs that incorporated cutting-edge
production techniques that made successful unauthorized duplication all but impossible. Laminate holders did not require a
ticket for access to the show and allowed free access to backstage and other secure areas of the venue.
The material is arranged chronologically into three sub-series: Back Stage Passes, Tickets, and Laminates.
Additional Grateful Dead Records Finding Aids
- Series 1: History
- Series 2: Business
- Series 3: Show Files
- Series 4: Press
- Series 5: Correspondence
- Series 6: Photographs
- Series 7: Media
- Series 8: Posters
- Series 9: Artwork
- Series 10: Realia
- Series 11: Decorated Envelopes
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Deadheads (Music Fans)
Concert tours
Grateful Dead (Musical group)
Grateful Dead Productions