Signed by Garcia, it read: DEAD FREAKS UNITE: Who are you? Where are you? How are you? Send us your name and address and well keep you informed. It was simply an invitation to write the Dead and let them know who there fans were. With this small gesture it showed a big turn out. By 1972, 25,000 letters had rolled in, many drawn up with dense calligraphy that became an icon of the Deadhead correspondence. This action provoked an on going movement with recruiting. We went out and recruited these guys head for head, their fathers and their sisters, and their mothers. We went on a head- hunting mission for twenty-five years, Hart says; we went out and got the army in tow. And said, Okay, you guys are something you are a thing. And they themselves recognized their own identity and grew bigger than we could ever even imagine.The Grateful Dead was tired of having to live up to the expectations of record labels. The labels were just in it for the money, the Dead enjoyed playing for people who couldnt afford to see the constantly raising price to see them, they were not allowed to put on any free shows which they liked to do in such places as the Golden Gate park in San-Francisco. So in 1973 a letter from Grateful Dead records read This adventure is a jumping off point to get us in a position of greater contact with our people, to put us in command of our own ship, and for unspoken potentials for the far out. It was the first time any rock group attempted to control all aspects of its record business, recording, cutting, and pressing, distribution and promotion. But by1976, financial problems had set in and poor record sales resulted in failure. Needing help United Artists decided to take on the task. The band had its largest publicity in the later 1980s. In 1987, the album In the Dark was released which included the hit song Touch of Grey. This song soon made it to the top ten it made the radio, and yes the Grateful Dead made a MTV video. T...
