Double vinyl LP pressing. The Best of The Grateful Dead Live: 1969-1977 - Vol 1. Rock's longest, strangest trip, Grateful Dead, was the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as it's most enduring survivors. They spread their message of peace, love, and mind-expansion across the globe throughout three decades. The group had popular music's most fervent and celebrated fan following - the Dead Heads, whose numbers and devotion were legendary in their own right. Grateful Dead was the ultimate cult band, creating a self-styled universe all their own. The Dead became superstars solely on their own terms as tie-dyed pied pipers whose epic, free-form live shows were rites of passage for an extended family of listeners who knew no cultural boundaries.