Rock's longest, strangest trip, Grateful Dead, was the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its 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.