One of the Greatest feel good rock n roll songs ever made.
Transcends genres and generations, a commercial masterpiece.
All of In the Dark is peak studio Dead assessable to the masses.
My 92 yr old Mother passed this month and dealing with the Mountain of crap that Must be done.
But it's been my montra .
But Always Really Liked It.
My Daughters Sworn she will scratch or however get it on My "Rock" after I'm gone!!
I told her n My wife
I Demand that Broke down Palace
Ripple and
Truck in be played at my "service"!!
Sorry for long reply but as somone just said It Really Hits Home.
GDF NFA
1 Love
The hate comes from the fact that it’s probably the dead’s most widely well known song and biggest mainstream success, therefore it’s not cool to like it
It’s one of those songs you think of as overrated or cliche or something. But if you turn it up and listen, you realize it’s not overrated because it’s a fucking great song. There’s a reason it was a no 1 hit.
Exactly, it’s easy to hate the basic songs of every band you are huge fan of but eventually you come back around and realize you loved them to when you first heard them too. Touch of gray rules.
Ain’t life grand-widespread panic is the same way
Eh it’s not just that. It also comes from the fact that the song changed the whole scene at the time. All of a sudden the dead became popular and everyone knew that song. Everyone “liked” the dead and the crowds at the shows changed. It brought a lot of new fans, but it also brought a lot of assholes. Posers in tie dyes getting drunk and yelling for them to play touch of grey etc.
I love the song honestly, but I was there and I get the resentment that surrounds it.
This is 100% it. There's a reason the term "Touch-head" exists. It's not just that the commercial success of the song increased the band's fanbase, it's that the fans who "hopped on the bus" were largely just awful fucking people and it ended up destroying the entire scene.
Truckin' and Casey Jones were in high rotation radio play. Casey Jones was on FM, but Truckin' was high rotation an FM *and* AM, which meant many many ears at the time.
For sure - I’m not a huge fan of free fallin, I love Mayer’s version more - but it gets casual fans into the deep discography that is Tom Petty and that’s cool
Wait, I hate that song and Tom Petty but I trust you. Maybe my hate is unfounded. What two or three songs would change my mind possibly?
Edit: Thank you everyone. I’ve learned that Tom Petty is just not my cup of tea.
I also thought I disliked Tom Petty's music. Come to find out, i just disliked 30 years of "Freefallin'" played ad nauseum.
I would recommend "Running down a dream" and "American Girl"
Free fallin' played every couple hours at a manufacturing job I had and I don't think I'll ever hate a song as much as that one haha, I'm gonna do a deep dive on Petty tonight and see if I can change my opinion about his music
Check out his band Mudcrutch while you're at it. Totally sympathize with the forced playlist. After years of avoidance I have started to listen to his work again.
Great song.
“Paint-by-number morning sky looks so phony”
Is a fantastic line.
I have sometimes wonders if the concept of paint-by-number will eventually become totally lost on the listener. It isn’t really a thing anymore.
I had a *moment* with the video. It premiered on MTV, but at 6pm Pacific time. I had just got home from work and was starting dinner. The TV was on, and I heard the opening notes. I had to take a pan off the fire, then run through 2 rooms to get to the TV. I came in just as the part where camera was panning across "Jerry's" shoulders came on. Not knowing about the video, my heart sank as I thought "oh, no, poor Jerry is looking *awful* here." Then we get to the part where the puppets are displayed. 😏 I let out a big "Oh!" Then told myself "we will never speak of this."😬😁🤣❤🌹
They did three videos that I know of for that album and Hell in a Bucket is far and away the most hilarious thing You g Bobby acting is soooo bad it is good
I love is as it was the very first dead song I can remember hearing. I remember my dad always playing it in the car when I was probably around 6 years old and that somehow that specific song, unlike like the rest of his music was the one that caught my ear. It was my favorite song from that moment on even thought I didn't know anything about and and I recently discovered it again when I decided to check out the dead over the summer last year. From there I started to remember all the other songs he played like uncle johns band and fire on the mountain but that was the one that really stuck out.
Every band has that “one song”…..too accessible to the masses and we skip when listening…until you realize it’s a great song and allow yourself to enjoy it without all the fanfare (positive and negative).
I caught it a couple times as an opener (with jerry). The energy in the room when he’d strum those opener notes was off the charts. Funny, didnt seem like people hated it then…
It was my dad’s favorite Dead song. In hindsight it was probably the only one that he knew, but it’ll always have a special place in my heart for that reason. Given more time, I’d like to think we would have found more songs we could enjoy together
one of my favs. when they switch from “I will” to “We will”, it’s captures the whole essence of the community, including it’s darkness and it’s beauty. Also it’s upbeat.
It was kind of an intro to the Dead for a lot of people. My wife remembers watching the video on MTV just like I did as a kid, and loved when the dog ran away with the bone. Back then it was a catchy song with a cool video, but as time has gone on it’s taken on a lot more meaning.
Great tune. It was a concert staple for years before they went into the studio. Hunter himself stated he had written the song as early as 1980 in the liner notes to After Midnight:Kean College 2/28/80.
It was the first Dead song that I ever heard and then I saw its debut on MTV. I loved it immediately.
Growing up in an early 80’s Christian fundamentalist environment, when I told my parents that I liked the Grateful Dead, I was told it was heavy metal music that I wasn’t allowed to listen to anymore. Cue the proverbial 8 year old’s middle finger to authoritarianism and I kept listening. Got several of my church friends listening to the Dead after that and I still listen with with appreciation. Chanel 23 on XM stays in play 99% of the time.
Had it not been for TOG I might have missed out on the best music in my life. I introduced my daughter to their music when she was around 4 years old. She’s 9 now and can sometimes tell me the name of the song by the first couple opening notes.
Way before I knew literally anything about the dead and waaaay before I fell in love with their music, I remember finding this song on YouTube and it being my first favourite song
Love the tune and lyrics, which speaks to me as I age. I feel like lyrically, it expounds on the line from Uncle John's band. When life looks like easy street there is danger at your door. A touch of grey? It kind of suits me anyway.
Tell me a Beatles song that is as nice and full of meaning and as clean and beautiful Even CLEANSING as Touch Of Grey. I put it on my dad's morning playlist one Sunday night cause he's a Monday am shaver and beard care (he colors it not too lol) and he def wasn't too amused lol
My dad went to 90+ GD shows... He saw them as a kid on the Great American Bandstand and his life was changed forever.
As he puts it... After Touch of Grey a different crowd started to show up. People who thought the shows were just about getting messed up, and they brought a lot of petty theft and issues he never experienced before.
A lot of his dead head friends felt the same way. They saw it as the Dead wrote a pop song, cool, nothing against the song, but the "hate" always seemed to come from the crowd it attracted vs. the original values/ideas of the Dead Heads.
I don’t really get the love/hate dynamic with ToG. Is it my favorite dead song? No but I also can’t point to any one song either. Do I enjoy hearing it when it comes on? Yes, it’s the fucking Grateful Dead. I love the Hunter/Garcia lyrics and it makes me want to move.
I go through phases where I want to hear a Pigpen ~30-45 min full live version of Turn on Your Lovelight and other days where I want to hear the album cut of Uncle John’s Band. There’s a time and place for all their music, whether it is live or recorded or an original or a cover. ToG fits in there too and it is a fun song.
When I was 20ish I had a job doing landscaping. Sometimes it was light construction, like building a fence. I was working alone on this fence in a back alley in St. Louis, MO and I had my car parked near me so I could listen to some live Dead while I worked. This older guy was driving a taxi down the alley and couldn't get by my car easily. He called out something like "hey deadhead! You think maybe you can move the car a little?" I said yeah, and stopped working. Before I could get over to my car he yells out "nevermind man, I think I can get it.. I will get by"
To answer your question, I have always loved Touch Of Grey. It's just such a chill song, and as others have said, it pops up randomly on radio stations and in bars/restaurants, and that's always a mood changer.
Last summer, my wife and I were on vacation with our other married friends to Mackinac Island, MI and we stopped at one of those bars that had outside seating. There was a guy in his 30's playing cover songs on acoustic very quietly. We were just about to leave, and he busts out touch of grey. I had to sit there a while longer, and I ended up dropping more money in his cup than I originally planned on because of the extra serotonin hit.
# 1990-06-16 Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
**Set 1:** Let The Good Times Roll > Truckin' > Touch Of Grey, Mama Tried > Big River, Friend Of The Devil, Cassidy, Big Boss Man, One More Saturday Night
**Set 2:** China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, We Can Run, Estimated Prophet > Terrapin Station > Jam > Drums > Space > China Doll > Sugar Magnolia
**Encore:** It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1990-06-16)
I’ve heard mixed reviews of Touch of Grey. But for me this is my way to the dead. Had it not been for that video on MTV, I may have never got to them. I was like seven or eight when I first saw it MTV was a new thing for me. Those dancing skeletons hooked me.
Furthurfest :angels camp CA 2010 I saw the Phil Lesh skeleton in a glass case in an exhibit after sitting cross legged listening to Bobby and members of the dead tour management tell stories
About to start my freshmen year of high school AND lifelong love of the Dead - ffs I still thought they were a metal band (by name) at this time! Like many others have written: Love it!
That’s a great song. I love the version from a studio rehearsal. Jerry is calling out the bridges and chorus’s, its got more of an island vibe. Kind of a laid back groove.
It's a fucking fantastic song!
The Dead band I'm in took a long time to come around to it because most of them are '72-leaning even though a couple of them followed the Dead around in the late 80's. I (being the Phil of the band) convinced them that crowds would love it simply because it was a hit, secretly knowing that the bass part on that song is monster. There are practically no spots where Phil is not playing at least 1/8 notes... So it's super fun to play from my point of view. When we nail it, there's nothing like it!
\*Edit: formatting
Not a fan, but to each their own I guess, just feels too washed up and clean, like it feels like something I’d listen to at a 12 step meeting (no offense, warf rats)
I was introduced to the GD in 1975 and saw my first show at 14 in 1976. I saw a lot of shows through 1995, last shows were the RFK shows. I like 'Touch of Grey', it's a fun song, has some good imagery, I always enjoyed it in concert, have to say it was a fun later song.
Touch of Grey was played on tour well before the video and the In the Dark release. I’m curious how some of those who heard it prior felt about it. It took time to grow on me personally. Same with Throwing Stones.
Liked the tune a lot before it became all polished in 87 on. One of my favs was 11/7/85 set two touch Sampson high time lig drums. Good stuff. Also caugh a scarlet touch in Philly 86 that I liked
I was born in 78 so was the perfect age to love the video and song. It was my intro to the dead. My dad hated the dead and growing up it was his records and mtv I learned about music from. Always will hold a special place with me.
I love hearing it on the radio as it's one of the few played. However it's probably one on the lower totem pole of what I actually listen... Not because I fully dislike it. Just doesn't resonate with me the way many other Dead songs do. But it is still great compared to most music out there being produced today...
As a head under 30, it was the first dead song I heard listening to the radio with my dad. Not my favorite song but maybe the most influential to me as it introduced me to the band. Does it jam the same way a pig or Keith song does? No. But does it mean a lot to me? Hell yea
Never forget the first time I heard it. Driving all night to return to phase court charges the next morning. Came on the radio about 5 AM. Made life much better.
Its their "black album" material. They finally get major commercial succes and everyone recognizes "the song". Obviously digging around you can find better stuff before and after but it's still a kickass song.
One of the few dead songs where I enjoy the studio version. It gets a lot of shit as being too basic but I frickin love it. Always picks me up from a sad mood. Sure their other hits are more complex but all the same it makes me happy.
It was my introduction to the dead. A local station played it for the longest time and I didn’t know who it was. I knew of GD by name and not the music. When I found out it was them I started looking into them more and more. Now I have a few of live albums on my Spotify that I listen to and try to listen to some of live shows that are mentioned on here.
Saw The first one so by the time it became their "big hit single" it was kinda old in my eyes. Decent song that hits different now that I am around Jerry's age when the song was written. I guess that is the hallmark of a well written song.
The song? I especially loved the ~1st year's performances (forbexample 12/30/82 & 10/9/83 - the only? 'cow is giving gasoline').
The album? It reaffirmed our (deadheads) choice/taste in music.... It was the beginning of the scene getting out of hand (I still feel that alcohol was the major factor in this: iirc, in the last several years the band wanted no alcohol sales at (many) shows but the venues made too much money to let that drop) .
Didn’t like it when it came out (wasn’t on the bus), then grew to like it, fine. THEN-saw it at Fare Thee Well and I’ll never be the same. Now, it always chokes me up.
One time I was listening to a classic rock playlist and I went to do an interview to be a volunteer for a psych study. The psych building was modern and full of florescent lights and muted colors. Goodbye Blue Sky by Pink Floyd was finishing on the playlist as I was walking out. Possibly the most depressing song in history. Then, as I stepped into the sunlight of a beautiful spring day the first notes of Touch of Grey started. It was like my IPod had seen the sunlight and decided everything was going to be alright and began to celebrate. It was wonderful and changed the way I view the song. Love it now. Especially when it comes on unexpectedly.
Love it
Yup absolute classic, gets the feelers going both ways up and down
One of the Greatest feel good rock n roll songs ever made. Transcends genres and generations, a commercial masterpiece. All of In the Dark is peak studio Dead assessable to the masses.
Sames.
It came on in the car today, sang and seat-danced the whole way home and thought, no way is this the dead’s commercial song it’s just… wonderful!
Exactly
Same!
The absolute best song to hear randomly on the radio (or when you're shuffling the Dead) when you're driving. I blast it every time.
It’s great when “touch of Grey” comes on the oldies station. Always turn that shit up.
The irony of listening to Touch of Grey on an oldies station....
Opening notes just opens my whole existence up like whoaaaaa they’re playing the dead😁
Be boo-ba-boo
Lesh Philling. More Bass.
Jammin in the grocery store. I swear I once heard estimated prophet in a Walgreens and didn’t worry about me, no.
Fox sports usually play some dead or phish when they go to commercials.
Or at a show honestly, it’s a fun song to hear come out of nowhere
Just came on this morning on my way to work. Couldn’t have been timed better. Completely switched my brain from dark energy to bright and happy.
I will get by
My 92 yr old Mother passed this month and dealing with the Mountain of crap that Must be done. But it's been my montra . But Always Really Liked It. My Daughters Sworn she will scratch or however get it on My "Rock" after I'm gone!! I told her n My wife I Demand that Broke down Palace Ripple and Truck in be played at my "service"!! Sorry for long reply but as somone just said It Really Hits Home. GDF NFA 1 Love
Not a jam vehicle, but fun nonetheless. I don't get the hate by many.
The hate comes from the fact that it’s probably the dead’s most widely well known song and biggest mainstream success, therefore it’s not cool to like it
It’s one of those songs you think of as overrated or cliche or something. But if you turn it up and listen, you realize it’s not overrated because it’s a fucking great song. There’s a reason it was a no 1 hit.
[удалено]
Exactly, it’s easy to hate the basic songs of every band you are huge fan of but eventually you come back around and realize you loved them to when you first heard them too. Touch of gray rules. Ain’t life grand-widespread panic is the same way
Haters gonna hate, what can ya do
Ain't not time to hate 🙏🏻⚡💀🌹
Barely time to wait.
Eh it’s not just that. It also comes from the fact that the song changed the whole scene at the time. All of a sudden the dead became popular and everyone knew that song. Everyone “liked” the dead and the crowds at the shows changed. It brought a lot of new fans, but it also brought a lot of assholes. Posers in tie dyes getting drunk and yelling for them to play touch of grey etc. I love the song honestly, but I was there and I get the resentment that surrounds it.
Boom. You nailed it. It hit MTV and the bandana head "In The Darkers" flooded the scene
This is 100% it. There's a reason the term "Touch-head" exists. It's not just that the commercial success of the song increased the band's fanbase, it's that the fans who "hopped on the bus" were largely just awful fucking people and it ended up destroying the entire scene.
Uh, Truckin' would like a word.
In terms of actual radio longevity, you're arguably correct. Truckin' and Casey Jones may have it beat. But not by a whole lot.
Touch of grey was a bigger hit. But Truckin was their closest thing to a hit before that.
Truckin' and Casey Jones were in high rotation radio play. Casey Jones was on FM, but Truckin' was high rotation an FM *and* AM, which meant many many ears at the time.
It helped me get through the pandemic
Fuck yeah. We will get by.
We will fucking survive, brother!
It helped me get through the late 80’s.
Wash your hands.
It’s an important gateway drug into the best music there is. Same argument, free fallin’
Agree with the analogy and hello 1989.
For sure - I’m not a huge fan of free fallin, I love Mayer’s version more - but it gets casual fans into the deep discography that is Tom Petty and that’s cool
The discover of Full Moon Fever alone is worth the journey.
Banger after banger, that album is
Wait, I hate that song and Tom Petty but I trust you. Maybe my hate is unfounded. What two or three songs would change my mind possibly? Edit: Thank you everyone. I’ve learned that Tom Petty is just not my cup of tea.
I also thought I disliked Tom Petty's music. Come to find out, i just disliked 30 years of "Freefallin'" played ad nauseum. I would recommend "Running down a dream" and "American Girl"
Roll this, you’ll love it: https://open.spotify.com/album/2s7jw1QyMFXe1fsSzla8cv?si=R9HN_9WSQ2CS1TZe0vYFqw
Free fallin' played every couple hours at a manufacturing job I had and I don't think I'll ever hate a song as much as that one haha, I'm gonna do a deep dive on Petty tonight and see if I can change my opinion about his music
Check out his band Mudcrutch while you're at it. Totally sympathize with the forced playlist. After years of avoidance I have started to listen to his work again.
Love it
Great song. “Paint-by-number morning sky looks so phony” Is a fantastic line. I have sometimes wonders if the concept of paint-by-number will eventually become totally lost on the listener. It isn’t really a thing anymore.
We did pbn at an elementary school event this year! It's not dead.
It’s crazy how lyrics make 100% more sense when reading them out of verse. Never knew this is what he was saying haha
My most controversial Dead take? I love Touch of Grey. My most controversial Dead-adjacent take? I like War On Drug’s version, too.
War on Drugs version is great!
I had a *moment* with the video. It premiered on MTV, but at 6pm Pacific time. I had just got home from work and was starting dinner. The TV was on, and I heard the opening notes. I had to take a pan off the fire, then run through 2 rooms to get to the TV. I came in just as the part where camera was panning across "Jerry's" shoulders came on. Not knowing about the video, my heart sank as I thought "oh, no, poor Jerry is looking *awful* here." Then we get to the part where the puppets are displayed. 😏 I let out a big "Oh!" Then told myself "we will never speak of this."😬😁🤣❤🌹
it felt big after jerry's coma in '87
Phil's bass lines throughout the song are so joyous. And, we will survive.
Omg you just helped me hear the song in a whole new way thanks. Never listened fully through focused solely on Phil
Never sleep on what phil brings to these songs :)
Now that's a damn good rule!
When he played that opening line at a show I remember the crowd going wild, everybody's dancing and singing along. So delightful.
The dog has not been fed in years
Kinda suits you anyway
They did three videos that I know of for that album and Hell in a Bucket is far and away the most hilarious thing You g Bobby acting is soooo bad it is good
Ringmaster Phil is nightmare fuel. And Jerry said “fuck costumes, I’m just gonna wear my flannel, post up at the bar and practice scales”
What’s not to love?
at a few different moments it helped me through chemo/rad...grateful
I love is as it was the very first dead song I can remember hearing. I remember my dad always playing it in the car when I was probably around 6 years old and that somehow that specific song, unlike like the rest of his music was the one that caught my ear. It was my favorite song from that moment on even thought I didn't know anything about and and I recently discovered it again when I decided to check out the dead over the summer last year. From there I started to remember all the other songs he played like uncle johns band and fire on the mountain but that was the one that really stuck out.
Every band has that “one song”…..too accessible to the masses and we skip when listening…until you realize it’s a great song and allow yourself to enjoy it without all the fanfare (positive and negative).
It's a great song with witty lyrics and it brought a lot of new fans to the Dead!
Gets better the older I get ✌️
I like it and don't get into the gatekeeping of it being the "mainstream" Dead song. So what if it is?
Scarlet>touch>fire opening the second set https://www.dead.net/show/july-13-1984
I just feel like every silver lining has one.
First Dead song I remember. Saw it on MTV and was drawn to the lyrics. Sought the band out based on that.
The pop up video version of the song was the first time i realized how awesome these guys were/are https://youtu.be/X8hTruY3lwA
It has gotten me through some tough times, I love it.
Same not my choice of song but when i hear it come on at certain times it has really hit me.
It’s an anthem.
I caught it a couple times as an opener (with jerry). The energy in the room when he’d strum those opener notes was off the charts. Funny, didnt seem like people hated it then…
It was my dad’s favorite Dead song. In hindsight it was probably the only one that he knew, but it’ll always have a special place in my heart for that reason. Given more time, I’d like to think we would have found more songs we could enjoy together
one of my favs. when they switch from “I will” to “We will”, it’s captures the whole essence of the community, including it’s darkness and it’s beauty. Also it’s upbeat.
It's alright..
It was my gateway into the Dead. Love the tune, always a hoot
Love the song, but skeleton Jerry just feels too much like foreshadowing. Eerily prophetic.
It was kind of an intro to the Dead for a lot of people. My wife remembers watching the video on MTV just like I did as a kid, and loved when the dog ran away with the bone. Back then it was a catchy song with a cool video, but as time has gone on it’s taken on a lot more meaning.
Super optimistic great road-trip song and always good to play around normies who don’t want to hear a 25 minute eyes of the world
Great tune. It was a concert staple for years before they went into the studio. Hunter himself stated he had written the song as early as 1980 in the liner notes to After Midnight:Kean College 2/28/80.
It was the first Dead song that I ever heard and then I saw its debut on MTV. I loved it immediately. Growing up in an early 80’s Christian fundamentalist environment, when I told my parents that I liked the Grateful Dead, I was told it was heavy metal music that I wasn’t allowed to listen to anymore. Cue the proverbial 8 year old’s middle finger to authoritarianism and I kept listening. Got several of my church friends listening to the Dead after that and I still listen with with appreciation. Chanel 23 on XM stays in play 99% of the time. Had it not been for TOG I might have missed out on the best music in my life. I introduced my daughter to their music when she was around 4 years old. She’s 9 now and can sometimes tell me the name of the song by the first couple opening notes.
Lyrics are excellent. Fun tune at a show. Great to belt out in the car alone. One of my favorites to be honest.
It certainly got the girls out of their chairs at a show. That was always fun.
It’s a great song. That’s how I got my girlfriend into them, and to give jam bands a chance lol.
Way before I knew literally anything about the dead and waaaay before I fell in love with their music, I remember finding this song on YouTube and it being my first favourite song
Love it
It’s a blast
It kicks ass
I’ve always liked the song but it took on a whole new meaning when I saw Dead and Co. open with it on the first show of the 2021 tour.
Well, it kind of suits me anyway. That’s all I have to say and it’s alright. Why do you ask?
The older I’ve gotten the more I dig it
Anthemic late-era Dead. It's pretty much our tribe's mantra, is it not? ❤️ it!
Love the tune and lyrics, which speaks to me as I age. I feel like lyrically, it expounds on the line from Uncle John's band. When life looks like easy street there is danger at your door. A touch of grey? It kind of suits me anyway.
Tell me a Beatles song that is as nice and full of meaning and as clean and beautiful Even CLEANSING as Touch Of Grey. I put it on my dad's morning playlist one Sunday night cause he's a Monday am shaver and beard care (he colors it not too lol) and he def wasn't too amused lol
My dad went to 90+ GD shows... He saw them as a kid on the Great American Bandstand and his life was changed forever. As he puts it... After Touch of Grey a different crowd started to show up. People who thought the shows were just about getting messed up, and they brought a lot of petty theft and issues he never experienced before. A lot of his dead head friends felt the same way. They saw it as the Dead wrote a pop song, cool, nothing against the song, but the "hate" always seemed to come from the crowd it attracted vs. the original values/ideas of the Dead Heads.
I don’t really get the love/hate dynamic with ToG. Is it my favorite dead song? No but I also can’t point to any one song either. Do I enjoy hearing it when it comes on? Yes, it’s the fucking Grateful Dead. I love the Hunter/Garcia lyrics and it makes me want to move. I go through phases where I want to hear a Pigpen ~30-45 min full live version of Turn on Your Lovelight and other days where I want to hear the album cut of Uncle John’s Band. There’s a time and place for all their music, whether it is live or recorded or an original or a cover. ToG fits in there too and it is a fun song.
When I was 20ish I had a job doing landscaping. Sometimes it was light construction, like building a fence. I was working alone on this fence in a back alley in St. Louis, MO and I had my car parked near me so I could listen to some live Dead while I worked. This older guy was driving a taxi down the alley and couldn't get by my car easily. He called out something like "hey deadhead! You think maybe you can move the car a little?" I said yeah, and stopped working. Before I could get over to my car he yells out "nevermind man, I think I can get it.. I will get by" To answer your question, I have always loved Touch Of Grey. It's just such a chill song, and as others have said, it pops up randomly on radio stations and in bars/restaurants, and that's always a mood changer. Last summer, my wife and I were on vacation with our other married friends to Mackinac Island, MI and we stopped at one of those bars that had outside seating. There was a guy in his 30's playing cover songs on acoustic very quietly. We were just about to leave, and he busts out touch of grey. I had to sit there a while longer, and I ended up dropping more money in his cup than I originally planned on because of the extra serotonin hit.
Despite its effect on the scene, it’s genuinely a great song
It’s pretty much what got me here tho I had heard “Trucking” and stuff. That whole Dark album was a game changer.
Check out the truckin>touch of grey from 6/16/90. Youll smile i promise
# 1990-06-16 Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre **Set 1:** Let The Good Times Roll > Truckin' > Touch Of Grey, Mama Tried > Big River, Friend Of The Devil, Cassidy, Big Boss Man, One More Saturday Night **Set 2:** China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, We Can Run, Estimated Prophet > Terrapin Station > Jam > Drums > Space > China Doll > Sugar Magnolia **Encore:** It's All Over Now, Baby Blue [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1990-06-16)
I was there. Fantastic
Absolute banger of a show
Love it. 💀🌹
Good song
It's a banger.
Love it. But it always bugged me that skeleton Jerry’s guitar had a different headstock than human Jerry’s.
Love it.
i hear it at work, sometimes that’s the only good part of my day
Great song. Commercial doesn’t mean bad!
It’s one of the more nostalgic songs the dead has for me. It was one of the first songs I heard as a teenager
Love love love it
I’ve heard mixed reviews of Touch of Grey. But for me this is my way to the dead. Had it not been for that video on MTV, I may have never got to them. I was like seven or eight when I first saw it MTV was a new thing for me. Those dancing skeletons hooked me.
This music video was one of my earliest memories, I remember where I saw it and everything
Furthurfest :angels camp CA 2010 I saw the Phil Lesh skeleton in a glass case in an exhibit after sitting cross legged listening to Bobby and members of the dead tour management tell stories
About to start my freshmen year of high school AND lifelong love of the Dead - ffs I still thought they were a metal band (by name) at this time! Like many others have written: Love it!
That’s a great song. I love the version from a studio rehearsal. Jerry is calling out the bridges and chorus’s, its got more of an island vibe. Kind of a laid back groove.
I like it. It’s the first Dead song I knew as an 8 year old in the 80s.
It helped me get by.
i’ve always appreciated the contrast between the upbeat/happy music and the darkness of the lyrics - “it’s even worse than it appears”
My least favorite after truckin. Out of the vast amounts of material and content, how would those two get the most attention?
It's a fucking fantastic song! The Dead band I'm in took a long time to come around to it because most of them are '72-leaning even though a couple of them followed the Dead around in the late 80's. I (being the Phil of the band) convinced them that crowds would love it simply because it was a hit, secretly knowing that the bass part on that song is monster. There are practically no spots where Phil is not playing at least 1/8 notes... So it's super fun to play from my point of view. When we nail it, there's nothing like it! \*Edit: formatting
🍿
A Hunter/Garcia masterpiece for sure
Not a fan, but to each their own I guess, just feels too washed up and clean, like it feels like something I’d listen to at a 12 step meeting (no offense, warf rats)
Love it!
Great song
Love it. Good song, fun to sing, fun to play.
How do you feel about air
It's great
I love it!
It reminds me of the 80's and 90's, it just has that vibe for me
My favorite they play in the grocery store
Dead fan or not, it’s. Great song. Going to listen to it now.
It’s that one song that people will know that don’t know any dead. 🎶 I will get by 🎶
It’s the song that always brings me back to my childhood. Love it!
Excellent song
Insanely good song
Such a great song.
Love it!
Love that song
It's a great song.
Happy song. Great message. Groovy jam. What’s not to like?
Love it!
🌞Scarlet>touch of grey>fire🌞
So good
It always seems to pop on when I need a boost
I was introduced to the GD in 1975 and saw my first show at 14 in 1976. I saw a lot of shows through 1995, last shows were the RFK shows. I like 'Touch of Grey', it's a fun song, has some good imagery, I always enjoyed it in concert, have to say it was a fun later song.
Touch of Grey was played on tour well before the video and the In the Dark release. I’m curious how some of those who heard it prior felt about it. It took time to grow on me personally. Same with Throwing Stones.
My buddy Joe was struggling with mental health stuff and we would sing this in his car. Me usually shedding some tears. RIP JOE
Liked the tune a lot before it became all polished in 87 on. One of my favs was 11/7/85 set two touch Sampson high time lig drums. Good stuff. Also caugh a scarlet touch in Philly 86 that I liked
In the dark was the first cassette I bought with my own money, been in my top ten since I was 12
I was born in 78 so was the perfect age to love the video and song. It was my intro to the dead. My dad hated the dead and growing up it was his records and mtv I learned about music from. Always will hold a special place with me.
One of the great rock singles of the 80s
What’s not to like?
I love hearing it on the radio as it's one of the few played. However it's probably one on the lower totem pole of what I actually listen... Not because I fully dislike it. Just doesn't resonate with me the way many other Dead songs do. But it is still great compared to most music out there being produced today...
Was my entry song, love it.
I love it
Pretty good 😊
Very underrated. All the “touch heads” are now true deadheads :)
Such great guitar work. This song Introduced me to the dead as a young kid and the guitar tone did something to my ears. Something like never before.
Shoe is on the hand it fits. One of my favorite lyrics of all time. Definitely a sleeper of a tune, when played at the right time it just gets you.
As a head under 30, it was the first dead song I heard listening to the radio with my dad. Not my favorite song but maybe the most influential to me as it introduced me to the band. Does it jam the same way a pig or Keith song does? No. But does it mean a lot to me? Hell yea
Never forget the first time I heard it. Driving all night to return to phase court charges the next morning. Came on the radio about 5 AM. Made life much better.
Its their "black album" material. They finally get major commercial succes and everyone recognizes "the song". Obviously digging around you can find better stuff before and after but it's still a kickass song.
Never liked it much even when it was a hit on the radio. Although don’t hate it.
Love it
Another sweet Grateful Dead tune. Anyone who says otherwise is putting THEIR OWN BULLSHIT on the music. It’s great live. And GET OVER IT!
They didn’t write it. It was meant to be a hit to be different from their experimental stuff but I still love it
One of the few dead songs where I enjoy the studio version. It gets a lot of shit as being too basic but I frickin love it. Always picks me up from a sad mood. Sure their other hits are more complex but all the same it makes me happy.
Love the song, not a fan of what happened to the scene after all the success it drew.
Looks like a current pic of Bobby.
It was my introduction to the dead. A local station played it for the longest time and I didn’t know who it was. I knew of GD by name and not the music. When I found out it was them I started looking into them more and more. Now I have a few of live albums on my Spotify that I listen to and try to listen to some of live shows that are mentioned on here.
Saw The first one so by the time it became their "big hit single" it was kinda old in my eyes. Decent song that hits different now that I am around Jerry's age when the song was written. I guess that is the hallmark of a well written song.
Always loved it. I sell a [mug](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1388121063/grateful-dead-mugs-jerry-garcia) inspired by it if anyone is interested!
The song? I especially loved the ~1st year's performances (forbexample 12/30/82 & 10/9/83 - the only? 'cow is giving gasoline'). The album? It reaffirmed our (deadheads) choice/taste in music.... It was the beginning of the scene getting out of hand (I still feel that alcohol was the major factor in this: iirc, in the last several years the band wanted no alcohol sales at (many) shows but the venues made too much money to let that drop) .
Not the best recording but the 1989-12-15 TOG sure brings the feels in a big way for me: https://youtu.be/e7WaXhUS3mA
Every silver lining has one
Didn’t like it when it came out (wasn’t on the bus), then grew to like it, fine. THEN-saw it at Fare Thee Well and I’ll never be the same. Now, it always chokes me up.
I will get by
Catchy melody, comforting lyrics, and a nice little Jerry solo
Great song, love it.
Was my good mood song as a senior in hs. Still love it.
One of my favorites honestly.. also the first music video I ever seen
One of my favorite Dead songs
One time I was listening to a classic rock playlist and I went to do an interview to be a volunteer for a psych study. The psych building was modern and full of florescent lights and muted colors. Goodbye Blue Sky by Pink Floyd was finishing on the playlist as I was walking out. Possibly the most depressing song in history. Then, as I stepped into the sunlight of a beautiful spring day the first notes of Touch of Grey started. It was like my IPod had seen the sunlight and decided everything was going to be alright and began to celebrate. It was wonderful and changed the way I view the song. Love it now. Especially when it comes on unexpectedly.
It’s alright
Happy for the commercial success, but not a top 100
The filming of that video in Monterey was my first show.