The Grateful Dead say "Fare Thee Well" to their legions of fans this 4th of July weekend with three concerts at Chicago's Soldier Field. They were a working band from 1965 'til the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995. Their fans, the "Dead Heads" are legendary for their passion and devotion. What inspired this? In my view, three important elements drove this phenomenon, quality, innovation, and customer service. Bands like Journey and Foreigner were heavily criticized for being "Corporate." The Dead were a corporation before those bands existed. They formed a record company in the early '70 s, and folded it after just a couple years, because they felt it directed too much of their energy away from making music. Grateful Dead Productions, inc. stands as one of the most profitable entities in music history. Here's why...

Quality: The Dead have always been committed to making quality music, embracing a broad range of styles, from covering Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," To Martha & the Vandella's "Dancing in the Street, " Marvin Gaye's "I'll be Doggone,"  and Bob Dylan's "Franklin's Tower," To their own originals. They've embraced Motown, country, and jazz influences over the years.

Innovation: They forged allegiances with some highly profficient tech people. Wired.com reports these relationships brought advancements in stereo and quadrophonic concert sound, as well as technology that was eventually sold to NASA.

Customer service: The Grateful Dead rewarded the loyalty of Dead Heads with concert tickets that weren't outrageously priced, variety in their shows, and permission for fans to record the concerts. Bruce Hornsby told me they made him learn 128 songs when he joined the band. They had 6 totally different set lists. I guess that explains why fans would buy tickets to all three shows when the Dead stopped in a major city for three nights.

They were also pretty business savvy. The varied set lists enabled them to not make 600-1,000 mile hops between one night stands, as is the typical touring mode. No Grateful Dead tour has been underwritten by a corporate sponsor. The way they made albums was genius in its simplicity. Many of them were live albums. Instead of spending thousands of dollars a day for studio time, they sold tickets to the recording sessions.

None of this is "rocket science," Hey, Wall Street, Madison Avenue...

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