June 14, 1970 –
The Grateful Dead released their fourth studio album, Workingman’s Dead, on this date. In 2003, the album was ranked number 262 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
This was one of the Dead’s first attempts to reach beyond their little cult and take a shot at the mainstream. According to Dennis McNally, the band’s biographer and publicist, a Warner Bros. executive was so ecstatic when he heard Uncle John’s Band, which he considered a marketable song from the band, it sent him running down the hallways with the news. “He was expecting more of Anthem Of The Sun stuff, and he ran down the corridors of Warner Bros., screaming, ‘The Grateful Dead have written a song we can put on the radio!’ And he was very happy.“
The Haus of Dcaligari 