Grateful Dead (album)

This article is about the band's 1971 live album. For their 1967 studio album, see The Grateful Dead (album).

"Skull and Roses" redirects here. For the card game with that name, see Skull (card game).

Grateful Dead is a live album by rock band the Grateful Dead. Released on September 24, 1971 on Warner Bros. Records, it is their second live double album and their seventh album overall. Although published without a title, it is generally known by the names Skull and Roses (due to its iconic cover art) and Skull Fuck (the name the band originally wanted to give to the album, which was rejected by the record company). It was the group's first album to be certified gold by the RIAA and remained their best seller until surpassed by Skeletons from the Closet.

Grateful Dead
Live album by Grateful Dead
Released	September 24, 1971 (1971-09-24)
Recorded	March 24 – April 29, 1971
Genre	Jam rock roots rock psychedelic rock blues rock
Length	70:12
Label	Warner Bros. (#2WS-1935)
Producer	Grateful Dead with Betty Cantor and Bob Matthews
Grateful Dead chronology
Historic Dead (1971) Grateful Dead (1971) Europe '72 (1972)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Village Voice	A−

Recording and release

Unlike Live/Dead, the album contained several lead and background vocal overdubs. For the three new original compositions ("Bertha", "Playing in the Band", and "Wharf Rat"), the band invited Jerry Garcia associate Merl Saunders to overdub organ parts. This made the organ playing of Saunders more prominent than that of Pigpen, whose contributions tend to be buried in the mix.

"Playing in the Band" received a good amount of airplay, and became one of the Dead's most played song in concert (a studio version was released the following year on rhythm guitarist Bob Weir's solo album Ace). The closing segue of "Not Fade Away" into "Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad" also received airplay and became a fan favorite.

The album's cover art, composed by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse, is based on an illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for an old edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Though the album has been known by the sobriquet "Skull & Roses", the original vertical gatefold cover unfolds to reveal the entire skeleton. The graphic became one of the images most associated with the band.

Opening track "Bertha" fades in on the original version of the album, in semblance of entering the performance space. A longer, full opening is used on CD/digital copies. More tracks from the same source concerts were later released on Ladies and Gentlemen... the Grateful Dead.

The 7" single release of "Johnny B. Goode" (a split single with Elvin Bishop) was actually the version from the album Fillmore: The Last Days. However, the version from this album was later used as a B-side on the re-release of the "Truckin'" single.

The album was remastered and expanded for the 2001 box set The Golden Road. This version, with three bonus tracks (two contemporaneous live tracks and a hidden promotional track) and the extended "Bertha", was released separately, in 2003.

The 50th Anniversary Edition of Skull and Roses was released on June 25, 2021, in CD, LP, and digital formats. The CD includes a bonus disc of songs recorded live at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on July 2, 1971.

Title and message

When the band submitted "Skull Fuck" (a contemporary euphemism for "blow your mind") as the album title, it was rejected by the record label. Ultimately the agreement was made that the album would be published without the title appearing anywhere on the record labels or cover artwork. Though the band refers to the album by this title, and it has long been known to fans (through interviews with band members, the Deadhead network and other outlets), the alternate, descriptive title "Skull & Roses" developed among distributors, music buyers and reviewers as a graphic incipit from the cover artwork.

Drummer Bill Kreutzmann explained the lack of a title on the artwork and labels, "...the original name was going to be "Skull Fuck". This was a time long before rap artists like Eminem numbed concerned citizens to the idea of offensive language in music. Warner Brothers freaked out on us. They said stores would boycott it and we wouldn't be able to get it on shelves."

Inside the gatefold of the original LP, the band reached out directly to its burgeoning fan base, which had begun to attend multiple concerts in a row and collect live audio tapes of each concert, with a message reading:

Dead Freaks Unite: Who are you? Where are you? How are you?
Send us your name and address and we'll keep you informed.
Dead Heads, P.O. Box 1065, San Rafael, California 94901.

The mailing address is no longer valid.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording notes	Length
1.	"Bertha"	Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter	April 27, 1971, Fillmore East	5:27
2.	"Mama Tried"	Merle Haggard	April 26, 1971, Fillmore East	2:42
3.	"Big Railroad Blues"	Noah Lewis	April 5, 1971, Hammerstein Ballroom	3:34
4.	"Playing in the Band"	Bob Weir, Hunter	April 6, 1971, Hammerstein Ballroom	4:39

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording notes	Length
1.	"The Other One" (includes drum solo)	Weir, Bill Kreutzmann	April 28, 1971, Fillmore East	18:05

Side three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording notes	Length
1.	"Me and My Uncle"	John Phillips	April 29, 1971, Fillmore East	3:06
2.	"Big Boss Man"	Luther Dixon, Al Smith	April 26, 1971, Fillmore East	5:12
3.	"Me and Bobby McGee"	Fred Foster, Kris Kristofferson	April 27, 1971, Fillmore East	5:43
4.	"Johnny B. Goode"	Chuck Berry	March 24, 1971, Winterland Ballroom	3:42

Side four

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording notes	Length
1.	"Wharf Rat"	Garcia, Hunter	April 26, 1971, Fillmore East	8:31
2.	"Not Fade Away / Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad"	Charles Hardin, Norman Petty / Traditional, arr. Grateful Dead	April 5, 1971, Hammerstein Ballroom	9:14
Total length:				70:12

The four sides of the vinyl album were combined as tracks 1–11 on CD reissues.

2001/2003 reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording notes	Length
12.	"Oh, Boy!"	Sonny West, Bill Tilghman, Petty	April 6, 1971, Hammerstein Ballroom	2:50
13.	"I'm a Hog for You"	Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller	April 6, 1971, Hammerstein Ballroom	4:08
14.	"Grateful Dead radio spot"			1:00

50th Anniversary Edition bonus disc

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording notes	Length
1.	"Good Lovin'"	Rudy Clark, Artie Resnick	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	17:47
2.	"Sing Me Back Home"	Haggard	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	10:16
3.	"Mama Tried"	Haggard	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	3:08
4.	"Cryptical Envelopment"	Garcia	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	2:25
5.	"Drums"	Kreutzmann	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	5:13
6.	"The Other One"	Weir, Kreutzmann	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	15:51
7.	"Big Boss Man"	Dixon, Smith	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	5:27
8.	"Not Fade Away"	Hardin, Petty	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	3:57
9.	"Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad"	Traditional, arr. Grateful Dead	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	9:39
10.	"Not Fade Away"	Hardin, Petty	July 2, 1971, Fillmore West	2:35
Total length:				76:26

Note: More songs from the April 25 – 29, 1971 shows at the Fillmore East are included in Ladies and Gentlemen... the Grateful Dead.

Personnel

Grateful Dead

• Jerry Garcia – lead guitar, vocals
• Bob Weir – rhythm guitar, vocals
• Phil Lesh – bass guitar, vocals
• Bill Kreutzmann – drums
• Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – organ, harmonica, vocals

Additional musicians

• Merl Saunders – organ on "Bertha", "Playing in the Band", "Wharf Rat"

Production

• Produced by Grateful Dead
• Recording: Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor
• Artwork: Alton Kelley
• Photo: Bob Seidemann

Production – 50th Anniversary Edition

• Produced for release by David Lemieux
• Mastering: David Glasser
• Tape restoration and speed correction: Jamie Howarth, John Chester
• Recording – Fillmore West bonus disc: Rex Jackson
• Design: Steve Vance
• Liner notes essay: Gary Lambert

Charts and certification

Billboard

Year	Chart	Position
1971	Pop Albums	25

RIAA certification

Certification	Date
Gold	November 15, 1971